I'm sitting here this morning reading my book I'm using for a daily devotion and just had to share this part.  The book is called Breaking Free and it's about living in the freedom Christ has died for us to have.  That doesn't mean living a life that is perfect and trouble free - far from it.  But it's have the freedom to be who Christ meant me to be - an overcomer, a conqueror - no matter what life brings. To be have peace of mind to know that even the hard stuff, He's going to walk right by my side - occasionally just carrying me if I can't seem to take another step - and take me through it.  Whether it's a mountain top of joy or a valley of shadows.   The book talks about generational bondage that can emotionally entangle us and keep us from living in that freedom.  I'm not going to get into theology and such concerning spiritual strongholds but I do want to talk about the emotional bondage that can keep us locked in a net so tight that we have trouble moving on our own.  Things we've unwittingly learned as truth that may not be truth.  Here's an excerpt that may help explain what I'm trying to say.  It's from "It's Always Something" by Gilda Radner.

"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 lawn mower 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 in you want, bu 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 up 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."

Whether you believe in generational bondage, curses, or whatever spiritual tag you want to put on it, we can not deny that we teach what we know and we learn what we see - like it or not.  We learn or pass things along by the way we live, react, speak, or deal with everyday life.  So today I'm asking myself two questions.

1.  What have I learned wrong?  Where am I walking by "flipping my backside" when I have two perfectly good legs to support me.

2.  What am I teaching my kids, nieces, nephews, co-workers, etc?  Am I teaching them some of the emotional and spiritual handicaps I've held on to for years?  Or am I looking for strengths in them that I may not have?

The good news is that God has promised and provided all we need to fine emotional wholeness so we aren't walking around handicapped.  It may come in the form of total healing,  medical intervention which came from knowledge He gave certain people to use for the good of others, or digging down deep and doing some emotional and spiritual housecleaning.  If you've been flipping your backside, may God help you find your legs and give you the strength to use them.  I know that's my prayer for myself today!