I Want to Trust You, but I Don't: Moving Forward When You’re Skeptical of Others, Afraid of What God Will Allow, and Doubtful of Your Own Discernment

by Lysa TerKeurst

I could tell you about so many relationships in my life where I didn’t acknowledge the red flags until I started feeling like I could no longer trust the person. And here’s the deal: if you let these red flags continue and the person keeps displaying these characteristics for longer and longer, the impact on you will multiply greater and greater. At first, a red flag could seem like a very small concern. But if it keeps happening and goes unaddressed, it can become a defining hardship that breaks the relationship. When I hear “red flags,” I think about the ones that are put up at the beach when there are conditions that shouldn’t be ignored. A red flag is a warning that the riptide is too strong and you should not swim in the ocean. In other words, if you ignore this red flag, you are swimming at your own risk. If you jump in that ocean, completely ignoring the clearly posted red flag, you may suffer severe consequences.