Early Childhood Education

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Living a CREATION Healthy Life

Share this devotion on Choice with your group. Questions at the end can be used to encourage conversation.


SPIRITUAL THOUGHT

Starbucks is famous for allowing patrons to “customize” their drinks. This means you are not limited by the menu. You have a choice to add extra shots of espresso, flavored syrup, soy milk, or even whipped cream – the possibilities are endless!

Every day we make thousands of choices. Some are profound, such as what career to focus on or which person to marry. Some are as mundane as what extras to put in our coffee. With so many things to choose from it’s easy to feel overwhelmed – what choice is best?

Another choice we make has a serious impact on our lives. In fact, it’s the most important choice there is. It’s the choice to choose God – to trust Him as our Father and put Him first in our lives. This isn’t always an easy choice to make. We have to purpose in our hearts to spend time with Him. We have to make an effort to pray and read our Bibles. We can choose to follow His will and to be obedient to all He commands. God is waiting to bless us for choosing Him. He wants us to know that a choice for Him is a choice for life. Make a choice to put God first and to spend time with Him each and every day!

BIBLE PROMISE

Kick off your shift with this Bible verse. Commit it to memory or place it on a white board.

“Today I have given you the choice between life and death, between blessings and curses. Now I call on heaven and earth to witness the choice you make. Oh, that you would choose life, so that you and your descendants might live!”  (Deuteronomy 30:19, NLT)

 

PERSONAL QUESTIONS

Do you get anxious before making decisions? Do you find it difficult to decide what direction is best for your life? Do you really believe you can trust God to help you make the best choices? Remember that God has given you the power to choose, and He offers guidance in His Word.

SMALL GROUP QUESTIONS

  • Do you agree that choosing God is the most important choice we make with our lives? Why or why not?
  • How can you have peace in the choices that you make?
  • Is there something you’re avoiding in your life because of fear or worry? What choice can you make today to alleviate those feelings?

PRAYER

Father, thank You for giving each of us the power to choose. Help us to make wise decisions as we go through our days and to choose the abundant life that You offer us, to get plenty of restorative rest, to do all we can to improve our surroundings, to be active both physically and mentally, to trust You with our lives, to nurture our relationships with friends and family, to see the world as a beautiful gift You have given us, and to choose to eat good and healthy food. Thank You for all Your gifts of love and grace. Help us spread that love to those You have placed around us. I ask this in Your name, Amen.
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Seed Sowers: Friends-R-Fun

Friends-R-Fun, Summersville, WV

Friends-R-Fun also fulfill the community’s need of a GED program. Friends R Fun runs a GED program next door to the child care center and has anywhere between seven and 15 adults enrolled at a time. Last year, 70 students got their GEDs through the program.

Please share your stories and let’s celebrate together what God has done and is doing in lives of young children, their families as well as the communities in which our ECEC programs serve!

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Seed Sowers: Bit O’Heaven Preschool

Bit O’Heaven Preschool (Norwalk, CA)

Bit-O'Heaven-PreschoolBit O’Heaven Preschool has a teacher who came into the church as a result of her grandson attending the preschool.

Bit O’Heaven Preschool (Eagle, Idaho)

  • We give every family a book “What We Believe” by Jerry Thomas when they enroll at our preschool.

  • We have one student that started out in our preschool that is now in 2nd grade.  The family and other children are part of the Pathfinder/Adventurer clubs and they also come along to church Mid-week Bible Study as well as to church outings and socials.  Occasionally they come to our church services.

  • All families come to church each year at Christmas-time for the school program which is the church service. The preschool is involved in the school program.  It is followed by a fellowship dinner.

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Seed Sowers: Northeast Christian Preschool

Northeast Christian Preschool, NC

This preschool past off over 1200 pieces of our literature to our parents during the 2011-2012 school year.   During the same time period, staff gave 3 Bible studies resulting in one family being baptized into the SDA church.   Parents feel a sense of family at our school.  We try to meet their needs inside and outside the center.  Visitations were made to extended family members who were hospitalized, Thanksgiving baskets were given to our needy families and several children were adopted by our staff to provide Christmas to families who were experiencing financial difficulties.

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Seed Sowers: Rochester Bay Knoll

Rochester Bay Knoll, NY

Pre-K child thought the Bible was a fairy tale but eventually came to see it as God’s Word and went home to tell parents about the truth of God’s Word!

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Seed Sowers: Spring Valley Academy Preschool

Spring Valley Academy Preschool, OH

Our classroom has taken on a special project each Christmas. We did “Toys for Tots” one year and adopted a family for Christmas and Thanksgiving for another. For our adopted family we collected food for Thanksgiving and for Christmas we collected gift cards and made a pampering basket for the mom. Another way we have been able to share God’s message of Hope, is with a family of divided faith. The mother is SDA but the father is not. He doesn’t want his son in our class, let alone at our school. But he is here, because of prayer and faith. When the mother shared her situation with the teachers, she explained that she has begun babysitting for other families to pay for her son to attend out of her own money. We told her we’d be praying for her family and not to give up hope in God. About 3 weeks later she let us know that her son would be attending our school through Kindergarten!

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Seed Sowers: Cedarbrook Early Learning Center

Cedarbrook Early Learning Center, WA

Cedarbrook-Early-Learning-CenterWe serve a huge percentage of Foster/CPS cases. Over the past few years we have become known from local CPS case workers. We now run at about 25% Foster kids. Evan though this is a state program the case workers know (and I am sure do not discuss it) that we offer a great program that introduces the children to God. Even though these workers are not allowed to promote God or Christianity they do through us and many know exactly what they are doing. I have seen many entire families improved and turned around by our introduction to God.

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Seed Sowers: Johns Nevins Andrews Development Center

Johns Nevins Andrews Development Center, MD

John-Nevins-Andrews-Development-Center

We are so happy when our parents that are non Adventist share stories of how they are now saying grace before eating because their child has told them that this is what they do before all meals at school.  We just had a parent that was a Muslim get baptized because she was so thankful with the pre-K program that’s providing her children a Christ like way of life to follow.  Many are happy with our vegetarian meals and are now eating better and the list goes on and on.

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Seed Sowers: Sandia View Elementary

Sandia View Elementary, NM

Sandia-View-Elementary

“I had two children who came from a family who are not only non-Adventists but non believers. The children were in my class for two years. They enjoyed the Bible class and worship time so much that they are now attending a church with another child’s parents from the school weekly. They love the Lord!”

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