Genetic Predisposition by Susan L.

  That is one of the reasons I am dealing with this sore, gouty, big toe: genes. It's also a contributing factor for depression and other mental health issues: genes. I suppose with heart disease, liver disease and other ...eases, genetics can play a role as well. As a child of adoption, there is one big question mark around this sort of thing. I simply don't know my medical lineage.
  Last night at Bible study, we were talking about gifts of the Spirit and of God. Somewhere along the line we got talking about the judgement day. It's that wonderful day the Lord takes us home but asks us to account for how we used the gifts He had given us. I admit it makes me squirm a bit in nervousness at the idea but I am sure it is done with love. It must grieve Him that a good amount of what we are blessed with tends to lay idle.
  Early in my Christian walk, most of what I did was repenting of sin. There was a lot to be forgiven for. God is a God of grace. As each sin was confessed in times of quiet conviction, this action left me feeling a gazillion times lighter as I received His forgiveness. There were major shifts in my understanding of both Him and myself.
  I also stood in the gap for my forefathers. Their sin had been passed down from the seventh generation and beyond. One of them was impatience and disregard for female emotion. This was something that had been learned, to the best of my knowledge, from at least as far back as my great-grandmother. I had unwittingly shared that "wisdom" with my own daughter. It was a "truth" to me. This subtly taught lesson had passed down through the family. Part of healing was forgiving my ancestors. In its place I was filled with true wisdom; the knowledge that feelings and emotions are all part of the human experience. They are of God and His nature.
  There is a flip side to all of this. Good things also run in families. Musicality, patience, faith, and much more are what I like to call generational blessings. We tend to forget about that in the midst of finding fault or looking at our families through jaded, cynical eyes. Again, I stood in the gap and loudly claimed my Divine inheritance: the gifts God had blessed the generations with but were never used. It was a powerful experience because I am a child of four generational lines: birth parents and adoptive parents.
  Where this is going I have no idea. I've had a struggle to accept and believe the good things in myself. Forgive me that, my Lord, as You have many times before. I know You will unfold and open all the blessings You have given me according to Your will and plan for my life. For that I give thanks. Help me not waste the days I have left but let me be a blessing to others through Your gifts. In Jesus' name I pray.
  "By the God of your father who will help you, and by the Almighty who will bless you with blessings of heaven above, blessings of the deep that lies beneath, blessings of the breasts and of the womb." Gen 49:25