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  • Home
  • Our Services
    • Do You Need a New Beginning?
    • Baby Boutique Programs
    • Community Resources >
      • Medical
      • Education
      • Parenting
      • Financial
      • Housing
      • Legal & Mental Health
      • Food Pantry
    • Testimonials
  • Donate Now
    • One-Time Donation
    • Recurring Donation
    • Gift Catalog
    • Material Donations >
      • Target Registry
      • Amazon Wish List
      • Wish List
    • Merch
  • Getting Involved
    • Career Opportunities
    • Volunteer >
      • Volunteer Time Log
    • Internships >
      • Resident Supervisor
      • Media Design Internship
      • Film Production Internship
      • Resident Support Internship
      • Marketing Internship
      • Social Media Internship
      • Customized Internship
    • Events >
      • Ministry Presentations
    • Change for Life Program
  • About Us
    • Virtual Tour
    • Our Team
    • Board of Directors
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    • Newsletter >
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Seeking God's Peace

1/23/2017

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​"'Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken nor my covenant of peace be removed,' says the LORD, who has compassion on you." (Isaiah 54:10)
​Sometimes we feel like life is getting the best of us.  We feel hopeless, overwhelmed, and overworked.  Our thoughts become jumbled and frantic as we struggle to keep up with all of our responsibilities and others' expectations.  It's always one thing after another and we feel as though we are being pulled in every direction.  Rather than focusing on being thankful for the good in our lives, we find ourselves feeling beaten down and defeated by all of the bad.  We may begin to question the path we've chosen or lash out in anger and frustration at those for whom we care most.
​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.  
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​"Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.  And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." (Philippians 4:6-7)
​Next time you are feeling helpless, seek comfort in God's Word.  Go to your Heavenly Father in prayer and ask for His guidance.  Only He can grant us true peace from the anxieties of this world.  "Cast all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you." (1 Peter 5:7)
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​"The LORD gives strength to his people; the LORD blesses his people with peace." (Psalm 29:11)
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Taleya Williamson is the Operations Manager at New Beginnings.  She was born and raised in Puyallup, Washington and attended Evergreen Lutheran High School.  Taleya recently graduated from Wisconsin Lutheran College with a Bachelors of Science in psychology with a minor in anthropology.  In her free time, Taleya enjoys spending time with her husband, David.

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Live Your Assignment

1/18/2017

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​“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. 
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SINFUL HUMANS CAN BE SELFISH
 
In this world, it is so easy to get caught up in ourselves, our life, our actions; what WE did. Success always seems to be internalized as something WE accomplished. Let’s address the other extreme – blaming God for our misfortune. What an interesting change of heart! I think we all can recognize how easy it is to praise our fortunes as our own, but blame our bad luck on God. Don’t let yourself become infected with self-pride, but rather be a humble servant of Christ.
 
“For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you” (Romans 12:3). 

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!
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LIVE TO THANK JESUS!
I am sure that not many of us have thought of our life as an assignment from God. But God tells us that we are all called for His purpose. Ah yes, Romans 8:28 may be coming to mind now… (And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose).
So let’s ask the WELS question: What does this mean? 
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​LIVE YOUR ASSIGNMENT
Whether your talents and gifts are money, time, or a specific talent, use it to glorify God and His purpose for your life. Ultimately, use your gifts to bless others, but never forget to say, “Thank you Jesus”!
Do you have a gift or talent that you could use to serve the mothers and babies at New Beginnings? 
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Brianne Hansen is the Executive Director at New Beginnings. She grew up in Marshall, WI and graduated from Lakeside Lutheran High School. Brianne has a Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology from the University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee. In her free time, she enjoys singing, camping, refurbishing furniture and spending time with her husband, Daniel.  

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What is cognitive development?

1/9/2017

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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.
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Ways to encourage cognitive growth.
Read books aloud to your baby and recite nursery rhymes, choose books that have brightly colored pictures that show common objects, point and make noises – say the animal sounds to go along with the animal pictures.  Babies enjoy cloth books with different textures, and flaps.
 
Have meaningful conversations with your baby, react to their coos and smiles, they are expecting you to respond.
 
Provide lots of fun bath toys.

​Give your baby toys that let him push a button to make something happen, or activities like shaking or banging objects.  Your baby wants to see the results of his actions, this helps him learn the “if-then” reasoning. 
As you can see, babies are not only growing physically during their first years of life, but also cognitively (mentally). 

It’s never too early to help your baby become all that they can be.  
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Karen O'Leary is the the Program Manager at New Beginnings. She has her BA in Bible Theology and her Masters of Divinity. She has 8-years of experience as a Social Director at a non-profit organization helping those in crisis with financial assistance, brief supportive counseling, and being a spiritual presence in their time of need. In her free time Karen enjoys reading, cooking and traveling.

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A Year of Blessings

1/2/2017

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​It is the beginning of a new year!  It is a year to start over, start fresh, and have a new beginning.  Many people make New Year’s resolutions to achieve something that they want that they don’t already have.  Your new year’s promise to yourself could be to stop smoking, lose some weight, finally get those bills paid, take that trip that you have putting off, or many other things that you want to achieve in the coming year.
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​While setting goals for ourselves is good and healthy to do, we shouldn’t lose sight of the things that we already have.  God has blessed each and every one of us richly but sometimes we are so focused on what is to come, we fail to see what we already have.
​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!
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​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!
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​Do you have any blessings or thoughts that you would like to share with us?  Comment in the section below to tell us what God has blessed you with this year.
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Christina Pritzlaff is married with two children. She has completed Early Childhood 1 & 2 classes, Infant Toddler classes, and completed the coursework for her Associates degree in Child Development. Christina splits her time between spending time with her family and working at New Beginnings. In her free time, she enjoys spending time with her children, camping, fishing, reading, and doing counted cross-stitch.

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