Hi, and welcome to the Five Word Prayers Daily, a five-day-a-week daily devotional where we share the

word, prayers, and our heart. I'm Lisa Whittle, and I welcome you to just five minutes with me,

which I trust and pray will be five minutes well spent. Today's topic is a requested topic,

when to know if you should walk away from a toxic friendship.

To some degree, we talked about it, when it's time to quit something on the show and such,

but I want to be more specific on today's show and really dive into this particular aspect of,

should I walk away from a friendship?

Let me say, I don't think we should do it lightly.

But I also think it's important to drill down on what we're really talking about when we talk about walking away from a friend.

Let's get to it quickly.

So when we're talking about should I leave or walk away from this toxic friendship, I think the most important word to look at here is toxic. So, in other words, when does a friendship become contaminated in some way to the

point you know it is not healthy for your spirit to continue to maintain a close relationship

with that friend? The first sign, I think, is when it becomes combative in any way. Certainly,

if you're fighting or arguing with a friend more than you are enjoying them, that is a sign. It's

probably time to walk away at least for a time. It's really a sign of, I think, core incompatibility

in maybe belief, which some friendships can handle and others because of

personality or whatever simply cannot. Sometimes it's because of maturity. But constant fighting

with a friend is not good for your spirit or for hers. Another sign, I think, is when it becomes

stifling. When you or her are feeling like you are being held back to not be free to make other friendships maybe,

if you're being guilted into things, stifled certainly in your relationship with God,

most especially the latter, that is not a healthy friendship.

Another sign, I think, is when it becomes divisive.

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