I am so excited about what God is doing! God is teaching us some amazing things and when we put into practice the things that He is teaching, we have the potential to experience incredible and blessed lives! God is allowing Northwood to step out of it’s comfort zone. Every step we make out of our comfort zone is one more step we make closer to God and His amazing will. Let’s get out of a small church, scarcity and mediocre mindset and get into a Kingdom Church, Abundannt and Excellent mindset! We are God’s creation with a God-given purpose and the supernatural power to accomplish that purpose for God’s glory and our blessing!
I am so thankful for the team leaders that God has blessed this church with! I am so thankful that they are a part of the team and that they are willing to give more than lip service! The men and ladies that give leadership to our ministry teams are a great blessing in so many different ways. They give of themselves in service to God, Northwood and others! We cannot do all that God has called us to do without these leaders and their willingness to submit, obey, discipline and give of themselves! You guys are great and I am so glad that we are all on the same team!
I am so looking forward to the blessings! I believe with all of my heart that when we are obedient – God blesses! When I read through my Bible, I see God blessing the obedience of His people. Thank you for reading this blog and thank you for working to become obedient to Christ. Our obedience is opening the doors of our lives to receive amazing and abundant blessings! Over the next several days – I will be talking about the blessing of success. I hope that you will join me every day and I pray that everyday God will show you something else about His greatness in your life!
Michael Joe Harvell 
Speaking of putting into practice what God is teaching us and getting out of our comfort zone—I want to tell you something incredible that happened to me the other day.
As I had my morning devotions, I committed my day to God and asked Him to make me sensitive to His leading, especially in being a witness. After I had done Meals on Wheels, I was driving through Wal-Mart parking lot and had a notion to go to the Dollar Tree. I had no reason to go there and didn’t need to buy anything, but I felt compelled to stop there. There was a parking space right outside the door. I went in and mosied up and down the aisles, not looking for anything in particular. As I started down one aisle, I overheard a woman say to her husband, “We have been looking everywhere for a small testament for our grandchildren, but there aren’t any like we want.”
I reached into my purse and pulled out a Gideon testament, held it up, and said, “Excuse me. I overheard you say you are looking for a testament. Would you like to have this?”
Her husband said, “Let me see that!”
After looking quickly through it, he said, “This is exactly what we were looking for! It is just a different color than the ones I remember.”
I said, “You can have it.”
The woman said, “We really need six, because we have six grandchildren.”
I said, “I have more in the car. I’ll be right back.”
I gave them the six, and they thanked me very much.
There was another woman standing there with a girl about 8 years old. She said, “Could I have one for my child?”
I said, “Sure! I’ll be right back.”
When I returned and gave her the testament, she said almost apologetically, “I really have 5 children.”
I asked, “Would you like one for eahc?”
She said, “I hate to make you go to your car again.”
I said, “No problem!! I’ll be right back. I’m just parked right ourside the door.” (Imagine that!) (continued on the next blog)
This time when I went out, I brought in some extra testaments. I gave her the five and she was very glad to get them and thanked me. I asked the Lord to show me who else was supposed to get a testament. In walked two ladies. I said, “OK, Lord.”
I walked over to them and asked if they had ever received a testament. They said no. I showed them the helps in the front and the plan of salvation in the back and asked if they would like to have one. They both said yes. I said I would pray for them and invited them to church.
Wow! Talk about a reminder to always be ready! This isn’t the first time things like that have happened to me, but I walked away feeling great, knowing I was just an instrument in God’s hands. It was an incredible feeling that I was in one of those God moments and He had orchestrated this whole thing. I took a step out of my comfort zone, and saw God do an amazing thing. My prayer is that I will not be so busy that I miss times like this, but will always be sensitive to the leading of the Holy Spirit each day. God is indeed doing amazing things in our lives and wants to use us in this community. We just need to be available.