Hello, everyone, and welcome to the Graceology with Gwen Smith podcast. I'm Gwen Smith, and I am so glad you've joined me today. Around here, we have fun, faith-focused, grace-filled conversations, all to help you know and trust God more. Our discussions are honest, often humorous, and always practical.

And they're going to encourage you in meaningful ways to live out and lean on the grace of Jesus

in the midst of cluttered messy days. We got any of those? I know I do. And I can't wait to get

to today's conversation, which is all about finding freedom from

toxic people. Yeah, we're going there. My guest is Gary Thomas. Gary's the author of 19 books,

including his bestseller's Sacred Marriage, and he spent most of his career trying to save

marriages and family relationships.

But in this discussion and in his new book called When to Walk Away, Gary shares that there are actually some relationships you need to walk away from.

He explains it this way. There are certain people who drain us, demean us, and distract us from other healthy relationships.

Long after they're gone, we're still fighting with them in our minds and trying to get them out of our hearts.

They keep us awake, they steal our joy, they demolish our peace.

Perhaps they're a lifelong friend, relative, or coworker, and so we keep engaging them,

and we keep running into a wall.

But what if there's another way to look at how we handle toxic people in our lives?

This is the question we discuss in today's Graceology episode, y'all, and it is so powerful.

Gary shares both biblical and modern stories to equip you

with practical insights in dealing with the difficult people in your life and to help you live true

to your God-given purpose because it's only when we learn to say no to the bad patterns

that we can say yes to the good that God has planned for us.

Before we head into the episode, I want to give a Graceology shout-out and do a listener highlight.

Chase Taylor wrote, every time I listen to this podcast, God speaks directly to my heart in unexpected, amazing ways. The content is

fresh, authentic, and practical, and it helps me cling to and live out my faith in a dark and

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