Welcome, friend—I’m glad you’ve pulled up a chair on the front porch of my little corner of the internet. My name is Michael Joe Harvell, and I live my life with one simple mission: to glorify God, encourage people, and leave this world a little better than I found it. I’m a husband, father, pastor, writer, Jeep enthusiast, and front-porch thinker who believes that life is best lived on purpose. I serve as pastor of Eureka Baptist Church in Anderson, South Carolina, where I get the joy of preaching, teaching, and walking with people through the ups and downs of everyday life. Over the years, I’ve discovered that faith isn’t just about Sunday mornings—it’s about living every single day in the presence and power of God. I’m also an author. My books—including The Grace Exchange: How Forgiven People Forgive People and The Word Works—grow out of the sermons, stories, and lessons I’ve learned on this journey. I write in a style that’s conversational, a little front-porch-rocking-chair, and full of stories, quotes, and Scripture that point us back to the goodness of God’s Word. When I’m not writing or preaching, you might find me sitting outside with my Bible and journal, cruising the backroads in my Jeep Gladiator, or sharing a meal and some laughs with the good folks God has put in my life. I love helping people find peace in their spirit, strength in their body, and encouragement in their soul. This blog is simply an extension of that mission. Here you’ll find devotions, encouragement, reflections, and practical insights for living a life of purpose, peace, and joy. So grab a cup of coffee, pull up a rocking chair, and stay awhile—I’d be honored to walk this road of faith with you.
When things don’t work out the way you want or the way you had planned, you have a choice – you can get wrecked or you can have some fun with it. Figure out how to have fun with it and you will be miles ahead of the stuff that wants to steal your joy.
Here’s a quick video to help us think about how to have some fun with it! Thanks for watching and live blessed!
Quick video I shot this morning about living happy! Just a few thoughts about Living Happy! Happiness is really not all that difficult thing to experience. Here are three things that we can do to live happy:
1. Live In Relationship! You were created by a Creator, Who has an amazing plan and purpose for your life. Get this, believe this and live this and it will make an incredible difference in your life.
2. Live With Gratitude! We have so much to be thankful for. Just by taking time to think about it – changes our lives. Think about all you have to be grateful for on a regular basis.
3. Live Your Choice! You decide for you. You cannot do it for me and I cannot do it for you. Happiness is a choice that each of us make for ourselves. Stop playing the game and start enjoying all that the Creator has put around you.
Everyone wants to be happy, but very few people are willing to do what they need to do, to actually be happy. Here are five activities that will help you to be on your way to experiencing the happiness that you were created for.
1. Express Gratitude! Take time to say thank you for all of the blessings that flow into and through your life. Even when life is not working the way you want it to, there is still much that you have to be happy about. You get to make a choice about where you are going to focus. You can focus on the negatives or on the positives – it really is up to you. Just by taking the time to express your gratefulness everyday, will help you to focus on the positives rather than the negatives of life.
2. Practice Acts Of Kindness! We get so focused on ourselves, that we often miss all different kinds of reasons to be happy. Take some time and make an intentional effort to reach out and do things to make other people’s lives better. We get better at doing acts of kindness with practice. The more you do it, then the easier it gets. Think right now about some things that you can do to show kindness to others.
3. Learn To Forgive! Forgive yourself, forgive those close to you and forgive your enemies. Life is too short to hold a grudge and a grudge only enslaves you. Forgiveness is not easy and it is something that you will have to do for yourself, but the more you do it, the more you learn and the more you learn, the easier it gets. Remember and remind yourself that forgiveness means freedom.
4. Commit To Your Goals! Fail to plan and you plan to fail. What do you want to achieve and accomplish with your life? Where do you see yourself and your relationships in six months, a year, five years? You need to think about your goals, know your goals and then commit to make your goals a reality. You can do this, because it’s what you were created for.
5. Take Care Of Your Body! Give yourself the gift of time and make sure that you get rest, exercise and a diet that gives you what you need to be energized to accomplish all the things that you were created for. This is one of those areas that most of us think about, but often never get around to dealing with.
Focus on these five activities and you will begin to experience happiness, which is a gift that God created you for. Live blessed!