Gaslighting does not always take away your ability to choose. Sometimes it teaches you to distrust the very perception you need to make one.

In Part 1 of this three-part conversation, licensed clinical social worker Psalm McDaniels, also known as That Therapist Jawn, goes beyond identifying love bombing, gaslighting, and narcissistic patterns. She explains why those patterns are so hard to leave, how guilt can make healthy boundaries feel wrong, and why the way out begins with trusting that you know what you are experiencing.

That truth sent me back to my own story, and I am sharing a part of it I have never told this directly.

In this episode, we talk about:

Why love bombing can overpower what the evidence is telling us
How gaslighting weakens our trust in our own perception
The difference between feeling guilty and actually being guilty
Whether narcissistic behavior can have a spiritual dimension
Why you do not have to identify the root before responding to rotten fruit
How obedience, discernment, boundaries, and personal agency work together
What taking refuge actually looked like in my own relationship

WORD OF THE WEEK
Agency: the capacity to make choices and act on them.

FAITH AFTER FIRE JOURNAL PROMPT
Finish this sentence: I knew __________, but I convinced myself __________. Take your answer to God and ask for the courage to respond to what He reveals. The Faith After Fire Journal is available at rrwspodcast.com under Resources and Digital Products.

SCRIPTURE
Proverbs 27:12, NIV: "The prudent see danger and take refuge, but the simple keep going and pay the penalty."

KINGDOM ARTIST + SONG OF THE WEEK
Our Kingdom Artist is Porsha Love, whose music carries a faith that is bold, feminine, fun, and fully alive. Our Song of the Week is "70 Degrees" by Miles Minnick, George.Rose, and Porsha Love.

Roads, Rocks, Weeds + Soil airs live on ICU Radio 97.3 and streams everywhere podcasts are found.

Listen to the complete radio replay, music and all, on Mixcloud (search RRWS Podcast). Watch the complete, unedited conversation with Psalm on YouTube.