Good Afternoon Girls!  So I pretty much knew when the alarm went off that my Whiner Challenge was going to be a......Challenge.  It was one of those days where the first thought that enters my mind is "Is there any way I can get a nap today?"  Followed by the second thought which was "ARE YOU KIDDING ME?????"  (that thought occurred as I looked out my window and saw the snow).

But then I remembered something.  I remembered that right before I went to bed I was reading out of my Joyce Meyer Devotional Battlefield of the Mind.  I read it about 4 years ago but since I've been feeling a little nuts again lately I figured it was an appropriate way to end my day.

Last nights topic was spiritual warfare.  She talked about how the enemy will start will small subtle thoughts so we don't necessarily catch them and cast them down.  He allows his poison to slowly enter thought by thought until they feel so comfortable we start claiming and believing them as our own.  I felt a renewed sense of feistiness and "on guard" attitude.  I also felt a little less nuts as I realized I wasn't really losing my mind.....but I was renting a lot of its space out to the devil lately!

So I regrouped and set my mind on having the best day. "It's no big deal that I have to work in this weather....this is like the 8th snowstorm I have worked in.....I'm a pro at it.  Besides, the boss is always impressed when I go out on days like this without complaint" (well he doesn't know I am complaining the whole time). 

I decided I could squeeze in a workout between getting two rounds of kids on the bus and be out the door to work by 9am.  I decided I was going to see how fast I could cruise through my day....and then....i could take a nap!  "That's right Jen......it's going to be a great day!"

As you can guess, by the name of my title today, it was not a great day..........

It started to unravel by 7:45.  The first bus was 17 minutes late which meant I no longer had time for a workout.  I was already feeling fat so I decided that I should just run at full speed off the cliff and I got on the neighbors scale (I nanny there in the morning....oh yeah- I also have to wake up my kids so I actually go back and forth between the two houses which is a huge part of my whacked out schedule problem)  I haven't been on a scale since last June because I determined a long time ago that scales were of the devil.  I still believe that.  I believe that even more after the number that came up this morning!

So now I am feeling fat....and the scale confirmed that feeling to be accurate...(up 15 pounds since last May...and please....don't try to be nice and tell me it's muscle or I will push you over).  I get back to my house to wake my family and I feel the perfect storm brewing in my head.  I decide to take a shower and sing and pray myself back to peace....but then Charley comes in and says "mom- when are you going to get out of the shower...you've been in there a long time".  Apparently there was not enough hot water in Ham Lake to get my mind right for the day!

I left the house yelling at Tom.  I ranted something about how I get up at 6:30 and by 9am the only thing I have accomplished is getting ready for work.  I get no workout.  I get no writing done.  I am yelling this as he is drinking his coffee and preparing to start his workout which makes me want to push him over also(do you get the feeling I am bothered by this?)

I drop the kids off and the praying begins but it does not help.  I decide to list all of the things I am thankful for- but it does not help.  I make a couple SOS calls to friends, but it only temporarily helps.  I sing with the radio, but that doesn't really help.  By 11am I have exhausted all of my positive energy.  Then it hits me.........

The Whiner Challenge is Stupid!  What idiot came up with that?  I decided on a new challenge.  I decided that since I had already blown it, I was going to go all out and really do it up!  I decided to think about and say outloud everything that is currently bugging me! 

Have you ever been on a diet and then "cheated" and figured "oh well, I might as well eat everything in sight today and start fresh tomorrow"?  It was just like that.  I decided not to bother fighting those thoughts anymore.  I decided instead to share them.  I called a friend and told her I blamed her for the bad weather (she had just put away all her winter clothes and I just know that is why it snowed today).  I then went into a mini rant about all the things that were bugging me. 

Now that may sound absolutely dumb and depressing, and normally I would not recommend it, but today, it worked.  It worked because my friend and I were laughing hysterically at what nutjobs we both are and how our lives have taken some crazy twists and turns the last year or two.  I started listing some of the things I was mad at and she laughed.  She said "I'm sorry.  I know you are upset.  But It's just so funny.  I can't stop laughing". 

And next thing I knew I was laughing.  I told her I was going to whine as much as I could the rest of the day and start fresh tomorrow.  I told her I was going to blog tonight and list for you all everything that I am irritated with in my life.  I was going to "get it all out of my system" and go back to being a "good Christian" tomorrow.  As we were winding down our conversation some guy in a white van obviously didn't like where I had parked (I gathered this because he used some very pagan sign language) which only made me laugh even harder.

Now at one point today I seriously had intended to list all of the things that bug me.  However, shortly after my "girlfriend whine turned laughfest" I realized that I was good.  Sure, there are still things that are not the way I want them, but they are not draining on my emotions.  They are not consuming my thoughts.  Turns out what I needed was a good belly laugh and the feeling of being understood.  Girlfriends and laughter.....both gifts from God.

A new day tomorrow.  A new opportunity to rise to the Whiner Challenge.  I will do my best but in distress I will do like they do on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire......I will phone a friend!

In hopes of bringing a smile to your day, I will leave you with the verse I like to use on my friends when I am trying to get them to do something I want them to do.........

John 15:14 You are my friends if you do what I command

Grace, peace, belly laughs and girlfriends to you all-
Jen