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(Volume 41) November 2009
Inside This Issue:
Welcome
Who is New Beginnings
What’s New-
November 2009 Feature Article-
Monthly Fitness Tips-
Monthly Physical Fitness Article-
Monthly Devotional-
Team News/Prayer Requests and Praise Reports
What Have you Been Reading?
Book Recommendation
Your Recommendations Related to the Monthly Topic
Upcoming Events-
Reminders-Church Link
Word of Encouragement
New Beginnings Scripture for November
Our Mission Statement
Welcome-
Welcome to the New Beginnings Holistic Fitness Ministries family. We consider it a privilege to support your fitness efforts. We welcome your suggestions and ideas, so please let us know if there is anything we can do to make your experience with the monthly newsletter, website, weekly messages or message board more beneficial. We can be contacted at contactus@mynewtemple.org. It is our prayer to bring you words of encouragement and inspiration to motivate you to become fit physically, emotionally, spiritually and relationally. This is your New Beginning and we want to make it an awesome experience for you. As you begin this new adventure we are praying for you.
Who are we?
New Beginnings is a fitness ministry established in 2003 to offer a holistic approach to fitness that includes mind, body and spirit. A fitness ministry also serves to help people help themselves through physical and spiritual exercise. At New Beginnings we believe good health is a gift from God and can be obtained by following biblical principles as we lead a balanced life physically, mentally, spiritually and relationally.
What’s New?
November 2009 we as a ministry are celebrating 7 full years of ministry between Carroll Roberts, The Fitness Angel and founder of New Beginnings and Angela Willingham the New Beginnings CEO. Watch out for what’s coming in year number 8. They don’t even know.
Monthly Feature Article-
Communicate and Respond Part 1
You Better Say Something!
By Angela Willingham
Men complain that women talk too much and women complain that men don’t talk enough. Relationships go on year after year with no real progress being made because when people do talk they say what they think the other person wants to hear. They don’t say what they really mean or need to say.
We don’t say what we really mean because we are afraid of hurting the other person’s feelings. We may think it is just none of our business or it’s just not worth the headache. No one wants to deal with the confrontation that might take place if we say what we really think so we walk around in silence.
This does not just occur in male/female relationships. It happens in our families and work relationships. It happens in our churches, businesses and partnerships. In our efforts to keep the peace we allow things to get out of control. Bitterness begins to seep into our minds and our hearts. The husband who does not say anything to his wife about the extra pounds she has gained or the change he would like to see her make in her appearance, whether it be hair, clothing, makeup or something as simple as the perfume she wears or does not wear allows what he really wants to continue to stir around in his mind, but he never addresses her, the one that can change it.
Maybe he has said something before and it went nowhere, so instead of getting into the same argument or taking a chance that he might get into the same argument again, he says nothing. He thinks he will just have to live with this forever she will never change and neither will the situation, because yes, this can be situational.
Maybe he hates coming home to a dirty house, dishes in the sink, her sitting around in a duster, with rollers in her hair or sitting on the phone and barely looking up when he walks in because whatever she is talking about is apparently more important than he is. He thinks he is just dealing with it, but in his heart and in his head he is not.
In actuality his heart is slowly turning away from his relationship and he is becomes distracted by other women he finds more attractive. Women who do pay attention to how they look and think he is the greatest thing in the world. They would do anything for him and he does not have to say anything to them. What’s the real reason you won’t say anything?
- Don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings?
- Afraid that the person does not love or respect you enough to honor your request or even hear it?
- Fear of the confrontation that will be created by saying something?
- You’ve been here before, you’ve said it all before and nothing changed?
Now this does not have to be the husband with these complaints. Maybe the wife is tired of sharing her husband with the boys or the child is tired of never having dinner or time for them because the mother is always to busy with her friends.. Think about it this could be a lot of relationship issues that no one ever talks about. The family friend or relative that everyone knows is a pervert, but no one will say anything. They allow the perversion to continue unchecked because no one wants to be the bad guy.
What’s different this time? How do I communicate my feelings about the situation differently this time? Am I more concerned about resolving the situation or being right? Am I willing to work through it and listen to what they have to say as well or do I just want my way? Ask yourself these questions so you can identify your true motivation before you say something.
- Start by praying for yourself and your communication style. Pray for it not to be offensive.
- Pray for the right and pure heart from you as the communicator and for the person that is on the other end of your communication to be receptive. Pray for God to prepare them to hear what you have to say. No attitudes and no misunderstandings. No hurt feelings, just understanding. Pray that they will hear what you are saying from your heart.
- Speak the truth in love (Ephesians 4:15). That means you can’t go to them when you are upset or angry. Don’t try to talk when you are feeling emotional, because it won’t come out right for either person. You will say the wrong thing and they will hear the wrong thing.
Don’t ignore the things that are bothering you because something that starts out small will grow into something big and a root of bitterness will be planted. Take a chance and say what’s in your heart and on your mind, but do it in love.
A friend that I respect shared with me that the gray in my hair did not fit my face. It made me look older by about 10 years. That had been a problem for years, but nothing had ever been said for fear of hurting my feelings, so I never knew. Many of my friends complimented me on it. A week before my friend shared his feelings about my hair, the Holy Spirit had already spoken to my spirit about coloring it. My friend came to me from a very caring and loving place.
I could see the effort it took for him to share with me what was on his mind. He did not know that I had already been prepared for what he was going to say and I did not know what he was going to say. We were both open and obedient. Prayer causes that.
If you want the relationship with your family, friend, spouse or significant other to grow, you better say something, but speak the truth in love, because God may have already gone before you and prepared the way. Walk in it. Don’t waste any more time allowing bitterness to grow or allowing division between you, Say something.
Scripture:
Ephesians 4:15:
15 Instead, we will speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church.
For further discussion contact Angela at contactus@mynewtemple.org or write to us on the message board http://mynewtemple.org/aMessages.html
In the last month God has brought a very special woman into the lives of the New Beginnings family. She is a sister who loves God and has a heart to see people healed. She has consented to be a contributing writer for New Beginnings. Here is an introduction to her.
Who is Beatrice Parco?
For 5 years I was working with Goodwill Industries, in the accounting department and as a supervisor coordinating renovation and distribution of donated goods. My passion in this work was having the ability to work with and train challenged individuals to learn specific skills. Teaching new skills, building confidence, trust in themselves and give them encouragement on daily challenges they face.
For two years, I was exposed to Alaskan Native ways, I travel there a couple of times, one experience was being expose to a life of transition of one little village moving into modern facilities. As well I had the opportunity to witness and participate in preparation for a traditional Navajo wedding.
My Alaskan friends of this time, taught me many things, I have much respect of their ways of community and survival. We are still friends for 38 years. Through them, they have witness my usual journey that I enter after we went our separate ways. I have learned unconditional friendship.
In 1973 and for the next 3 years I was with alternative Junior College for Native and Mexican Americans. I serve the college in the Accounting Department; part of this time was being an Acting Fiscal officer. I was a student as well. I was part of the team that was instrumental to get this college accredited. When I was not working in the office,
I also was experiencing various tribal traditions and spiritual belief systems, including learning traditional ways of dance and prayer. I became a student of a universal way and the way of the peace pipe following the traditions of the Lakota’s. I ended up being a spiritual leader running a specific ceremony for the students and visitors to this place. During the time of leadership in serving others, I was also recognized by my ancestral cultural group, Azteca, as a leader of Compassion. It was this time,
I knew my Christian ways was still part of me, I am thankful for the medicine man who mentor me to help me keep a balance of cultural traditions and my Christian belief system.
Then I moved to live in a self sufficient community for 4 years, no running water or electricity, growing vegetables, raising or hunting animals with the foundation of Chumash native teachings. While here, I performed many ceremonies especially for the women and children, I was also an administrator of the finances of this foundation and a teacher for the children’s school.
During this time, I was invited for many speaking engagements to share universal ways; I was part of the group that was invited to Mexico and we became the first group ever allow to dance on the pyramids after 252 years; at the end of my journey here, during a vision quest in the mountains, the universe expose itself to me and I experience myself being one with the universe, ending with ceremony with the message, to be of who I was baptize as, my spirit will always be Indian. In other words, I was baptized under the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost.That my next very long dark journey was to learn who I am and who is the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost.
During this dark journey, everything was taken, even my soul. Yet Christ came to me at my darkest moment, a moment that I wanted to died, being a victim of my own vulnerabilities of trying to please everyone except for myself, living in total guilt of the sins I live in and the sins of others.
I lost hope, love, trust, confidence and my belief that there is a compassionate God; I am not worthy to live. My passion in life was to help others to bring out the greatness in them, but I could not do that to myself.
When Christ appear to me, it was his face as he was on the Cross, wearing the crown of thorns, blood coming down his face and the blood of his palms still leaving his body. He looked at me, with so much love and compassion, with no words, he touched the blood from his palms and they placed this blood on each of my palms. Until this day, I can still feel the energy and vibration of his blood on my palms. It took over 20 years later, until I was slain in his spirit at a church. During the 20 years, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit have provided reminders of their presents with me.
These last 5 years of my life, after being slain with the spirit of Christ, I attended a personal development program, Klemmer and Associates, which I transform from a crawling caterpillar to form a cocoon. They help me to discover the layers and layers of perceptions, guilt, fears, pain and heartache that I placed on myself, which formed into the body weight that I have been carrying. With them, I was beginning to see the light to a new life, it was a matter of me breaking through.
With Klemmer and Associates, I was honor to serve two terms as a coach\team leader for their samurai camp. This is when the spirit of writing showed itself and now it is unstoppable.
For I understood, the life I had since I was born, was a destiny, a destiny that God intended me to travel. I live as a tiny child of molestation for many years, distrusting all that is around me with no one person to turn to; I was a child, a teenager growing up, not sure I was loved or even hugged, now I am an adult to share the universal love of God; I lived various life styles environmentally and socially,
I was anti government as a militant to being a leader of spirit; I lived a life of confusion to understanding the way of the universe, God’s voice came and said, I always loved you, but I knew you will be strong enough to overcome this extraordinary life, so that you can teach my universal love to all nations and social classes. It was not until a month ago, that I finally accepted myself, not everyone will condone this, but it is me. I found that my weight was hiding my real self, a spirit that wants to be of who God intended it to be. Only God knows my heart, it is now a matter that I start honoring myself, loving myself of who I am, regardless of what other people think.
My life is God’s will; His will is to learn to love myself as much as He loves me. This love is not in vanity, but the love of the light that I am to nurture and allow it to be a beacon of hope to others.
My name means Beautiful Park, when God looks down to the earth all he sees is a beautiful park, not the dirt it came from. We are the forest of the living word and love of God.
Bea you are a beautiful sister in the Lord, we are glad to have you as a contributor to the ministry of New Beginnings and we look forward with anxious anticipation to what God is going to do in and through your writing.
We love you Bea!
Monthly Fitness Tip-
Drink Plain old Water. Many people eat thinking they’re hungry, when they’re really thirsty. You need eight 8-ounce glasses of water a day. Drinking water will fill you up and ease your appetite. And don’t worry about retaining water. Drinking lots of water actually trains your body not to retain water. It only retains water when it is chronically dehydrated. If you give it a steady diet of H2o, your body won’t feel the need to hold on to every last drop.
Join one of our new website communities www.mynbfitnesscommunity.com for free or www.justlikemefitness.com for a small monthly fee.!
Check out the New Beginnings Message Board for more tips that will benefit you under the Physical Fitness Category. www.mynewtemple.org. If you would like to add your own tips and suggestions please feel free to do so. If you have forgotten your password submit a request to have it sent to you or reset through the message board sign in screen.
As always we encourage you to see a physician before beginning any exercise program. Take the first step by getting up and doing something to take care of your most valuable resource, Your Health.
Monthly Physical Fitness Article-
 Excerpt from Get Fit-Fitness Angel Newsletter
Don't wait until January 2010, start your fitness program now! Check out the website
www.justlikemefitness.com
Your Fitness Angel
The Culture of Overeating: A Survival Guide
Certain foods are powerful and controlling.
They cast a spell over the most well-meaning dieter, and cause logical people to overeat until their sides hurt. When I say logical I mean these foods can cause anybody to stumble, even those who don't need to lose weight are challenged by them.
They occupy your thoughts to the point of obsession. If you don't believe me just try to ignore a plate of fresh baked cookies. Unless you just don't like cookies for some reason or you just don't like that kind, the cookies will call your name.
And when it's all said and done, they accumulate on your body in the most obtrusive way as a result of dozens of unused calories. Let me be specific. They accumulate in your hips, buttocks, abs. Just look at the places that are poking out.
Why does food hold such power? And, most importantly, how can you control your eating?
The End of Overeating
David A. Kessler, MD set out to answer these pressing questions in his instant bestseller, The End of Overeating. Despite being a pediatrician, a former FDA commissioner, and former dean of the medical schools at Yale and the University of California, San Francisco, Dr. Kessler struggles with his weight. What does that tell you?
Observing the current obesity epidemic, he knew that he wasn't alone.
It tells me that it could happen to anyone, so to start off, let's not beat ourselves up. We need to get the facts and get a plan.
Dr. Kessler, with the insight of some of the brightest minds in medicine and science, discovered the following three reasons that most of us are compelled to overeat.
- An Irresistible Combination Rewires Your Brain: Think of your favorite treat - most likely it can be broken down into the basic building blocks of sugar, fat and salt. This combination is known of as the ‘three points of the compass', a combination that has been shown to literally alter the biological circuitry of your brain.
Sugar, fat and salt give food a high hedonic value which gives you pleasure. This pleasure reinforces you to return to your favorite foods time and time again.
- The Food Industry Targets You: Everywhere you go you'll see the clever work of the food industry, tempting you with highly palatable creations. Food has become a science, and your taste preferences the guiding light. Why do you think your favorite television shows are so filled with food commercials. The food looks great in those commercials doesn't it? Sometimes it looks so good that it prompts you to get up and go to the store regardless of the time of day or night. They know what they are doing.
The food industry has one goal - to get you hooked. By constructing food items that are high in sugar, fat and salt they know that you will come back time and time again. It is just like a drug, you think you have to have it.
- Conditioned Hyper eating Becomes a Way of Life: Humans are conditioned to seek more reward. When readily available, hyper palatable foods become our reward a pattern of hyper eating quickly emerges. Dr. Kessler describes the cycle:
"Foods high in sugar, fat, and salt, and the cues that signal them, promote more of everything: more arousal...more thoughts of food...more urge to pursue food...more dopamine-stimulated approach behavior...more consumption...more opioid-driven reward...more overeating to feel better...more delay in feeling fulll...more loss of control...more preoccupation with food...more habit-driven behavior...and ultimately, more and more weight gain." It sounds crazy doesn't it and the words used to describe it psychologically sound even more crazy, but that is exactly what happens. Our minds and our emotions get involved in the process and it becomes a vicious cycle.
Breaking the Cycle
Visit one of our new websites to see the newsletter in its entirety or to signup to get it sent to your personal e-mail address. www.mynbfitnesscommunity.com or www.justlikemefitness.com. (Newsletter dated November 1, 2009).
New Beginnings Team News-
Welcome Bea Parco to the New Beginnings Team as a contributing writer. Check out her video interview with Angela on the video page. Bea understands completely the need to become fit inside and out and you will see that in her video interview and also in the articles she will be writing for the site. Watch for more from her.
Congratulations to Carroll Roberts, The Fitness Angel and Founder of New Beginnings Holistic Fitness Ministries, Inc, and Angela the New Beginnings CEO for successfully completing 7 years of ministry. They officially began their 8th year on Monday, November 2, 2009. For those of you who don’t know, Eight is the number of New Beginnings, so watch out for what God is going to do next.
What Have You Been Reading?
Many of you have read some awesome books that have really ministered to you, spiritually, emotionally, relationally or physically. Let us know what you have been reading by writing to us on the message board. Your recommendations might help someone else. Please let us know if you have read some good Christian fiction as well. Many of those books have awesome messages contained within them and we want to encourage people to grow spiritually any way they can.
If you want to do some reading for fun- We have read books by Francine Rivers (Atonement Child), multiple books by Jacquelin Thomas, Victoria Christopher Murray, Terri Blackstock and many others. You can get many of these authors at your public library. They are excellent books and they all have a message that could be a blessing to you without being self-help books that tend to be boring too many. They deal with real life issues and you can actually see yourself or people that you know in the characters. Tell us about fiction books that you might be reading that might bless someone else.
Let us know what you have been reading by writing to us on the message board http://mynewtemple.org/aMessages.html or sending us a message at contactus@mynewtemple.org.
Book/Bible Study Blog
Feel free to write about books you have read or to comment on the ones the New Beginnings Team suggests by going to our message board.
Upcoming Events-
Watch for-
Watch for an upcoming series by Minister Kimberley McNeil dealing with the Divorce Decree. How many people have been married and divorced and thought that once the divorce decree was signed it was over, but it wasn’t. Watch for her series beginning late November or early December.
Watch for video of The Fitness Angel’s Bootcamp coming to the www.mynbfitnesscommunity.com site in the next couple of weeks.
Watch for an interview with best selling author Janice Jones
Watch for a series dealing with the plight of the homeless by photo journalist Shawn Goodall.
Watch for new video and audio podcasts discussion between The Fitness Angel and Angela. Dealing with real life issues the only way they know how, the real way.
Watch for the Sister Girl Chat-Sisters just hanging out talking about the things that are on their minds.
Watch for an interview with a Breast Cancer Survivor-We are looking forward to doing a joint interview with a Breast Cancer Survivor, who survived a double mastectomy. How did she handle it, how did it affect her mentally, how did it affect her family? If you have a story you would like to share please write and let us know. If you have questions write to us at contactus@mynewtemple.org so we can get ready to ask your questions as well as our own.
Watch for the Why Do You Work Out Question to be answered-We were thinking it might be fun to get some snip-its from people in the park or at a gym to find out why they work out. Why do the personal trainers do what they do? What kind of satisfaction does a personal trainer get out of your success?
Watch for Health Tips-As part of our desire to help individuals become holistically fit we are presently working to incorporate health tips into our website. This information will assist by giving individuals basic information on such topics as diabetes and high blood pressure. These segments will be short but informative. These will be added to the new fitness websites.
Relational Focus-Watch for upcoming podcasts and articles focused on our relationships, beginning with our relationship with God. If we get our relationship with God right our other relationships will also be better.
Divorce From the Male Perspective-What do you say when you think everything is okay and your wife comes home and asks for a divorce? What do you do? Normally this is the story we hear from women. We blame it on a man’s midlife crisis. This time we are going to hear it from the side of the man. The series will allow a man to share his feelings and struggles.
If you have suggestions for upcoming articles or New Beginnings content please write to us at contactus@mynewtemple.org.
New Beginnings Reminders-
The Fitness Angel’s Fitness Community and Newsletter-
You can create your own personal free account and sign up for the bi-monthly newsletter. Remember the newsletter is only a help to you if you open it so we encourage you to open it and read the articles that are included. If you have a spam filter on your e-mail account your copy of the newsletter may have been blocked. Check your spam folder and then set up the Get Fit Newsletter in your mailbox so you can receive it bi-monthly uninterrupted. Remember it is free, so don’t keep it to yourself. www.mynbfitnesscommunity.com or the paid site www.justlikemefitness.com.
Church Link-
We have added a couple of churches to our church link. Please take the time to check it out and see if yours is there. If it is not already listed add it to our list by clicking the link below. Is there a church near you that does an outstanding job of promoting spiritual, emotional, relational and physical fitness? If you're looking for a church, check here to see if our members have recommended one near you. If you know of a church that should be on our list, please add it to our list.
If you want to ask for additional information or would like to have some one from our team contact you regarding the churches on our church link contact us at churchlink@mynewtemple.org.
Currently on Women’s Faith Stories (WFS)-
We are collecting articles about women who have survived cancer. If you have a faith story you would like to share send it to us at contactus@womensfaithstories. Your story might be a blessing and an encouragement for someone else.
We are still collecting pictures and stories for our Women That Have Gone Before Us Quilt. In an effort to honor her grandmother who passed away on January 11, 2008, Angela has decided to create a quilt. If you would like to submit a picture and brief tribute on behalf of a woman that meant something to you and helped you get to where you are today send it to us at contactus@womensfaithstories.com. Include their birth date and date of death. Maybe it was your grandmother, a school teacher or a female family member. It does not matter who she was, we would just like to take this opportunity to honor them. Check out last month’s newsletter for more information.
Contact us if you have a woman’s faith story you would like to share for the Women’s Faith Stories Website www.womensfaithstories.com. Send your comments to us at contactus@womensfaithstories.com
Word of Encouragement-
Relationships grow stale because we fail to invest in them. If you are sensing your relationships becoming lack luster or seeming to be old and stale give them a shot of love. Make an investment. Shake it up! Do something different, but don’t give up on them and walk away. Not even plants grow without attention.
New Beginnings Scripture for November 2009
Ephesians 4:15:
15 Instead, we will speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church.
Our Mission Statement
Our Mission is to draw individuals to Jesus Christ through the Ministry of Holistic Fitness and to see the Body of Christ become fit in all areas by providing tools and information to empower you to succeed. New Beginnings is dedicated to helping you gain personal, spiritual, physical, mental and relational fitness by developing the courage and confidence necessary to set and achieve goals based on biblical principles. Most people encounter difficulty reaching goals, sticking with a diet or completing a task by trying to make an outward change without having made any inward spiritual changes. In other words, all improvements in your life begin with a change in your mind and spirit.
New Beginnings Contact Information-
Mailing Address: 5130 W. Baseline #117, PMB# 224, Laveen, AZ 85339
Contact us at contactus@mynewtemple.org or on our message board http://mynewtemple.org/aMessages.html
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