​Well, friends, I am happy to say that these feelings of despair and hopelessness are not eternal for Christ's people.  Each day, our Savior is looking to lift us up out of the chaos of our daily lives.  He longs to grant us peace and joy through His sacrifice for us and the truest cure for anger and worry is His love.  In fact, once we settle into God's plan for us, we often realize that the majority of what was worrying us before really doesn't matter all that much.  If we prioritize our lives according to His Will and with Him at the head, everything seems to fall into place.  There will still be struggles while we are on this earth as a result of sin but we are able to maintain our sense of peace as long as we place God first and look to Him in times of trouble.  

​“My job is to get people to say: thank you Jesus.”
 
I was recently at a training about planned giving and one of the trainers said the above quote. I thought how interesting! Even though this gentleman’s job was really to act as a Christian Giving Counselor, his self-proclaimed purpose was to help people recognize where their gifts really come from. 

OUR GIFTS BLESS OTHERS
 
God has entrusted us each with our own gifts and talents according to our abilities. In essence, we are stewards of grace-gifts from God and we are to “use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s graces in its various forms” (1 Peter 4:10). Our blessings are not meant to be platforms for gaining self-esteem and significance, but rather to be a gift to others.
 
This is a two-way blessing, in that God provides us with an opportunity to not only humble ourselves by the gifts He has given, but also bless others with those gifts. How cool is that?! We each have the opportunity to use the blessings God has given us to bless others and sanctify ourselves. Thank you Jesus!

From birth, your baby absorbs information and starts building cognitive skills, they learn and grow through new experiences. Even when it looks like simple play, your baby is learning all the time. By the age of three, they have developed 85% of their brain.  Letting a baby encounter and explore their environment, singing, listening to stories, and playing games are the first, critical steps in building academic and social skills for a lifetime. Your baby is soaking up everything as their brain grows - this is called cognitive development. Cognitive skills include your baby’s ability to learn, think, understand, reason, problem-solve, and remember.

​It’s important to remember that all babies are individual and will develop at their own pace.  However, if for some reason you are concerned about your child’s development, talk with your family health nurse or doctor to help you decide if there any problems you need to have checked out.

​We’ll start with the most obvious blessing that we have here at New Beginnings and that many of you have at home: Children!  God tells us in Psalm 127:3 “Children are a heritage from the Lord, offspring a reward from Him.”  We know that children are blessings given to us from the Lord, but most parents that I know (myself included) have fallen guilty of being ungrateful for these blessings, even if it is just temporary.  When we start to think of all the cost, running around, laundry, dirty dishes, messes, homework struggles, cooking, and all the other things that take up our time and energy, we lose sight of what God has given us.  Let’s remember what a blessing our Children are this year!

​How about our parents?  What a pain!  Always calling us and asking us what’s going on in the middle of our busy schedule.  We have to go over to their house yet again to fix something or help with the yard work when we already have so much of our own stuff to do.  We are told in Exodus 20:12 “Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord God is giving you.”  Do you remember all the things in the last paragraph that you are doing for your children?  Your parents did that for you!  Even now, they still help guide us and help us whenever we may ask.  Let’s remember what a blessing our Parents are this year!

​Troubles and trials are the last thing that many of us think about as a blessing.  Who wants all that hardship and struggle after all?  The Bible clearly tells us that these too are blessings to be counted.  In Romans 5:3-5 it says “Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.  And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.”  Let’s remember what a blessing our Trials are this year!