Editor’s Note: This devotion was written by Dianna Hobbs and used by permission from her ‘Your Daily Cup of Inspiration’ blog. To read more encouragement like this, visit YourDailyCupOfInspiration.com.

I got married at 21 and became pregnant with our first child that same year. At the time, I was in college and thought I was going to have to drop out. It seemed much too overwhelming to juggle school and motherhood.

One day, I was telling my mother Annie about how I was going to give up on higher education altogether. But she wasn’t having that.

“No, Dianna. You can’t quit!” Mom said.

Even though she did not go to college, she said she wanted me to finish and vowed to do whatever she could to help me. My amazing mother, who turned 69 today (Happy Birthday Mommy!), watched Kyla every day for free so I could attend classes.

You should have seen me getting myself up early in the morning before the sun came up, sometimes with one eye open, to pump breast milk and fill Kyla’s bottles. Whew! It was a grind. But by the grace of God, I did it.

Through that difficult experience, my mother planted a seed of personal accountability and responsibility in me. She taught me that I don’t have to repeat cycles. I can choose a different path, aim higher, and do more than what I have witnessed around me.

In Ezekiel 18, God taught Israel a similar life lesson. Only, their issue was much more serious. It had to do with their relationship with God. In this passage, the Lord instructed the Israelites to stop repeating and believing a popular proverb that said, “The parents eat sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge” (v 2).

The interpretation of this saying was that the children paid for the sins of their parents. However, God said, not so! If Israel repented and lived righteously, despite the sins of their parents, they would be blessed.

What a freeing truth for those who had erroneously believed that the deck of cards was stacked against them spiritually because of the rebelliousness of their parents. With one word from God, they realized they were not powerless after all. They were not stuck under some thick, black cloud of condemnation. They were not in any way doomed to bondage. They could forge a new path and experience God’s favor.

This awesome truth applies us to us, too. We are no longer under the curse of sin or the tyranny of the law but under grace. Jesus, the cycle-breaker, already died and rose to free us.

Friend, He has broken the chains that bind you. He has delivered you from any cycles that seem bigger and more powerful than you. He has unlocked the prison doors and given you the all-clear to walk by faith and live a victorious life. You are not sentenced to a life of defeat.

But Satan doesn’t want you to know that. He wants you to believe that generational curses have power over you, that you are doomed to repeat negative cycles, that you are the sum total of what you have witnessed and experienced, and that your history is your destiny.

Wrong, wrong, wrong!

Christ has equipped you to walk in a new level of freedom, a new dimension of favor, and a new season of blessings. You don’t have to be bound any longer.

One of my favorite portions of Scripture found in John 8:36 NKJV is so fitting, which is why I’m stirring it into today’s cup of inspiration. It simply says, “Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.”

As you drink down the contents of your cup, declare over your life that every negative cycle is broken. Every chain is loosed. And everything God has destined you to be, do, and have, you shall be, do, and have it, because Christ, the cycle-breaker, has set you free!

Now, let’s pray.

God, thank You for reminding me that I am no longer bound, but I am victoriously walking in freedom. Today, I rebuke every negative thought and belief that tells me I am limited, cursed, and shackled to the prison of my past. By faith, I declare that the resurrection power of Christ has elevated me above all that once held me down, and I will be everything You have called, equipped, and anointed me to be. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Dianna Hobbs is founder of EEW Magazine Online and CEO of Empowering Everyday Women Ministries — a 501c3 nonprofit organization that shares the gospel and provides humanitarian aid to the hurting. She is also the writer of Your Daily Cup of Inspiration and executive producer of the companion podcast. Follow Dianna on social media: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube. Sign up for her free ministry newsletter here.