I didn't get to go to one80 tonight :-(

I had a nasty cold this week, It's possible that I got it from the Ekka, or one of the many people I came into contact with last week who had the same nasty cold. However it got in it's managed to be a bit of a pain. Ended up staying home from church both services last week and lying around in my bed blowing my nose every few minutes instead, which really doesn't compare very well to going to church, which I really enjoy. Ended up having the day off on monday too, which was spent in a very similar fashion to sunday except for the arrival of my new washing machine. And although buying something new and big is usually fun, all a washing machine does is wash your clothes... And they put the safety mechanisms in so it stops doing it's thing when you lift the lid. So after putting a load of washing on and watching the outside of my new washing machine do nothing at all except make washing machine sounds I left it and went back to bed.

By today (Friday 25th) I thought I was pretty much better and didn't bother taking it easy at work, and ran around a bit, did some skipping and all the stuff you do playing with primary school kids. A few hours later with a pounding headache and really tired I decided I wasn't as much better as I had previously thought. Hence sitting around at home resting instead of having fun at one80... :-( Gosh! <Spoken with Napolean Dynamite emphasis>

Sister's getting married in about a week! Very exciting! Buck's party tomorrow night on the coast, should be good. Laser skirmish and Hog's Breath for dinner ... mmm, steak.

Read a book with a cool idea earlier this week. Well, re-reading a book with an idea that I thought was cool last time I read it.

Talks about knowing Satan's points of attack and having a plan of defence. First point is basically knowing your weaknesses, knowing where you tend to get tempted and give in the most. If you think and pray about it there's usually a few areas that spring to mind that you know you struggle with.

The second point is having a plan of defence... There's a few ideas on this, one is to have a cool verse that's either applicable to your particular struggle, or one that's just encouraging to you. Another one is having one or a few people in your mind that you want to pray for. When you start getting tempted, start praying for those people. The book suggested people you'd like to see getting to know Jesus, which is a good idea. Also you could pray for someone who may be going through a tough time, or sick or something like that.

You could even combine the two ideas. It's described in the book like Satan coming to tempt you, so you give him a punch below the belt, cos he doesn't really like us praying, or focusing on God's word. On a more psychological level, it also shifts your mind off whatever it is you're being tempted about and onto something, and someone else. And caring about God and others is more important than anything else...

Mark 12:28-31
One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him,
"Of all the commandments, which is the most important?"
"The most important one," answered Jesus, " is this:
'Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.'
The second is this: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'
There is no commandment greater than these."

Isn't it strange how moods can change just during the course of a day.

Today I started off feeling fairly chirpy and bouncy, which tends to be fairly standard for me, and sometime mid-afternoon I had a coffee which I didn't think affected me that much, although I did get a little more talkative after that. Was having a good D&M with a few friends and was feeling a little nerved cos I was opening up and talking about stuff I hadn't talked with them about before. And coffee never helps when you're already a bit nervy :-P

A little while after we went and watched The Island, which is an actiony type movie and had my adrenaline going as well, so pretty much most of the afternoon my heart was beating faster than normal and I was feeling a little shaky. Then afterwards heading to church I started feeling a bit down.

I generally prefer to be around people than by myself, but when I'm feeling down I tend to run out of things to talk about really quickly and end up just staring at the floor or hanging on the edge of a group conversation not really saying much. This doesn't really help much since I usually want company when feeling down, but I'm not very good company myself at the time.
:-P

It helps a little knowing that emotions tend to balance out over time, so even though i'm feeling down at the moment, I know that tomorrow or the next day I usually pick up again. And sometimes it can drive me to spending some really good time with God. I tend to end up at home, and don't really have much to say to anybody, so I turn to God and just let Him know how I'm feeling for a while and have a bit of a sook. He tends to be a fairly good comforter and after a while of sulking I'll turn to the psalms or look around for encouraging verses in the new testament. And even though I may still be feeling down, I'm nearly always feeling better than I was. From feeling really lonely and by myself to knowing that there is someone who cares about me more than anyone else ever can. And that even though I don't have much to say at the time, God has given me a huge book full of His words to encourage me... I don't have to say a thing, just read and let it comfort me. And to give Him my thanks.

And on that note, I think i'll go and do that now. :-)

Philippians 4:6-7
"In all things present your requests to God with thanksgiving, and the peace of God which transcends all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus."

Hooray! It's Saturday! I think today's going to be a very cruisy day. The only things I have to do are about 3 loads of washing, well, one left now, and that's it! :-) I decided to clean the bathroom basin thingy too, but that's done as well. Is that called a vanity? I think so but i've been wrong before.

I like days like today, although they can sometimes get a bit boring and i tend to end up ringing around to find someone to chat to or something to do. One thing I love about working instead of being at uni is that the free time i have is really free time and I don't have to feel guilty about wasting time dribbling on a blog instead of doing an assignment or study.

Speaking of which, had an interesting thought the other day. And no, it didn't hurt too much. Was having a conversation about procrastination with a friend, and I was saying that I don't procrastinate anymore, because my free time isn't time i should be doing assignments etc. She asked, "What about at work?" It made me think that I don't actually procrastinate at work. I generally enjoy my job and when I'm there I'm there to work and not waste time. At uni i procrastinated a lot because I didn't really enjoy study and found a lot of the stuff quite boring. Granted at work i'll sometimes send a random email to someone, but that only takes about half a minute and it's when i have a few minutes spare before i move onto the next thing i have to do.

I guess it also helps that the people I work with are fun, and we joke around a bit. Gives the place a really friendly and fun atmosphere so it's not boring sitting around doing nothing but work all day.

Well, another load of washing is done and I need to go hang out some clothes :-)

ooh, a post!