New Beginnings

Considering it's nearing the end of the semester - May 10th, where ya at? - my motivation is rapidly approaching 0%. In fact, it may be there already. Thanks to this, I have been spending way too much time reading stuff like The Help, tweeting every other second, and creeping on everything on Facebook. Right now is one of those moments.
Instead of typing out the stuff that I should be, such as the huge language development project paper powerpoint thing that's due next Thursday when I have to present it to the class, I decided I should creep on myself. I'm currently back to last April looking at pictures I've been tagged in. I saw this picture and it gave me a start:

The infamous bar picture...hehehe

That was from our Spring Woman's retreat that my (Sunday morning!) church has every year up at Whitehall. It was such a blast, considering it was our first time going and we were all much, much younger than everyone else! I saw this and contrasted it with the new one we took this year:

This year's bar picture! This is going to go on forever.

Obviously, just looking at our smiling faces is enough to see that we've changed over the year. We've grown up and have become another year closer to the awesome woman that God wants each of us to be. Of course, we aren't without our flaws and mistakes.
Funny how that happens. Looking at the first picture, everything seemed full of promise - right? Still with the steady boyfriend, solid career choice with no potential changes, everything lining up pretty well. Then flash forward half an inch down the screen to the newest bar picture with all of it's changes - single, still the same career choice but with added responsibilities and ideas, no ideas about what is going to happen on any given day. It's pretty wild really.
Over the past year, I've made my mistakes. More than my share, if you ask me. While I'm not exactly proud of anything that I've done, I've learned from those mistakes.
I've learned that I need to be myself, not hide who I am, what I like, and what I want to be just because others don't like it.
I've learned that I'm not as strong as I would like to be, but in my weakness, He makes me strong. When I do fail and slip back, I know He will always take me back with open arms. He knows that I've made a lot of mistakes and that I'm trying to start over. He always will know me and know my heart, know my mistakes and know my intentions. 
I've learned that I can start over, no matter what happens. God will always take me back. I am His.
A lot has changed in the year since we took the first bar picture. There's a lot that has changed - all for the better, none for the worse. If it happened, it's because it was in God's plan. Today I'm realizing that, even though it's been a crazy year, I can start over. Press the reset button.
Today is a new beginning. 
That's your NR challenge for today. Today is a new beginning. Accept it, embrace it, be thankful for it. 
Are you in?


-Kimber.