Rest for the Weary: Biblical Support for Autistic Burnout and Recovery
About the book
So tired that sleep doesn’t touch it? Struggling to pray, to show up, to be who everyone expects you to be? If this is you or someone you love, it may be autistic burnout. This gentle, faith-filled book comes alongside autistic Christians, their families, and their churches to name what is so often hidden and misunderstood. Autistic burnout is not laziness, weakness, or a lack of faith. It is what happens when a sensitive nervous system has been pushed past its limits for too long, and it deserves to be taken seriously and tenderly. Drawing on science and rich Christian theology, these pages offer simple ways to care for your body, senses, energy, and relationship with God. You’ll find help for praying when you have no words, for resting without shame, for unmasking at your own pace, and for trusting that God is not disappointed in your limits—because he never was. Here you will not find pressure, timelines, or spiritual performance. Only an invitation to go gently, to be honest, and to be known and loved as you are. Burnout is not the end of your story; with the God who rested and withdrew to quiet places, it can be the beginning of a more spacious, truer one.
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About the author
I’m Katie-jo—though most people call me KJ. I’m an autistic, ADHD Christian, writer, musician, wife and mum, trying to make sense of the beautiful, complicated tangle of faith, family, disability and everyday life. I write about the places where these things meet: in churches, classrooms, homes and communities, and in the quiet moments when we are learning how to love one another better. For many years I worked in schools and alternative provisions, supporting young people with additional needs and helping educators create spaces where nobody has to hide who they are in order to belong. I’ve taught, trained, guest lectured and contributed to NHS materials on making healthcare more accessible for autistic people. I also work alongside families navigating the often bewildering world of disability support, including through my role as a parent representative for the Bedford Borough Parent Carer Forum. Much of my life has been shaped by home education. I’ve educated my own children, helped run large online communities and supported local cooperatives, discovering along the way that learning rarely follows a straight line—and that the best classrooms often begin with curiosity, trust and a willingness to listen. I care deeply about disability inclusion in churches, and about the work of making room at the table not as a gesture of kindness, but because everybody belongs there. Through fiction, music, advocacy and the occasional stubborn conversation, I’m trying to help the Church listen more carefully, love more bravely and become a place where people can arrive exactly as they are.
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