BP87
Many family systems are frozen, encased in ice, incapable of moving forward. The members of these families are stuck like so many ships in an ice field. They are rigidly immovable possibly due to abuse within the family, because of both sexual and emotional incest, physical and mental illnesses, generational shame, addictions to substances, sex, and gambling, strict morality, even religion (as opposed to true, healthy faith in Jesus).
Elle grew up in such a family system that was like a frozen waterway—nobody was moving forward or growing. Everyone was stuck in sin and dysfunction. Her uncle sexually abused her when she was a little girl, her emotionally broken mother had also been abused by multiple family members and was not present for her daughter, and her grandmother was a hard, evil woman who locked little Elle in the hallway closet whenever she was irritated by her.
Allen also came from a family frozen by sexual shame and dark practices. His father verbally, emotionally, and sexually abused him in horrible ways. His mother, terrified by her abusive husband, often ran from the house, leaving Allen alone with his primitive father. His grandfather killed himself with a shotgun in Allen’s basement when Allen was young.
I could recount hundreds of different examples of frozen family systems. Many of these families often look good in public, but behind closed doors, everything changes. I have found it incredible how many family members wear a mask that conceals not only shame, fear, and depression, but also darkness and evil. Sadly, maybe it is true to never trust a smile—it often hides great evil. It is tragic how many children are born into such fallen family frozenness. Even before they are three years old, they are fully encased in the thick field of ice that shipwrecks their families, condemned to carry on the family legacy of sin and darkness.
Elle and Allen were very different, set apart. They were summoned out of the icy prison that had encased every member of the family for over a century. In fact, they became quite the opposite of the rest of their family. They were called to be icebreakers and trailblazers and siege ramps constructed to liberate the family living in darkness.
It all began for Elle and Allen when they had a personal encounter with Jesus who made them a new creation and opened their eyes. Their eyes were not fully opened immediately, but enough for them to see that the world was very different than they had first thought.
The Holy Spirit who now lived inside Allen and Elle as a messenger from beyond the icefield taught them that they did not have to settle for what they were born into, that they could escape from their predicament that everyone around them blindly accepted as normal, that they could break down the prison walls and sail away from death to new life.
Moses was an icebreaker as well. He grew up in the dysfunctional idol-worshipping family of Pharaoh where fleeting pleasures were the norm, and the vast treasures of Egypt were his legacy. He was stuck in the sinful, oppressive ways of a family and a culture that did not know true life but settled for icy darkness. But Moses’ life, like those of Elle and Allen, was interrupted by God.
For Moses, the burning bush was his deliverance. For Elle it was an abusive family member (of all people!) who brought her to Jesus after he himself had recently been saved. For Allen, it was a teacher in high school who introduced him to the deliverance of Christ when he would have never heard the good news any other place. God opens our hard hearts at the perfect time through the perfect medium.
So, what is an icebreaker anyway? Most of us have heard of icebreaking ships–vessels specially built to break through waterways frozen over with thick ice. They are designed to do things that most other ships cannot do. Specifically, they are equipped with a bow design that helps fracture and push aside the ice; with a fortified bow and hull that is stronger than other ships; and with powerful engines—often diesel-electric—that have enough power to drive through the ice.
Icebreakers clear paths through thinner ice simply by moving forward with great momentum. When the ice is thicker, however, the icebreaker must create a crack in the ice and then drive its bow onto the ice to break it under its weight. The ship is wisely designed to push the ice to the side or beneath the vessel since it would be impossible to simply push it forward. While the ship’s icebreaking design protects its propulsion system from damage, occasionally the propellors and propellor shafts are at risk from the ice that is pushed beneath the vessel.
Icebreaking ships, in summary, are designed specifically to carve their way through frozen waters that prevent other ships from sailing forward. Only after the powerful icebreaker carves a passage through the ice are other ships able to escape their frozen berths and sail forward to new destinations.
As I mentioned above, some people are icebreakers—like Moses, Elle, and Allen. They are vessels designed in a special way for a God-ordained purpose and called out by God to escape the dark histories their families have been encased in for generations. Like Moses, they may not feel like leaders, but God, nonetheless, has placed them in positions to lead others out of the imprisonment of their spiritual icefields—both family members and others they encounter in the world.
Yes, Moses was more than an icebreaker—by God’s power he literally parted the waters of the Red Sea and led the people to safety on the other side. But like Moses, some of you have been called to be icebreakers who lead your families out of Egypt and into God’s Promised Land of grace and joy. Your leadership may not result in the exodus of hundreds of thousands of people out of bondage to a darkness that includes both spiritual and mental sickness, but by your courageous obedience, many will walk into the light.
If your calling is not to be a human icebreaker who churns its way out of the frozen family icefield toward the freedom of Jesus’ redemption, God has another amazing purpose for your life. He will reveal it to you in time. Never forget that you are gifted by Him for a purpose.
In the meantime, be patient with those who have been called out of a dysfunctional family by God’s sovereign grace. They may not be designed like you. They may have more powerful engines or a different kind of hull or may even be extra guarded (to protect their propulsion system) or less gentle than you. After all, they have been called to move tons of darkness that blocks others from coming to the light.
If you self-identify as a human icebreaker, be prepared for a season of difficult growth that will prepare you for the icebreaking journey ahead. Moses did not begin his icebreaking when he was young. He was an old man when God finally called him out of Midian and back to Egypt. Elle is still being readied by God to lead others out of bondage as is Allen.
Preparation is key because the ice of hell is thick in some places and will mightily resist your efforts. You will undoubtedly fail if you are not patient to grow. A thick hull and strong engines and an ideal bow shape come only with sufficient refining and sanctification.
The season of growth will entail psychological healing for the damage done in your family of origin (possibly in therapy with a counselor trained in icebreaking preparation), relational growth, and spiritual development. The desire of God’s heart is to heal your emotional brokenness, your relational dysfunction, and your spiritual distortions—all for the end of becoming massive oaks of righteousness with extensive branch systems that will shelter the hearts and souls of many around you.
Also, icebreaker, trust in the Lord with all your heart because your strength for this journey comes only from Him. Human effort can do nothing in the icefields of sin and death and dysfunction. After all, it is a spiritual battle and will require weapons not of the flesh but that have divine power to destroy strongholds.
Finally, as an icebreaker, part of your role might be similar to the Old Testament prophets, namely, bringing truth to people who are in love with darkness but who have been created for the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ ~ 2 Corinthians 4:6. Be prepared to bring the truth in love. Some will hear. Many will shun you.
In my work with individuals and families, I have been amazed at how God will tap one member of a dysfunctional family on the shoulder—often a teenager or a young adult—and let them know that He is calling them to be an icebreaker. Calling them by name. Calling them with a power that will destroy strongholds (see 2 Corinthians 10:3-5). Calling them to receive and bear the burden of the light. Calling them to an impossible and sometimes lonely mission.
The only certain benefit is His presence and love. Is anything else needed?
Every family is dysfunctional. Many do not have the salvation of God to bring light into their darkness or supernatural power into their powerlessness. Pray that God will call someone to lead the whole family out of darkness—at least those who will listen.
O, icebreaker, your preparation for the journey and your passage through the icefields will be the hardest thing you will ever do. If you lose heart, remember that Jesus Himself is the divine Icebreaker, the Way Maker, the Incarnated One who became like us so that He could deal a deathblow to our sin and lead us out of bondage to death and into abundant life.
He is the One who says, I am the way, and the truth, and the life ~ John 14:6. He is also the One who has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins ~ Colossians 1:13-14.
It was His blood that was spread on the lintels and door posts of Egypt before they were set free from their four-hundred-year captivity, and it was His death and blood that removed the curtain of cold, unyielding ice that hung between us and the Father. Yes, He is the supreme breaker of all that keeps us from approaching the Father.
In some ways, all of us who have believed in Jesus have become icebreakers. We are called to be His ambassadors to a world frozen by sin and separated from the light and warmth of God’s love and mercy. So, be ready to go and be an agent of reconciliation. In other words, be someone who is always prepared to share the reason for the hope that is in you and always ready to remove every icy obstacle that rises up against someone’s personal relationship with God.
Go in the power of Jesus and break some ice for the love of family, friends, and even strangers!
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God ~ 2 Corinthians 5:17-21