A codependent person heavily [or fully] relies on another person to provide emotional security. Thankfully, there is a way to prevent codependence…

*Confidence* prevents codependent relationships!

➡️ Lack of confidence leads to emotional insecurity, which increases the likelihood of codependence.

➡️ Remember that you are already a complete person. You do not need external validation as a creation of God.

➡️ We cannot become emotionally reliant on humans, because humans are naturally unreliable. However, God is always consistent so we can receive our confidence from Him.

Many couples in a new relationship are told “just wait until the honeymoon phase ends.”

➡️ But the problem is this - real love does not go through PHASES… real love goes through SEASONS.

➡️ Devotion must be present in order for a relationship to survive seasons instead of short-lived phases, such as the honeymoon phase. It is important to remember “mutual honor” is the prerequisite for devotion.

➡️ Mutual Honor is formed by respecting your partner and maintaining basic obligations such as care, loyalty, and trust.

How Can We Handle “Salty” People?

There are a few things we can do in order to help ourselves in this situation:

🧂 We should have realistic expectations of the person! We cannot expect something sweet to come from someone salty (James 3:12)

🧂 We cannot change people, we can only change the way we respond to them.

🧂 We are able to encourage someone to change and treat them with kindness. However, we should not put ourselves in a situation for mistreatment and abuse.

VERSE CORRECTION:
The correct verse is John 8:44.
John 4:88 was an error, as the numbers were accidentally switched.

***

Manipulative people [especially narcissists] love to gaslight.

“Gaslighting” is a form of manipulation. The manipulator will invalidate what you know to be true by lying to you. Unfortunately, questioning your own reality because of their lies can lead you to feel crazy.

Developing awareness towards gaslighting will help prevent you from “feeling crazy”. Common gaslighting phrases may include:

🔥 “That never happened.”
🔥 “You’re overreacting.”
🔥 “You made me ____.”
🔥 “Why are you always bringing up the past?”
🔥 “Why are you always so angry/upset/negative?”

Have you heard other examples of gaslighting?