If I come from a broken family, how can I turn my life around? The solution seems obvious: leave home, marry a Christian, start my own family. Do things different from the way my parents did.

So why do so many who try this wind up making all the same mistakes their parents did? Marrying a Christian and following God together are essential?but your parents' sin still affects you, and it will affect your children after you. This is generational bad news.

"I...am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments" (Deut. 5:9-10).

How do we turn this generational curse into a thousand generations of blessing? The key is honoring your parents?even those who are not honorable, or not even Christians. You (and your children) need your parents, and they need you. Restoring these relationships will change your life. Don't wait for your parents to make the first move?your love and obedience to God can bring love for a thousand generations.

Jim Wilson was a pastor, counselor, and the director of Community Christian Ministries in Moscow, Idaho, for over forty years. Before that, he served as a naval officer for nine years and worked with Officers' Christian Fellowship for twelve years. Jim has authored several books, including How to be Free from Bitterness, Principles of War: A Handbook on Strategic Evangelism, and Being Christian. He is a father of four, grandfather of fifteen, and great‐grandfather of thirty-two and counting.