Prayer of Jabez Update

I have posted several times about my personal Prayer of Jabez. With all of the negative new around us, I want to continue to offer a bit of encouragement.

Before I start, I want to include a quote from this morning's devotional by my good friend Arlin Sorensen. Arlin is in Genesis 26 and he says this about God's blessing on Isaac, because of his father Abraham, "Isaac does very well – he and his family really flourish and accumulate wealth – so much they are asked to move on and when they do God just blesses them all over again. There is much power in living God’s way – not only for us at the time, but as we pass that on to the generations that follow. Legacy is so important – are you leaving what you want for those who will follow in your footsteps?"

I won't rehash the news, because it is just plain depressing. I won't even refute it, because I believe that the basic facts are accurate. I will say that there is HOPE.

Here is the update on my story and the credit all goes to God. I claim NO credit for what I am about to describe. I am purely the beneficiary of the Grace and Glory of our our God, simply because I asked for it. Many will scoff. Some will laugh. But for those who put their Faith in God, they will simply say, Amen!

A little over a year ago, I began praying a somewhat personalized version of the Prayer of Jabez. Not a great departure from scripture, just not verbatim from my trusty NIV. When I began I was working PT in two jobs. I was working as a W2 contract consultant for Motorola, down from the Full-time position I was hired to fill 5 years earlier. I was also dedicating more time and effort the the business I started nearly 12 years ago. I was putting in a fair amount of time at both, but not really raking in the cash.

I had reached a point where I could no longer do both. It was akin to the "two masters" parable, in a secular sort of way. I was beginning to resent the demands that both jobs were placing on my life. I chose, after a considerable amount of prayer and guidance to dedicate my effort on growing Quality Systems Solutions, Inc. to the point where it would fully support my family and provide enough organic growth to survive in the future.

That is where the PoJ came in. I must emphasize that the focus of the prayer was not on enlarging my checkbook. It was on enlarging my territory, expressly for the purpose of serving God's Kingdom. I am not an MBA, but I understand enough about God's economy to know how God can use a business and/or a business owner to accomplish His will, especially here in the U.S. My business is "relational" as opposed to "transactional." When we engage with a client, it is typically for a very long time. That engagement extends to nearly everyone in the client's company. That my friends it a LOT of "territory." When I asked God to "expand my territory," I knew exactly what the implications were.

We all know that God works in mysterious ways. He has in this situation as well. Some were obvious and apparent. I would include the establishment of my relationship to Arlin as one of those. Through Arlin I have met a multitude of Brothers and Sister, who are supporting me along the way. Some of the less obvious would be a deeper level of engagement with some of our vendors. Out of hundreds of thousands or partners, we were chosen to participate in the Microsoft Windows Server 2008 TAP program and through that, we were afforded tremendous marketing and exposure opportunities. The list goes on...

I am at a point where "good" things are happening so fast, it almost scare me! I will leave you with this, and as I said, not to "blow my own horn," but as a testament to the GOODNESS of God! Year to date, over last year we are up 30.7% in Gross Revenue. Amen! Gross Profit is up 91.8% Hallelujah, Amen! We are adding new clients on the rate of 1/month, which is HUGH for a small shop like ours!!!

God is Good! God is Faithful! When people ask me about my business, that is exactly what I tell them. ALL of them. I don't care if they believe in God, or not. I don't even ask them. I just tell them the TRUTH!

Very Odd, indeed.

I would say that the majority of my posts contain some sort of intellectual material. I try to include thought provoking content, as often as possible. Every now and then, I'll stick something up here that is just plain fun, or in this case, a bit weird.

For those missing the more serious topics, bear with me. Despite the economy, I have been blessed with more business than I can keep up with! That has had an adverse impact on my ability to construct the more challenging posts that I enjoy writing.

Now, on to the show...