LANSING, MI – In the quiet stillness of a suburban, almost any urban town, where faith and family often form the backbone of life, Tamara Flowers’s story began. It was 1985 when she experienced what she calls a divine turning point—an encounter with God that brought light to a period of despair. During her childhood, she endured deep emotional hardships, and her early experience with brokenness led her to the church, where she found healing and restoration. Over the decades that followed, that light became her anchor through one of the most brutal battles a parent can face: watching her children struggle with addiction.
Her newly released book, “My Children’s Addiction,” published by Christian Faith Publishing, is more than a personal testimony. It is courage, a spiritual blueprint for caregivers and family members, and a mirror reflecting substance use disorder destroying families across America.
Tamara’s journey is not one of perfection but of perseverance. “It’s easy to leave your children to themselves to learn about life,” she said. “But there is a blessing in knowing you gave everything within your power to guide them. When you have done all you can, you can live without guilt, no matter the outcome.”
Her words reveal a painful truth familiar to millions of parents who have watched a loved one descend into addiction – the helplessness of wanting to save someone who must also choose to save themselves.
America is in Crisis
Substance use disorder is no longer confined to certain margins of society. According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, nearly one in six Americans aged 12 or older – about 46 million people – had a substance use disorder in 2021. Yet only around six percent received treatment. These numbers tell a story of silent suffering. Many families are hiding behind shame, stigma, and scarce resources, often paved over by red tape and a limited roadmap to recovery. Addiction also includes alcohol, nicotine, marijuana, and prescription misuse, which may claim lives in slower but equally devastating ways.
For Tamara, addiction in her family is not just a statistic; it is personal. Michigan communities, like many across the nation, carry deep scars from substance abuse. In 2021, 2,536 Michiganders lost their lives to opioid overdoses, representing 82 percent of all drug overdose deaths that year, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation.
The Michigan Health Endowment Fund reports that of roughly 650,000 residents living with a substance use disorder, only 28 percent received treatment. The rest went without medical, psychological, or social support. These figures are sobering.
Faith as a Framework for Survival
Tamara has lived the emotional pendulum of hope and heartbreak. In “My Children’s Addiction,” she offers no easy answers but provides steady assurance that faith can sustain where understanding falls short.
“Without Him, I definitely could not keep my peace of mind,” she writes. “I needed the Lord because there is no way I could have maintained my sanity with all of the blaming for their life problems and addictions. I count on prayer, and I know without a doubt that the prayers have sustained me and them.”
Parenting through addiction can feel like living in a storm that never ends. It involves the process of grieving for someone who is physically present but emotionally distant.
Tamara knows this reality all too well. “My Children’s Addiction” does not shy away from the pain and instead transforms it into a testimony. She says there is a great reward in knowing that your story may help another family or change someone who is suffering in life.
Addiction is a Family Disease
Addiction rarely affects just one person. It rewires family systems and creates patterns of enabling, denial, or co-dependence. Tamara’s story speaks to these struggles, but she also frames them within her faith. For loved ones like Tamara, holding on to that faith means also being caught between fear and forgiveness. The book encourages the reader to be open to challenging a culture that often hides pain behind closed doors.
The Book: Healing Through Love and Endurance
As addiction continues to shape the national conversation, voices like Tamara remind us that recovery begins not only in clinics or courtrooms but in the act of refusing to give up. Whether in Michigan or across the country, her story testifies that love, prayer, and perseverance still matter.
“My Children’s Addiction” is more than a memoir; it is a source of understanding and comfort for parents, grandparents, and caregivers who have endured the turmoil of watching someone they love struggle with addiction.
For more information, you can find the book on Amazon, Apple Books, and Barnes & Noble. To reach Tamara directly, email her at tamara.mcafee@gmail.com or call 517-672-5987.
