Know When to Say When

We’d warn them they’d be cranking for a while. And they’d chuckle until they were still cranking. Between the salad, entrees for 5, and our love for fresh parmesan, it’s no wonder on a couple visits they had to refill the cannister!

But we still knew when to say when.

It’s a skill you need for things you love and for things that are no good for you, but linger.

There are mindsets, attitudes, and habits that have worked their way down your family tree for generations. Call it generational curses or dysfunctional family dynamics, but they are destructive cycles that repeat themselves down generations.

Maybe it’s physical or sexual abuse. Maybe it’s alcoholism and drug addiction. Maybe it’s abandonment or emotional neglect. Maybe it’s anger, or offense, or the inability to show affection.

Whatever it is, it’s a cycle that’s never ending, but with every generation gets worse and the wounds get deeper.

You feel like you can’t take it anymore and you wonder, will it ever end? Can it ever end? Because you’re surrounded by people trapped in the same cycle with you, suffering silently.

And where is God by the way? Doesn’t He see how I’m suffering? Does He care my kids are in danger of the same?

And yes, He sees His children. He sees you pinned under the momentum of a boulder that’s rolled down your family line a long time. And in Psalm 126, we see He knows when to “say when.”

The Lord knows when to say enough is enough. When to turn your torment into triumph. But have you “said when?”

Have you had enough of the crazy or just the consequences of it?

Because for you to live free, you must decide enough is enough. You need to draw a line in the sand, even if only mentally, that says “THIS FAR AND NO FARTHER.” The mindset, the habit, the abuse that ravaged your grandmother, your father, and you, will NOT have your child.

You’re going to put on your oxygen mask and breathe freedom, so you can turn and put one on your child.

When will you get free? God only knows.

But will you keep your MIND set on freedom, your HEART set on freedom, and your MOUTH declaring freedom while you wait for the open door?

Because “when” is coming.

And when it does, will you be ready?

On Episode 25 Slay the Cycles of Motherhood Unmasked podcast, I talked about a destructive attitude snaking its way through the females in my family—one that’s actually common among women.

And how when I saw it in my daughter I had the revelation, not on my watch, and did the work to expose and confront it.

“When” came for me on that front. And no, it’s not easy to take responsibility for your part in negative cycles. But if you know your why, the how to address it gets easier when the time comes.

I’m rooting for you!

Are you a mom? Then we should talk…