Ancient Ruins: Day II

I'm sharing with you what I learned yesterday. Tomorrow you will get what I learned today, if I think it's pertinent.

Yesterday's topic/ heading was The Ancient Boundary Stone. (Again this could get winded, but I promise the story I am going to share from this study is worth the reading.)

Prov. 22:28 "Do not move an ancient boundary stone set up by

your forefathers."

Our purpose is not to condemn or dishonor people from our heritage but to recognize barriers in our present caused by bondage from our families' past.

She asks you to read Exodus 20: 1-21. I'll not write it all out, but it's the 10 Commandments.

Verse 2 "I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the __________. answer is "land of slavery."

An ancient boundary stone was similar to a fence. It served as a visual reminder of what belonged to the landowner and what was beyond the legal limits. It reminded people when they were crossing the line. God's commands are the ultimate ancient boundary stones. They are not the 1o good thoughts for the day. Those who live beyond the boundaries will return to bondage. Not only will they return to bondage, they will leave a well-trodden path for the next generations to follow in their footsteps.

(oooo, aahhhh that's good huh?)

The tie between generational bondage and generational sin is what creates such a difficult cycle. Someone moves the ancient boundary stone and decides to abide by his or her own set of rules. Life beyond the boundary stone leads to bondage. Bondage leads to sin. Sin leads to more bondage. The cycle does not stop until someone has enough courage to move back the ancient boundary stone God ordained.

(oooo, ahhhh that's good too)

She goes on to have you read Ex. 20:5. It talks about punishing generations for what people before them did. She says how harsh that verse sounds, but it doesn't mean how you think it means.

She says, "In Exodus 20:5, I believe God says He will be able to review or take a census of all the times the effects of the parents' sins can be seen in the next several generations."

The boundary stone was moved way way back in my family. My dad was a drunk growing up, his dad was a drunk when he was growing up and I'm sure his father was too. I replaced the stone starting with my family.

When Matt and I were dating, a buddy of his invited him to go fishing. Matt went and had a good time. He told me about his day and that he had had a beer while fishing. Now Matt didn't know this part of my family history yet, but he soon realized that I would not date, marry, kiss, hold hands with or talk sweet nothings to a man that drank.

He never drank a beer again. (Don't get me wrong, if you have a beer or what ever, I am NOT judging. I am just saying for me and my house. AND just to clarify further, he did not get drunk.)

So that's a boundary stone that has been moved back to its proper position and another stone that is being replaced starting with me is divorce. My dad's parents divorced and my mom's parents divorced!!! Talk about a stone being moved, I think it's lost somewhere. I had to find a new one and put it back!!

Here is the story that has forever changed everything for me. It's just so powerful!!

I have kept an excerpt from "It's Always Something" by the late Gilda Ratner.

When I was little, my nurse Dibby's cousin had a dog, just a mutt, and the dog was pregnant. I don't know how long dogs are pregnant, but she was due to have her puppies in about a week. She was out in the yard one day and got in the way of the lawnmower and her two hind legs got cut off. They rushed her to the vet and he said, "I can sew her up, or you can put her to sleep if you want, but the puppies are okay. She'll be able to deliver the puppies."

Dibby's cousin said, "Keep her alive."

So the vet sewed up her backside, and over the next week the dog learned to walk. She didn't spend any time worrying, she just learned to walk by taking two steps in the front and flipping up her backside, and then taking two steps and flipping her backside again. She gave birth to six little puppies, all in perfect health. She nursed them and then weaned them. And when they learned to walk, they all walked like her.

Beth says to laugh, but to take it very seriously.

She's right. I giggled for about a second and then I got hit square between the eyes. God told me to always remember this little story. I hope you will remember this little story.

Beth goes on to say how she lived a life of a victim and was bound and determined to not let her girls grow up and feel the same way. They aren't she says.

Beth Moore

Breaking Free on Amazon

If you have never done this study, DO IT!! I'm doing it alone and am learning a ton!! Buy it used, it's really cheap and worth it.

Ancient Ruins

Boy am I excited to share with you a few things God has taught me in the past 24 hrs.! Right now, in this post you will get the first 12 hours.

Before Coop was born, I started not one but two Beth Moore studies. One was about David and the other was "Breaking Free."

I didn't finish "BF" b/c of my cuddle bug's birth, I did however finish the David one. I dove back into "BF" yesterday and I am so glad I did!

This could get winded, if so I might have to make this a two part, so bare with me.

Let me tell you what "Breaking Free" is implying. Simply put, it's breaking away from our past and the things that bind us today. I have a soap opera like family and I knew this would help me let God heal some of that.

Yesterdays topic for the week was "Ancient Ruins." I am going to try to simplify and condense this for you the best I can, but I highly recommend picking the workbook up and doing it. I am doing it alone and am getting a ton out of it; you don't have to be in a group to do this study. (FYI everything in italics is from the study itself, everything in regular type is from Megan herself.)
Here we go...

Isa. 61:4 "They will rebuild the ancient ruins and restore the places long devastated;

they will renew the ruined cities that have been devastated for generations."

Why do people flock to see ancient ruins? Because unlocking any society's heritage is important to understanding the development of its present inhabitants. Looking back for the right reasons with the right attitude helps us become better equipped to look forward. We need to examine areas of devastation or defeat that have been in our family lines for generations. (oooo)

• Think about generational strongholds. Why could they be hard to recognize?
  

Because you are caught as well in the same issues as those before or are embarrassed to admit the problems or you don't know what they are. What are some of the strongholds in my family history? Alcoholism, divorce, non-believers, abuse. That's all I know of.

Our aim is not to argue genetics versus environment; our aim is to be loosed from anything limiting our lives in Christ. Anything passed down to us that inhibits the full expression of freedom we should have in Christ qualifies as bondage.

I realized Christ had the good ones and the bad ones in his family. I don't know of any Christians in my family tree. If there were some, it was lost. Sad huh? Sad to know that I've got relatives not in Heaven because someone dropped the ball.

She has you fill out a diagram describing both the positive and negative influences from my grandparents and parents. Let me tell you this was very hard for me. I often think back to my childhood and I have a very difficult time remembering 'good' memories. I know there are some, but I can't find them in my Rolodex of memories. I can remember my dad being gone weeks, months on end working. He'd come home and things would be fine. He might go fishing and would never take me; I wanted to go. I can remember as an adult going to my childhood home that I lived in my whole life, picking through the trinkets, papers, furniture, pictures and memories and having to decide what 'items' I could live without. I can remember seeing the bassinet my dad made with his bare hands and having to leave it behind for the new home owners b/c Matt and I didn't have the room nor the kids yet. All of that lost in a divorce. But here are some of the good and bad influences, not memories, I have:

Mom Good ones- good listener Mom Bad ones- smoked, not a big hugger

Dad Good ones-?????? Dad Bad ones- never home, drank (not anymore), griped a lot

Paternal g-ma Good- simplicity, at one time loved all Her bad- hateful, bitterness

Maternal g-ma Good-????? Her bad-never saw her, smoked

I didn't have any grandfathers, so those were blank.

How does God want you to respond to what He showed you today?

Make a lot of good memories with my kids b/c they will remember the bad more easily if the good memories aren't there. I realized how easy it was for me to think of all the bad my family has in their past. I can not think of many good memories, they are overshadowed by divorce, drinking and absentness.

My mom isn't a big hugger. I am not a big hugger, especially when it comes to men. My mom was abused as a child. I was never abused, but yet I do not like hugging men. I can't remember ever hugging Matt's father and he is a perfectly nice preacher of a Baptist church. My mom has never said, "Megan, don't hug men." It was what I saw her do I guess.

See where am I going with this? We have to change those things that are effecting/affecting the way we live, parent, worship and breathe. I get so excited when I think about getting to raise my children to love and serve the Lord, to serve others, to reach out to people and to trust me and their father. I get to start a new history a whole new tourist attraction for the next generation of Knox's.

Think about your strongholds passed down to you. Not to dwell on them and be all 'Woe is me' but to recognize and change and pray.

Tomorrow gets even better. I hope I can wait that long to tell you. I may end up posting it later today. :)