How to Break Generational Curses in Your Marriage

This topic has been on my heart for quite some time now as it’s very important to me. You may be asking “what is a generational curse?” And that’s a great question! In fact, you may be breaking generational curses in your family and you don’t even know it. So to start off, generational curses have biblical roots. Even though the exact words are not found in the bible, there are instances in the Bible where you can see that an entire generation suffered consequences due to the sins of the patriarch of the family (Exodus and Ezekiel) A generational curse can be defined as a root beneath the surface that produces bad fruit above the surface and there are a few different types of generational curses. The ones that I’m going to talk about are sinful patterns and destructive behaviors.

Sinful patterns can come in the form of anger, pride, greed, promiscuity, etc. My husband and I both have generations of sinful patterns including anger, sexual sin, pride, and others. We have even seen some of these behaviors in ourselves. When we got married and committed ourselves to having a godly marriage, we acknowledged these behaviors and decided that it ends with us. We’ve seen what sinful patterns have done to not only our families but our own selves and we don’t want our children to inherit these same types of behaviors. We want our children to walk in freedom and not be bound to these sins so that they can lead a better life than we did starting out. These types of patterns are very hard to break and it takes humility and knowing that we cannot do it without God’s help.

Destructive behaviors can come in the form of substance abuse, physical, mental and emotional abuse, divorce, infidelity and more. My husband and I both have generations of destructive behaviors in our families. They have done damage to our family members and have even taken the lives of some. We have committed ourselves to work through any issue that comes our way to avoid divorce, infidelity, and general unhappiness that we often hear about from older married couples. We believe that a happy, healthy, and godly marriage is possible and we’re committed to putting that on display.

Substance abuse runs strong in our families and we’ve even gone to the lengths of fasting from alcohol for a period of time to be sure that we don’t fall into those patterns and to be clear in our stance and walk with God. It’s not easy at all! Although we personally may not have an issue with drinking heavily, we want to set an example to those we’re around that they don’t have to drink heavily to have fun.

You may experience these same types of generational and hereditary patterns in your family. I want you to know that no matter how old you are or whatever your past looks like, you can put a stop to destructive and sinful behaviors. You may have a history of mental and emotional health issues in your family and you may even have a mental disorder but know that through the power of God, you don’t have to be bound to your diagnosis. You can live a good life and manage your disorder no matter what your family history says.

Millennials get a bad reputation for being perceived as “lazy”, “disrespectful” and all sorts of things but in reality, we just don’t want to make the same mistakes we’ve seen made all of our lives. We want to set ourselves and our children up to achieve what couldn’t be done as a way to make our families proud.

Breaking generational curses is a hard and intentional work but my husband and I are committed to doing the work to see our children and our children’s children, honor God and live a happy life.

One of the motivations that keep me going with this journey is looking back at where I come from and how far I’ve come. I’m the first one in my biological family to graduate college and I’ll be the first to get my masters degree. Although those aren’t generational curses, it motivates me to know that God is with me and that I can achieve things no matter where I come from!

What are the generational curses you’re breaking in your family? What have you achieved that hasn’t been done before?