Jesus says that the purpose of the blindness is to put the work of God on display. This means that for our suffering to have ultimate meaning, God must be supremely valuable to us. More valuable than health and life. 

But what if the intense suffering is happening to your child? Can God really be more valuable to a parent than a healthy child? Can there possibly be purpose to disability?

Listen to the tough policeman explain how his life was forever changed by God – using his adopted son.

Greg Lucas, the policeman, and father of Jake tells the whole story in a new book,  Wrestling with an Angel: A Story of Love, Disablity and the Lessons of Grace.

This touched my life, and was a blessing to me.

Just a few areas you’ll learn about are:

**Entrepreneurship

**Stewardship

**Deuteronomy 8:18

**Productivity and Creativity

**Matthew 25 – Parable of the Talents

**Success : is it really the one with the most toys who wins?  Or is it obedience to God’s commands?

Have you considered what it means to be fruitful?  We are here on the earth to advance the Kingdom; it’s not about us.  When we bear fruit, we are glorifying our Lord.  Fruitfulness is a consequence of obedience.

There is so much more that could be said; be sure to check Venture Academy out today.

“The instruction of discipline is God’s ordinance.  Little do those who refuse it know, what a blessing they cast away! (Hebrews 12:10,11)  Poverty and shame are often the Lord’s rod for his wayward children (Luke 15:12-16); two dreaded evils— the one bringing them to want; the other hiding their heads; both disappointing “the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life.”  (1 John 2:16)  Young persons! learn to dread the liberty of being left to your own choice.  Dread the first step in the downward course, refusing instruction…Know your besetting temptation, ‘as the horse and the mule’  (Ps. 32:9), impatient of restraint.  If godly remonstrance be slighted, all may end in poverty and shame, embittered with the poignant sting of death-bed remorse. (chap. 5:11)…If we be humbled under his reproof, we shall be raised to his throne. (1Pt. 5:6)  Pleasant indeed are his words to his well-disciplined child.  To have our ears open to receive discipline, is to walk in the path of life and happiness (chap. 6:23.  Job 36:10-12); the honour of conformity to our Divine Saviour.”

Resting in His love, mercy, greatness, and trusting that His sovereign plan is what He wants for us is not always easy or reachable in a given moment.  When an accident happens or job loss occurs, for example, it may be really easy to kindle bitterness and questioning.  Some people learn through health challenges that they must rest in the Lord.  When we realize afresh our utter dependence on HIm, when we are sick or needy or hurting we are broken by Him and we learn more of humility and our need of a Saviour.  We must always cling to Christ or Lord, He who endured every kind of suffering, pain and affliction.

The Proverbs are so much a HUGE TREASURE CHEST of wisdom……….more gleanings are coming.  I’m struck by the breadth of issues covered; foibles and follies of human relationships are dealt with throughout the book.

“So rare is this treasure, that the challenge is given —- ‘Who can find a virtuous woman?’  Abraham sent to a distant land for this inestimable blessing for his beloved son.  Perhaps one reason of the rarity of the gift is, that it is so seldom sought.  Too often is the search made for accomplishments, not for virtues; for external and adventitious recommendations, rather than for internal godly worth…Truly her price is above rubies.  No treasure is comparable to her.”

Proverbs 3:13-18

Happy is the man that findeth wisdom, and the man that getteth understanding.  For the merchandise of it is better than the merchandise of silver, and the gain thereof than fine gold; she (WISDOM) is more precious than rubies, and all the things thou canst desire are not to be compared to her.  Length of days is in her right hand, and in her left hand riches and honour; her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace; she is a tree of life to them that lay hold upon her:  and happy is everyone that retaineth her.

Charles Bridges reminds us:

“Who does not admire this glowing picture of happiness?  This wisdom of this world affords no such happiness.  Yet cold and barren is admiration, without an interest in the blessing.  The happy man has found a treasure, where possibly he least expected it, under the chastening of the Lord.  David and Manasseh found ‘God’s house of correction to be a school of instruction.’  Under all circumstances, however, prayerful diligence in the search of wisdom ensures success.  The naturally wise man is a fool in heavenly wisdom.  The man of prayer getteth understanding, draweth it out to light, as out of the hid treasure…Here the wise man, himself enriched with the merchandise of fine gold points out to us a better merchandise.  It is the search for ‘the pearl of great price,’ MORE PRECIOUS THAN RUBIES, YEA, THAN ALL THINGS THAT COULD BE DESIRED.  So the Apostle judged.  So upon a trial he found it.  All the world’s show, all his former valuable ‘gain, he counted as dung and dross’ for ‘the true wisdom’ _ ‘the excellency of the knowledge of  CHRIST JESUS his Lord.’  NEVER WILL SOLID HAPPINESS BE KNOWN WITHOUT THIS SINGLENESS OF JUDGMENT AND PURPOSE.  THIS INESTIMABLE BLESSING MUST HAVE THE THRONE.  THE WAVERER AND THE HALF-SEEKER FALL SHORT.  DETERMINED PERSEVERANCE WINS THE PRIZE. (Philip.  3:12-14)

If I say much more I’ll spoil the adventure.  Francine Rivers even includes a page entitled:  How This Story Came to Be.  Themes of healing, mercy and joy shine through.  The Lord’s graciousness to adopt His children as His own is manifest in a special way.  Enjoy!

The book is organized well. There is an introduction, followed by 4 chapters which discuss 4 phases. Phase I is Determine Your Current Location which talks about where you are at right now financially. Then, in the next chapter we read about Phase II: Thinking Radically – Developing the Plan. The nitty gritty of preparing a budget is covered along with an explanation of reducing and redirecting one’s spending. Phase III is covered next: Executing the Plan. There are 4 sections within this phase: Radically Attacking Your Debts, Finding “Hidden” Money, Nickels & Dimes, and in section 10 there is an explanation of “The Malachi Factor”TM. Phase IV is titled Mission Accomplished! There is a discussion about streamlining cash flow and what’s next, after debts are paid.

I agree with much of the contents. God is sovereign and Mighty. His ways are not our ways. As we learn more of Him and His principles, we are better able to make wise decisions. Christ is our Great Redeemer and Life-Giver. He is our all in all.

Why talk about this book on a website called Prov. 31? God calls us to be good stewards of what He has given us. He wants us to be able to reach out and to help others. This may be in the form of explaining to them the claims of Christ, that He died on the cross to pay the debt that His people owed. This outreach may be in the form of reaching out to a family hurting because they do not know what a budget is or how to make one. The Boyntons have decided to write down and share the joys and trials they have gone through with the intent of reaching out to others. Jesus reached out to those around Him by giving bread, by bringing comfort to the sick, by welcoming little children. Jesus said, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life, no man comes to the Father except by Me.”

As we begin a new year, we often set new goals, make resolutions, establish priorities. An area sometimes neglected in the new year goal setting (or any goal setting period) is finances. A wise man of old summarized how to handle finances in three easy maxims: Earn all you can; Save all you can; Give all you can. Now each of these could be a message in itself and we may give more details in the coming months on these maxims, however, we have been listening to folks for years and a recurring struggle that folks are having is debt elimination.

For us just to say, don’t get into debt won’t really help those who find themselves in debt, whether $1000 or $10,000. In the next few blog entries, we will be discussing a book called: Radical Debt Elimination. Check out the website at: www.radicaldebtelimination.com/aboutourbook.html.

There are many books, programs, and people stressing debt elimination. “Just pay off the smallest debt, then use that money plus the money budgeted for debt elimination to pay off the next smallest………..da de dah………” What’s unique about the approach in the book Radical Debt Elimination is what the Boynton’s call The Malachi Factor (TM). “We coined the phrase “The Malachi Factor (TM)” from the last book of the Old Testament, the book of Malachi…..We had nearly $80,000 worth of debt that was eliminated in just six years (including the mortgage)! While we were paying off our debt, we added five children to our family. At the end of those six years, we had a total of eight children (we have nine now) and my husband’s annual income averaged $28,700 over the six years. We want you to see that it is not necessary to earn a huge paycheck to eliminate debt quickly…….”

Check out their website, check out the book and stay tuned for more information on Radical Debt Elimination soon!