At New Beginnings, we do our best as staff and Resident Assistants to provide a family and community feel for our residents. However, no matter how hard we try, the residents, staff members, or RAs may feel lonely at times, just as anyone can. Valentine’s Day is occasionally referred to in jokes as “Single People Awareness Day.” This is an unfortunate outcome from a holiday based on showing people love and affection. However, as Christians we must remember that we are never alone. God constantly reassures us in his word that we are not alone. God is always by our side, so no matter what hardships come our way, he is still there to strengthen our faith through word and prayer. Naomi Brandt is a resident assistant from Salt Lake City, Utah. While her major at Wisconsin Lutheran College is in Business Administration, she hopes to go to law school after graduation, and work in either law, politics, or public relations. New Beginnings has been a great opportunity for Naomi to expand her work experience, grow in her faith, and have a home away from home.
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Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is your brother Abel?” “I don’t know,” he replied. “Am I my brother’s keeper?” Genesis 4:9 When we think of Cain from the Bible, we think murderer. After all, he killed his own flesh and blood. He retorted to God, “Am I my brother’s keeper?” when God asked Cain where Abel was. Yet, when we think of Cain, we should really be thinking of how easily we relate to him. No, maybe we’re not jealous, cold-blooded killers, but we all justify our self-focused nature that leads us to care only for ourselves. God doesn’t directly answer Cain’s counter, but throughout the Bible we see that God’s answer was clearly a yes – you are your brother’s keeper. We are commanded to love one another, serve one another, and go and make disciples. All those things require one thing: a relationship – a relationship with God and a relationship with others. Yet this is impossible when we merely focus on our own wants and needs. Often times we use the excuse of being too busy to have time to worry about anyone but ourselves or our closest loved ones. We complain, Why me? Isn’t there someone else who can help? Doesn’t God know that I already have so much going on right now? I just need to focus on myself before I can help someone else. While setting a solid foundation in our own life is very important, it is critical to be a cornerstone in someone else’s. Who knows what God is doing through you? New Beginnings is the perfect opportunity to show Christian love and service in two key aspects. First, as staff we support our residents individually to be the best version of themselves. Whether it’s finishing their education or excelling in the program, we want our moms to always know we are here for them! Second, all of our moms are completely unique, fearfully and wonderfully made by God. Although they come from different places in life, they are brought together to start a new chapter through our program. They never have to worry about going through this life-changing step alone because there is a mom right by their side going through it with them. With supportive residents and an encouraging staff, it’s an honor to be our brother’s keeper. Cait Seastrand All the way from San Diego, California, she is a Junior Sports and Exercise Science major at Wisconsin Lutheran College. God-willing she will be a physical therapist for children, soldiers, or academy cadets for the police and fire departments. Until then, she is very thankful for the opportunity to have a family away from home here at New Beginnings. The travel industry naturally booms around the holidays. Airports are swamped, traffic is outrageous, and people’s schedules are crazy, all because everyone wants to head HOME. The value of spending Christmas with family and friends, in a warm welcome environment is immeasurable, and the thought of spending the holidays alone is almost unbearable for many. Unfortunately, not everyone can go home for the holidays. At New Beginnings, a physical home is provided, both for residents and resident assistants. However, New Beginnings is much more than just a physical home, and this has been especially true for the month of December. A lot of what makes home so appealing around the holidays is the Christian loving environment, full of traditions, food, and God’s Word. As a college student, I sometimes miss out on the Christmas spirit, because I am far away from home. This year New Beginnings helped both the residents and Resident Assistants celebrate Christmas through our devotions, tree decorating, and Christmas dinner, and therefore gave me a Home for the Holidays. I am incredibly thankful for my earthly home for the holidays, and grateful for the daily reminders at New Beginnings that I can always look forward to my home in heaven as well. Naomi Brandt is a resident assistant from Salt Lake City, Utah. While her major at Wisconsin Lutheran College is in Business Administration, she hopes to go to law school after graduation, and work in either law, politics, or public relations. New Beginnings has been a great opportunity for Naomi to expand her work experience, grow in her faith, and have a home away from home. I think we can all relate to the familiar feeling of end-of-the-year stress. Whether it’s finishing up the school semester, getting important tasks done at work, finishing up shopping for presents, or planning family Christmas dinners and parties, there’s a lot going on this time of the year! Balancing work and personal obligations can be especially hard when there’s so many demands coming from both sides. It’s easy in times like this to become too productive and overwork ourselves, causing exhaustion and stress that affects our health, relationships, and even our spiritual lives. Jesus told his followers in John 9:4 to work while it is day, which reminds us to not waste the time we’re given here on Earth. However, we can’t forget how big of an advocate God is for rest! Even God, as powerful and almighty as he is, set aside the seventh day after creation to be a day of rest after seeing all the work he had done (Genesis 2:1-3). That’s how we got the Sabbath. And while designing and creating everything in existence may seem like a much bigger task than what is on our plates, he still wants the same thing for us. Setting aside time to peacefully rest and temporarily let go of commitments allows us to complete them and serve him even better afterwards. Jesus is our Sabbath, and in him we can find the peace and rest we need to feel rejuvenated after daily struggles take their toll on us. Matthew 11:28 says, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” Remember during the Christmas season that God has blessed us with this time to be with our loved ones and to meditate on his love for us. It’s easy to worry about what still needs to be done or what’s coming up in the New Year, but rely on him to bring you through it and give you the rest that you’ve earned! A Former Resident Supervisor
Over the past 5 years, our government has spent more than 3.7 trillion dollars on welfare programs. That’s 5 times greater than the spending amount of transportation, education, and NASA combined. Though poverty rates have gone down from 15% t0 14.5% in 2013, there are still 45 million Americans living below the poverty line, second highest among 35 developed nations. Although money is a great resource to help the poor, research has shown that poverty may be more than just a lack of financial resources. For us to see a significant improvement in the poverty rate of our country, we must first understand the culture of poverty and create solutions that include MORE than just money. The following video was created by Abednego Samudera: The Culture of PovertyIn her book A Framework for Understanding Poverty, Ruby Payne described that poverty is a set of hidden rules or “norms” that influence an individual’s “patterns of thought, social interaction, and cognitive strategies.” Poverty is a lifestyle, and like any other lifestyle, it is composed of many different elements besides financial resources, such as emotional, mental, and spiritual support. Support systems are as crucial as money for an individual to break away and stay out of poverty. One of the biggest downfalls of social welfare programs is the notion that if an individual is given money, it will help them secure other resources. Theoretically, it makes sense. Realistically, however, money cannot buy a good support system, especially considering that an individual living in poverty is probably surrounded by other poverty-stricken individuals who need the same resources. The SolutionThere isn’t one correct solution to this problem. However, there are other cost-effective ways that can yield greater results than just money. Sure, money will be part of the solution, but it will not be the whole solution. Since poverty is a culture, we must teach individuals to break away from that culture. Enrolling in a program that provides support group is a great step to teaching individuals that there are other possibilities besides their own. Education is also a crucial part in getting the poor out of poverty. It’s important that we teach them basic, yet very important, coping strategy skills, such as problem solving, positive attitudes, resolving conflicts, and setting priorities and goals. Along with that, having a support system also means that we are providing them with a network of people who can be a resource to their success. As you saw in the video, New Beginnings aims to break the cycle of poverty for each mother and baby at New Beginnings by providing an abundance of resources and support. When we understand that poverty is an accumulation of the lack of numerous resources besides money, the solution to fight poverty is exponentially greater than just using money as the only solution. As educators, professionals, mothers, fathers, and students, this means that we need not invest thousands or millions of dollars to this cause. We have opportunities to influence with other resources besides money that can make such a tremendous impact on the poor.
You know those days when you wake up and somehow you’re already stressed? You open your eyes as you’re lying in bed trying to find the strength to face the day’s challenges. Your mind floods with your mental to-do list and how you’re going to find enough time in the day to really get those things done. On this list, you have some short-term tasks, but also included are those long-term tasks that you keep pushing off. You consider the previous days’ activities, trying to justify your desire to not do anything today. But as hard as you try, you know that you’re still going to have to get things done. So, you muster the strength to get out of bed. Stressed or not, you face the day. Despite our longing for rest when it seems that things just keep piling up, we have to remember to live in the present. We can’t use the past to justify our future actions, or lack thereof. We get so caught up in the worldly things we have to do that we forget the most important thing God called us to do. Henry David Thoreau reminds us of this with his quote: “What lies before us and what lies behind us are small matters compared to what lies within us. And when you bring what is within out into the world, miracles happen.” Within us all is the Holy Spirit and He does make miracles happen. Each and every day, the Holy Spirit is working in us to help us grow in faith --- faith that gets us through those stressful days. While the past is what brought us to where we are today, we have to remember that the Holy Spirit is within us, guiding us in life, and leading us to what lies before us: A glorious rest in heaven. On our heavenward journey, we will face trial and tribulation and days that leave us feeling worn and weary. But throughout it all, we are to keep our heads up knowing that the things of this world don’t matter compared to how the Holy Spirit is working in our hearts to strengthen our faith in the God who already has our life perfectly planned. So, do not seek the world --- seek peace, seek truth, seek love, seek Christ --- because grace carried us here and by grace we’ll carry on. All the way from San Diego, California, Cait Seastrand is a Junior Sports and Exercise Science major at Wisconsin Lutheran College. God-willing, she will be a physical therapist for children, soldiers, or academy cadets for the police and fire departments. Until then, she is very thankful for the opportunity to have a family away from home here at New Beginnings. At New Beginnings, time management contributes to resident success in the program. Staff, also, works to maintain strong time management skills in an effort to further the mission of our ministry every day. Sometimes trying to accomplish multiple tasks in one day leads us to want to throw our hands up in the air and yell, “This is too much!” We can rest assured that everything will get done one day at a time, but in the meantime, here are some tips on time management. One of our former Resident Support Interns, Deanna Mose, compiled some important tips on how to manage time effectively. Thanks Deanna! Managing time is something that does not come naturally to us. It is easy to feel overwhelmed with everything that needs to be done. Time management skills, however, can be learned and improved. Here are some tips for how to manage time well:
Overcome Procrastination. Schedule. Avoid Perfectionism.
This blog post was written by our former Resident Support Staff Intern, Deanna Mose. Deanna currently attends Wisconsin Lutheran College. She helped New Beginnings with a variety of projects including light office work, assisting with our Change for Life fundraiser, interacting with residents, doing research on generational poverty, and writing blog articles. |
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