Chose to be a Generational Blessing

"You will experience all these blessings if you obey the Lord your God: Your towns and your fields will be blessed. Your children and your crops will be blessed. The offspring of your herds and flocks will be blessed. Your fruit baskets and breadboards will be blessed. Wherever you go and whatever you do, you will be blessed." Deuteronomy 28: 2-6

So many times, we talk about how our relatives have done things to set our families back; whether that’s not going to college, lack of financial literacy, teen pregnancy, etc. While those things may be true, it is detrimental to our mental health and our familial relationships if we continue to focus on the negative as much as we do.

These negative things are called generational curses which are behaviors or habits that are passed down from generation to generation. Biblically speaking, these curses may be the result of rebellion or separation from God. Examples include alcoholism, adultery, or simply living a life that is not centered around God. Many people think that when they are faced with generational curses, they are subjected to that. But as the word tells us “So if the Son sets you free, you are free indeed” John 8: 36.

In honor of Black History Month, I want to encourage you to understand that you can be a generational blessing! You do not have to submit to the sins or trauma passed down to you. You are not those things.

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Many times when we think about generational curses we think about material or external things, such as not being able to go to college. Being a first-generation college student, I have been faced with many obstacles like not knowing how to adjust to college life, how to apply for scholarships, when to apply for scholarships, etc. As I am graduating in May and starting grad school in August, I will be one of the first in my family to go to college and the first to have a Master’s. So, my children, granted they go to college, will have more guidance than I did on how to navigate college and how to be a part of a minority group in college, etc.

As a society, we stress the material things such as a diploma or becoming a CEO, which are not bad things. But as we are chasing after those things, we are not always looking inwardly. We do not always look at how we are doing mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. Let‘s be honest, we might not know how to look inwardly.

In my family, mental illness is also a generational curse. Many people in my family suffer from depression, anxiety, and other illnesses. With internal problems going unconfronted, one may not learn how to label their feelings and cope with them appropriately. Furthermore, one may not feel comfortable even discussing how they’re feeling if they have never seen it modeled in their family.

I deal with anxiety in my day-to-day life along with intrusive thoughts. It was not until I came to college and began therapy that I learned what those concepts were. Over the past three years, I have learned in therapy many ways to overcome anxiety and not allow it to take over me. As someone who has grown passionate about mental health, I have also started to talk to others more about mental illness and help them find ways to deal with the problems they may be facing. #Breakthestigma

In both examples, you can see that I have learned from these generational curses and I am breaking them. I have learned to do better. Although I am not alone in making the strides to break these generational curses in my family, I will say that I am doing the hard work, as an individual, so that my kids and my kids’ kids, and thereafter will know and do better.

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God does not want our families to be in stagnation. He does want us to be free and be able to move forward. His first way of helping us was sending His Son to die on the cross for us so that we could move from our sin and live more fruitful lives. We are delivered from our sin and the price that comes with it. Do not continue to entertain the curse in your family. God is looking to see how you will change things in your family. Will you be the first to be baptized? Will you be the first to teach your relatives how to read the Bible? What will you do to bring healing, redemption, and life into your family?

God wants us to be healed and whole as we are creating families. He wants to bring life and not death upon the people in our lives. With this, He calls us to forgive those family members who hurt us. Love others as yourself. Help others move from their unproductive ways.

I ask that you take a moment today to reflect. Think about one generational curse in your family. How has it affected you, your parents, or your family dynamics? How can you turn away and become a generational blessing?

As you walk in obedience to the Lord and He begins to transform the ways of your family, you will see results!