Some people in life are easy, some are difficult, and some are crazymakers. A crazymaker is simply someone around whom you feel crazy.

When you feel “crazy,” you doubt yourself. You believe the person’s opinion and words over yours. You allow the person to violate your boundaries. You believe promising words instead of the conflicting actions. You find yourself losing it and reacting. You say “yes” when you want to say “no.” You come away from an encounter feeling confused, bad about yourself, upset, manipulated, and thrown off balance. You don’t feel in control of your thoughts, emotions, or actions.

Technically, no one can “make” you feel any particular way. So the person’s actions don’t have to make you feel crazy, but they will if you don’t know what you are dealing with because that is what they are designed to do.

Here are some of the things crazymakers do:

• They lie even when caught red-handed.
• They say one thing and do another.
• They twist your words while accusing you of twisting theirs.
• They use fear, guilt, power, and threats to manipulate and pressure you into doing what they want.
• They refuse to cooperate with you and undermine your attempts to fix the relationship or problem.
• They deny what they are doing and instead accuse you of doing it.
• They prevent any meaningful discourse by defensively turning everything around by making you the problem.
• They blame you for everything but don’t give you any power to do anything.

The crazymaker’s purpose is to maintain control by making you feel crazy so you won’t have any power in the relationship. Instead, recognize the tactics and refuse to feel or act crazy.

By Karla Downing

Relationship Devotional Prayer

 
God,

Help me to recognize the people in my life who are crazymakers. Help me to maintain my own thoughts, feelings, and actions by resisting the crazymaker’s tactics.

Relationship Devotional Challenge

• Recognize the things the crazymakers in your life do to take away your power in the relationship.
• Resist their tactics and refuse to feel crazy.

Scripture Meditation

 
2 Timothy 2:7

“For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind” (KJV).

Psalm 10

“In his arrogance the wicked man hunts down the weak, who are caught in the schemes he devises….His mouth is full of curses and lies and threats; trouble and evil are under his tongue….He lies in wait like a lion in cover; he lies in wait to catch the helpless; he catches the helpless and drags them off in his net. His victims are crushed, they collapse; they fall under his strength….But you, O God, do see trouble and grief; you consider it to take it in hand. The victim commits himself to you; you are the helper of the fatherless. Break the arm of the wicked and evil man; call him to account for his wickedness that would not be found out.” (NIV)