Lysa TerKeurst Quotes

Many people know Christ as their Savior, but the woman who says yes to God longs to know Him as Lord.

In a growth mindset, people believe that their most basic abilities can be developed through dedication and hard work - brains and talent are just the starting point. This view creates a love of learning and a resilience that is essential for great accomplishment.3 I am fascinated by this research

God never intended for us to want anything more than we want Him.

I am a child of God, therefore I don't have to be afraid or dismayed. I know God is with me. He will strengthen me, help me, and uphold me with His hand (Isa. 41:10). I am a child of God, therefore no weapon formed against me shall succeed. God will disprove every tongue that rises against me in judgment (Isa. 54:17 ESV). I am a child of God, therefore God is in my midst, a mighty one who will save me; He will rejoice over me with gladness; He will quiet me with his love; He will exult over me with loud singing (Zeph. 3:17). I am a child of God, therefore God's Word is there for me. It is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path (Ps. 119:105).

So, I'm not on a diet. I'm on a journey with Jesus to learn the fine art of self-discipline for the purpose of holiness.

How many times have I claimed to be a woman of faith but rarely lived a life requiring faith?

Look for Me. Long for Me. Experience unbroken companionship with Me.

On the other side of every hardship is a resurrection.

One thing you can be assured of is that God has already worked out all the details of what your obedience will accomplish - and its all good. we need not fear what our obedience will cause to happen in our life. we should only fear what our disobedience will cause us to miss. the sooner this truth resonates in your heart, the quicker you can make peace with a command from God that you dont fully understand.

My attitude of love must be fiercely guarded when considering adding activities. My attitude of love must not be sacrificed on the altar of activity..... mt attitude of love must trump my activity every time.

There is no perfect decision - only the perfectly surrendered decision to press through our fears and know that God is working in us to bring about good through us.

To love God is to cooperate with His grace. And since I'm so very aware of my own need for grace, I must be willing to freely give it away. Each hole left from rejection must become an opportunity to create more and more space for grace in my heart.

Don't let the hurt of today blind you to the hope of tomorrow. Disappointment ushers in a new appointment.

A man journeyed to a place
Where the road caused him to ponder,
Should he travel the wide, clear road?
Or should he venture up the other?
The wide road was more often traveled,
It was level and easy and clear.
The narrow one seemed barely a path,
With very few footprints there.
His senses said to choose for ease
And walk where many have wandered.
But the map he held in his hand
Showed the narrow going somewhere grander.
In life we will all come to a point
Where a decision must be made.
Will we choose to walk with comfort's guide?
Or journey the narrow path God says?

Friendships are like plowed open fields ready for growth. What we plant is what will grow. If we plant seeds of reassurance, blessing, and love, we reap a great harvest of security. Of course, if we plant seeds of backbiting, questioning, and doubt, we reap a great harvest of insecurity.

People aren't thinking about us nearly as much as we might think they are.

It's easy to live loved when I feel loved.

Between any trial and the blessing that comes from that trial, there is a pathway we must walk - that pathway is perseverance. Perseverance means having an urgency, firmness, resolve, and consistency. And, while the joy of the blessing may seem a long way off, signposts or mile markers of joy line the way. These will help us persevere with resolve and consistency if we "consider" them.

Dear Lord, help me to be courageous enough to speak honestly to You and to myself about areas where I'm giving in to compromise. Show me how to rely on Your strength for more self-discipline in my life - not for my glory, but for Yours. In Jesus' name. Amen.

It's easier to construct a more palatable life story-where I can draw straight lines from each hurt of the past to the healing I later experienced-than to face the raw truth.

Life as a Christ follower will always be a learning process of depending less on our own strength and more on God's power.

Maybe God's goal wasn't for me to raise a good rule-following child. Instead, His goal was for me to raise a God-following adult.

On the other hand, when I change to a growth mind-set, I don't chain my identity to my insecurity.

We must spend time with God, letting His truths become part of who we are and how we live.

But it is a rare and beautiful thing when we choose to offer love in situations when most people would choose to scorn or ignore.

When feelings of inadequacy come creeping in, let's park our minds in God's truth.

You've never gone too far that God can't redeem you, restore you, forgive you, and give you a second chance.

We must invite God into our pain to help us survive the desperate in-between.

Yes, faith still moves mountains. But sometimes the greater act of faith is not praying for the mountain to move instantly but rather hanging in there while God helps you to move it bit by bit.

Whenever an opportunity comes your way, challenge yourself to first thank God and then quickly follow up with the question, God, who else is supposed to be blessed by this connection or opportunity?

In a fixed mindset, people believe their basic qualities, like their intelligence or talent, are simply fixed traits. They spend their time documenting their intelligence or talent instead of developing them. They also believe that talent alone creates success - without effort. They're wrong. In a growth mindset, people believe that their most basic abilities can be developed through dedication and hard work - brains and talent are just the starting point. This view creates a love of learning and a resilience that is essential for great accomplishment.3 I am fascinated by this research by Dweck because it

God does not want to make us comfortable as much as He wants to make us comfort-able - to take the comfort that we receive and share it with others.

Forget simple things like where we put our car keys or that one crucial ingredient for dinner when we run into the grocery store. But even more disturbing, we forget God. We say with our mouths that we are trusting and relying on God, but are we really? A quick check to see

Sow righteousness for yourselves, reap the fruit of unfailing love, and break up your unplowed ground; for it is time to seek the LORD, until he comes and showers his righteousness on you. (Hosea 10:12)

I am God's girl. That's right, I am. I am going to humbly and quietly let God have His way in me. And when I do, God will lift up me and my frayed nerves from this situation and fill me with a much better reaction than what I can give you at the moment. Give me just a few minutes and then we'll talk calmly about this.

Too many of us live with an uncontrolled thought life. It is possible to learn to identify destructive thoughts and make wiser choices. Instead of letting those thoughts rumble freely about in my mind, I make the choice to harness them and direct them toward truth.

I had to get honest enough to admit it: I relied on food more than I relied on God. I craved food more than I craved God. Food was my comfort. Food was my reward. Food was my joy. Food was what I turned to in times of stress, sadness, and even in times of happiness.

People do affect us. But the peace of our souls is tethered to all that God is.

I want my kids to head out the door full of peace, not the echoes of my frustrations.

In the quiet of an early morning, honesty finds me. It calls to me through a crack in my soul and invites the real me to come out, come out, wherever you are. Not the carefully edited edition of the me I am this year. No, honesty wants to speak to the least tidy version of the woman I've become. The one I can't make look more alive with a few swipes of mascara and a little color on my lips.

Dear Lord, I struggle caring too much about the opinions of others. I beg You to please whisper words of truth into my heart and mind today. Protect me from both the bad and good opinions of others as I am reminded that only Your opinion counts. In Jesus' name. Amen.

God sees within me the ability to be the one He's perfectly designed to raise up this strong little person.

The breaking of us has actually been the making of us . . . the God-strengthened us He could use.

But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. (James 3:17)

The children of Israel were led by God, not on the shortest route but rather the ordained route.

Today, let's set our minds and hearts on feeling more thankful for what we are than guilty for what we're not. Let's cut the threads of guilt with grace.

...These seasons of suffering are not for nothing. They will grow you. They will shape you. They will soften you. They will allow you to experience God's comfort and compassion. But you will find life-giving purpose and meaning when you allow God to take your painful experiences and comfort others. You will be able to share a unique hope because you know exactly what it feels like to be them.

And worst of all, I did not feel held safe. Girls who have the lingering whispers of rejection still echoing in the hollows of their soul rarely feel completely held safe. So they look at gaps of the unknown and hesitate at best. Run away at worst. They crave for life to make sense. They cringe when it doesn't. It

Remember the decisions you make determine the schedule you keep. The schedule you keep determines the life you live. And how you live your life determines how you spend your soul.

A woman's heart is a deep, wild, and wondrous place full of secret desires. I desire for my life to count for something. I desire for my kids to grow and become good people. I desire for my marriage to always be full of love and devotion. I desire to live a life of no regrets. But my greatest secret desire must always be for more of God in my life. This is the only desire that's certain to never disappoint and can never be taken from me. My husband, my kids, and my life as I know it could be stripped away in an instant. But God will be there through it all. I just have to make the choice to make my relationship with Him of utmost importance.

Bad moments don't make bad mommas.

Which do I care more about - demanding my rights or displaying right choices?

When the world beats you down, open up your Bible.

It is good for God's people to be put in a place of longing so they feel a slight desperation. Only then can we be empty enough and open enough to discover the holiness we were made for. When we are stuffed full of other things and never allow ourselves to be in a place of longing, we don't recognize the deeper spiritual battle going on.

I'm not who that guy says I am. I'm not who that girl says I am. I'm not who social media likes and comments say I am. I'm not who the grades, to-do lists, messes, and mess ups say I am. I'm not who the scale says I am or the sum total of what my flaws say I am. I'm going to stop flirting with the unstable things of this world so I can fall completely in love with You. I am loved. I am held. I am Yours. I am forever Yours." The more intimacy like this that I have with God, the more secure my true identity is.

Overstuffing ourselves with food or drinking until we get drunk or getting wrapped up in the affections of an adulterous relationship are all desperate attempts to silence the cries of a hungry soul.

To trust God is to trust His timing. To trust God is to trust His way. God loves me too much to answer my prayers at any other time than the right time and in any other way than the right way. In the quietness of all that doesn't feel right, this truth does.

God, I want to see You. God, I want to hear You. God, I want to know You. God, I want to follow hard after You. And even before I know what I will face today, I say yes to You.

Having faith doesn't mean I have all the answers. It means trusting God especially in the midst of uncertainty.

Rejection has long ties pulling the pain of yesterday into the situations of today. What felt hopeless yesterday will feed a hopelessness into today unless we cut those ties.

Have you ever had a "worst mom ever" day? Take heart, so have we all. Take my friend's advice. Apologize to your children. Ask God for forgiveness. Get over it and stop letting Satan drag you down. Spend time with the Lord getting a new attitude, and He'll help you leave the dams to the beavers!

My life certainly didn't change overnight. I experienced a waiting period, a time of growth, development, and perseverance as God prepared me. Lessons on patience, trust, surrender, and learning to take hold all preceded my stepping out. But even in this seemingly unimportant time of pruning and trials, God was preparing me for the next step.

The exhausting manipulation and control it takes to protect an identity based on circumstances will crush our hearts and hide the best of who we are behind a wall of insecurity.

If we let it, unglued will allow us to become humbly and beautifully broken before Him.

When we have the same thought again, the line of the original thought is deepened, causing what's called a memory trace. With each repetition the trace goes deeper and deeper, forming and embedding a pattern of thought. When an emotion is tied to this thought pattern, the memory trace grows exponentially stronger.

Honesty is a suitor with piercing vision who isn't swayed by pretending and positioning.

As I make goals for this year ... Jesus, let your thoughts become my thoughts and bend my will to Your will.

Do you find yourself facing a challenge and too tired to pray? Allow the power of prayer to revive your spirit and restore your physical and mental vigor. By following Nehemiah's example, you will have the energy needed to defeat the enemy and thrive in the midst of your challenges.

We were made for victory. Sometimes we just have to find our way to that truth.

Time grows the seeds that are planted, watered, and fertilized. Plant beauty, grow beauty. Plant thorns, grow thorns. Time will allow for either.

Taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in him. (PSALM 34:8)

Only when we seek to apply His revelations to our situations will we experience transformation.

The short time we actually focus on today's journey is often wasted on complaining, grumbling, wishing to be in a different place, or simply and mindlessly going through the motions of life.

God's eyes are on me. His face is not against me. And even if others appear to be against me, I must make sure in my reaction to them that I extend grace and honor God.

The spotlight never fixes our insecurities. It only magnifies what we thought popularity would cover up.

all the many times I assign thoughts to others that they never actually think. I hold them accountable to harsh judgments they never make. And I own a rejection from them they never gave me.

Instead of always looking to get fulfillment from my loved ones and the other blessings in my life, I can simply enjoy them for what they are.

Some church-raised young adults experience similar self-doubt when it comes to making spiritual judgments. Instead of equipping them to make thoughtful, prayerful decisions and then to trust God for the outcome, the church has instilled a debilitating fear of sin or "stepping out of God's will." How can we expect the next generation to move forward with confidence into God's future when they are scared of making a misstep?1

All the while the acid of overactivity eats holes in our souls. And from those holes leaks the cry of the unfulfilled calling that never quite happened. We said yes to so much that we missed what I call our "Best Yes" assignments - simply because we didn't heed the warning of the whispers within that subtle space.

Scars are beautiful when we see them as glorious reminders that we courageously survived.

Dear friends, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from sinful desires, which wage war against your soul. (1 PETER 2:11)

Sometimes we miss the miraculous of all that we have been blessed with because we're so focused on the one thing we don't have. When this happens, we become disillusioned with all that we do have.

Psalm 103:8 The LORD is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love.

Where there is a lack of rest, there is an abundance of stress.

God, I want Your truth to be the loudest voice in my life. Correct me. Comfort me. Come closer still. And I will trust. God, You are good at being God.

When lies are swarming and attacking me like a bunch of bloodthirsty mosquitoes, the best thing I can do is open God's Word and immerse myself in His truth. Lies flee in the presence of truth.

Obviously, the core of Eve's temptation was she wanted to be like God, knowing good and evil. But we can't ignore the fact that the serpent used food as a tool in the process. If the very downfall of humanity was caused when Eve surrendered to a temptation to eat something she wasn't supposed to eat, I do think our struggles with food are important to God.

Truth and godliness always walk hand in hand.

Tackle issues not people.
Am I trying to prove my point or improve the relationship?

Tonight, no matter what you're going through ... backtrack and remember all the places where God has been so faithful before in your life. And know. Know with assurance. And boldness. And confidence. He is the same faithful God.

I was so caught up in the rush of superficial things in my world that I missed hearing the cries for help in someone else's world. God had been prompting me to listen, really listen, to my husband, to stop and focus and give him just a few minutes. But I refused. I rushed past. And I acted like I was perfectly justified in doing so.

Comfort zones don't have to be comfortable
they're just familiar. It's where you feel like you belong. And, where you feel you belong is where you will stay.

There is something wonderfully sacred that happens when a girl chooses to realize that being set aside is actually God's call for her to be set apart.

We think we want comfort in the I-don't-know times of life. But comfort isn't a solution to seek; rather, it's a by-product we'll reap when we stay close to the Lord. What if the comfort and certainties we crave today are a deadly recipe for complacency that will draw our hearts further and further away from God?

Humility opens the door of opportunity.

We want big directional signs from God. God just wants us to pay attention.

If they make the choice to walk over me rather than walk with me, I'll have to love them from afar.

God, despite my circumstances, I will find reasons to praise You.

Thought for the Day: I have to make the choice every day to interrupt my fleshly tendencies of yelling and getting angry over minor things.

The mind feasts on what it focuses on. What consumes my thinking will be the making or the breaking of my identity.