Forming healthy relationships

If you’re recovering from a bad relationship, it’s a mistake to rush into another one. Unhealthy people make unhealthy choices. Some wounds take longer to heal than others, but you can count on this promise: “He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.” All God asks is that you give Him a chance. Start by taking time to search His Word to find out how He feels about you. His opinion is the only reliable foundation on which to build your self-worth. If a perfect God with full knowledge of your struggles and shortcomings can love you, the message is—lighten up on yourself! You can only love, or be loved again, with the same wholeness with which you love yourself. Next time make sure your choices aren’t predicated on need or the fear of being alone. And be careful: when you don’t value yourself, you attract people who won’t value you either; people who will use you for their own ends. You deserve better, so hold out for it. You train others how to treat you by how you treat yourself. And as you become spiritually and emotionally whole, you will start seeing how unhealthy some of your former choices have been. If some people walk away, so be it. Sometimes you have to give up less in order to have more. The God who said, “It is not good for man to be alone” has new relationships in mind for you. But He is waiting until your values and self-perception line up with His. So take it step by step, one day at a time. And remember to rejoice—your best days are still ahead!