Lysa TerKeurst is an influential American author, speaker, and president of Proverbs 31 Ministries, a Christian organization focused on empowering women. Known for her inspirational writings, she has authored books such as “Uninvited” and “The Best Yes,” addressing themes of faith, relationships, and personal growth. Through Proverbs 31 Ministries, TerKeurst encourages women to live fulfilling lives grounded in Christian principles. Her work often draws from personal experiences, offering relatable insights and encouragement. Notable for titles like “It’s Not Supposed to Be This Way,” she guides readers through challenges, providing a faith-based perspective on overcoming disappointments. Lysa TerKeurst has become a respected figure in the Christian community, contributing to discussions on navigating life’s complexities with a focus on faith and resilience.
Lysa TerKeurst Quotes
1. “Big things are built one brick at a time. Victories are achieved one choice at a time. A life well lived is chosen one day at a time.”
— Lysa TerKeurst
2. “Just because something is hard doesn’t mean it’s impossible.”
— Lysa TerKeurst
3. “Don’t let people’s compliments go to your head, and don’t let their criticisms go to your heart. The degree to which you do either of these things is the degree to which you’ll be ruled by what other people think of you.”
— Lysa TerKeurst
4. “Trusting God’s plan is the only secret I know in the gentle art of not freaking out.”
— Lysa TerKeurst
5. “Remember who you are. Don’t compromise for anyone, for any reason. You are a child of the Almighty God. Live that truth.”
— Lysa TerKeurst
6. “There is power in simply speaking the name Jesus.”
— Lysa TerKeurst
7. “Not making a decision is actually a decision. It’s the decision to stay the same.”
— Lysa TerKeurst
8. “God is good to me, even when life doesn’t feel good to me.”
— Lysa TerKeurst
9. “Never is a woman so fulfilled as when she chooses to underwhelm her schedule so she can let God overwhelm her soul.”
— Lysa TerKeurst
10. “Scars are beautiful when we see them as glorious reminders that we courageously survived.”
— Lysa TerKeurst
11. “This life is not about me. It’s about joining hands with Jesus to fulfill whatever tasks He sets before me and to share His love with all He brings my way.”
— Lysa TerKeurst
12. “God will always do great things with people who are willing to be faithful in the small things.”
— Lysa TerKeurst
13. “We want big directional signs from God. God just wants us to pay attention.”
— Lysa TerKeurst
14. “God invites us today to live a great story with Him.”
— Lysa TerKeurst
15. “You’ve never gone too far that God can’t redeem you, restore you, forgive you, and give you a second chance.”
— Lysa TerKeurst
16. “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.”
— Lysa TerKeurst
17. “Forgiveness is mandatory; reconciliation is optional.”
— Lysa TerKeurst
18. “As Ravi Zacharias said, “Sin will take you farther than you want to go, keep you longer than you want to stay, and cost you more than you want to pay.”
— Lysa TerKeurst
19. “Great love isn’t two people finding the perfect match in one another. Great love is two people making the choice to be a match.”
— Lysa TerKeurst
20. “When to give grace? I’d rather stand before God knowing I loved others too much rather than regretting that I judged too harshly.”
— Lysa TerKeurst
21. “My imperfections will never override God’s promises. God’s promises are not dependent on my ability to always choose well, but rather on His ability to use well.”
— Lysa TerKeurst
22. “No person, possession, profession, or position ever fills the cup of a wounded, empty heart. It’s an emptiness only God can fill.”
— Lysa TerKeurst
23. “God loves you just the way you are. But He loves you too much to leave you stuck in a state of defeat.”
— Lysa TerKeurst
24. “When God says no, we are sometimes tempted to wonder if He loves us. In reality, it’s because He loves us, He sometimes says no.”
— Lysa TerKeurst
25. “Life as a Christ follower will always be a learning process of depending less on our own strength and more on God’s power.”
— Lysa TerKeurst
26. “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.”
— Lysa TerKeurst
27. “I can face things that are out of my control and not act out of control.”
— Lysa TerKeurst
28. “Wise women tuck Godly wisdom into the words they speak and even more into the words they choose not to speak.”
— Lysa TerKeurst
29. “Getting healthy isn’t just about losing weight. It’s not limited to adjusting our diet and hoping for good physical results. It’s about recalibrating our souls so that we want to change – spiritually, physically, and mentally. And the battle really is in all three areas.”
— Lysa TerKeurst
30. “I know deep hurt. But I also know deep hope. Sometimes God’s power is shown as much in preventing things as it is in making them happen. We may never know why. But we can always know and trust the Who.”
— Lysa TerKeurst
31. “Having faith doesn’t mean I have all the answers. It means trusting God especially in the midst of uncertainty.”
— Lysa TerKeurst
32. “Satan wants anxiety to hinder us from becoming effective servants of Christ.”
— Lysa TerKeurst
33. “Do not confuse the command to love with the disease to please.”
— Lysa TerKeurst
34. “Prayer does make a difference-a life-changing, mind-blowing, earth-rattling difference.”
— Lysa TerKeurst
35. “Saying yes all the time won’t make me Wonder Woman. It will make me a worn out woman.”
— Lysa TerKeurst
36. “We live in a broken world full of broken people. But isn’t it comforting to know God isn’t ever broken? He isn’t ever caught off guard, taken by surprise, or shocked by what happens next.”
— Lysa TerKeurst
37. “God is using all of your experiences, both good and bad, to develop your character to match your calling.”
— Lysa TerKeurst
38. “God is mighty. God is caring. God is worthy of praise. God is loving. God is able. God is in control. Nothing takes God by surprise. Some sweet reminders to soak in before falling asleep tonight.”
— Lysa TerKeurst
39. “Outside our comfort zone, though, is where we experience the true awesomeness of God.”
— Lysa TerKeurst
40. “Most of us spend years chasing things in this world that we think will make us feel loved. But everything this world has to offer is temporary. Everything. The kind of love our souls crave is lasting, eternal. And only God can fill up our hearts with that kind of love.”
— Lysa TerKeurst
41. “What if God’s ‘NO,’ is really a gift? His way to protect us from what we cannot see, provide something better than we can imagine, or be part of the process of growing us closer to Him.”
— Lysa TerKeurst
42. “I give grace because I so desperately need it.”
— Lysa TerKeurst
43. “Remember, the Devil loves to make us focus on the little that’s wrong so we miss the big picture of all that’s right.”
— Lysa TerKeurst
44. “The truly thankful person is a truly peaceful person.”
— Lysa TerKeurst
45. “One drop of the Lord’s mercy is better than an ocean of the world’s comfort.”
— Lysa TerKeurst
46. “If I’m trusting myself, I will stare at all the possible ways I could fail. If I’m trusting God, I will stare at all the possible ways He’ll use this whether I fail or succeed.”
— Lysa TerKeurst
47. “The secret to healthy conflict resolution isn’t taking a ‘you against me’ stance. The secret is realizing it’s ‘us against Satan.’ He’s the real enemy.”
— Lysa TerKeurst
48. “God loves to take people from broken backgrounds and surprise them with possibilities.”
— Lysa TerKeurst
49. “The one who obey’s God’s instruction for today will develop a keen awareness of His direction for tomorrow.”
— Lysa TerKeurst
50. “I was made for more than being stuck in a vicious cycle of defeat. I am not made to be a victim of my poor choices. I was made to be a victorious child of God.”
— Lysa TerKeurst
51. “A woman who lives with the stress of an overwhelmed schedule will often ache with the sadness of an underwhelmed soul.”
— Lysa TerKeurst
52. “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.”
— Lysa TerKeurst
53. “At the end of the day, honoring God leads to good things. Anything else leads to confusion, emotional exhaustion and a lack of good things.”
— Lysa TerKeurst
54. “I realize how desperately I need grace, therefore I try to lavishly give it.”
— Lysa TerKeurst
55. “No matter your age, stage of life, or circumstances, don’t forget to dare to dream with God. You don’t have to figure anything out. Just keep saying yes to Him, in big ways and small, and watch what He does.”
— Lysa TerKeurst
56. “Inspiration and information without personal application will never amount to transformation.”
— Lysa TerKeurst
57. “Being married is amazing. Being married is incredibly difficult. Being married can seem impossibly hard. Being married is incredibly beautiful. Yes, marriage is a fragile blend of all of this and more.”
— Lysa TerKeurst
58. “Sometimes we need the salt of tears to remind us how to savor the sweetness of life.”
— Lysa TerKeurst
59. “Toxic thoughts leave no room for truth to flourish. And in the absence of truth, lies reign. Spend some time soaking in your favorite verses from Scripture tonight. The more we read God’s truths and let truth fill our minds, the less time we’ll spend contemplating untruths and toxic thoughts.”
— Lysa TerKeurst
60. “God, despite my circumstances, I will find reasons to praise You.”
— Lysa TerKeurst
61. “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.”
— Lysa TerKeurst
62. “Don’t put the whole of your identity into the smallness of a situation.”
— Lysa TerKeurst
63. “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.”
— Lysa TerKeurst
64. “Whatever attitude we bring into a situation will be multiplied.”
— Lysa TerKeurst
65. “We must feel the pain to heal the pain. If we never allow ourselves to feel it, we won’t acknowledge it’s there.”
— Lysa TerKeurst
66. “I want to honor Jesus with the things I say and the things I choose not to say. Lord, help us all be so careful with sharing opinions as if they are truth.”
— Lysa TerKeurst
67. “Trying to fix another person will only add to my anxiety. Letting Jesus work on me is where real progress can happen.”
— Lysa TerKeurst
68. “Do not let the heartbreak you have experienced be wasted. God is still with you. His promises still stand. Soak in His truths and let them seep into the deepest places of your heart rubbed raw with uncertainty.”
— Lysa TerKeurst
69. “I want to learn how to be more thankful for what I am, than guilty for what I’m not.”
— Lysa TerKeurst
70. “God has challenged me to grow in my knowledge of Him but I have to CHOOSE whether or not to display this growth through my actions.”
— Lysa TerKeurst
71. “Too many people think that finding the reason God placed us here on earth will come in one assignment with a big title and complete job description. I believe that discovering our purpose will unfold slowly, like a seed planted deep in the ground.”
— Lysa TerKeurst
72. “Raw emotions – anger, frustration, bitterness, resentment – are the feelings we tend to hide from people we want to impress but spew on those we love the most.”
— Lysa TerKeurst
73. “So often, we want big directional signs from God. God just wants us to pay attention. But we need to leave enough space in our days to get up from our prayers and actually look for God in the moment-to-moment things that happen.”
— Lysa TerKeurst
74. “I must exchange whispers with God before shouts with the world.”
— Lysa TerKeurst
75. “Remember: even the smallest drop of God’s strength is more than enough to cover our frailties, our shortcomings, and the places where we deem ourselves weak.”
— Lysa TerKeurst
76. “Those who constantly try to impress others will quickly depress themselves.”
— Lysa TerKeurst
77. “Where there is a lack of rest, there is an abundance of stress.”
— Lysa TerKeurst
78. “Refusing to gossip is a beautiful decision to make. It not only creates richer friendships but, more importantly, it makes our relationship with the Lord more authentic and believable. We honor God when we honor each other.”
— Lysa TerKeurst
79. “Wisdom makes decisions today that will still be good tomorrow.”
— Lysa TerKeurst
80. “What if the worst parts of your life are actually gateways to the very best parts you’d never want to do without?”
— Lysa TerKeurst
81. “The only way our faith will ever strengthen is for us to use it. We need to apply thought and prayer to our decisions and then trust God for the outcome. We need to set our sights on growing in faith, not shrinking back for fear of failure.”
— Lysa TerKeurst
82. “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.”
— Lysa TerKeurst
83. “Nothing done with the focus on God is ever a waste of time.”
— Lysa TerKeurst
84. “God, I recognize I am made for more than the vicious cycle of being ruled by food. I need to eat to live, not live to eat. So, I keep asking for Your wisdom to know what to eat and Your indwelling power to walk away from things that are not beneficial for me.”
— Lysa TerKeurst
85. “Our decisions aren’t just isolated choices. Our decisions point our lives in the directions we’re about to head. Show me a decision and I’ll show you a direction.”
— Lysa TerKeurst
86. “God’s Word is the Truth. And His Truth says you are a holy and dearly loved child of your heavenly Father. You are wonderfully made. You are a treasure. You are beautiful. You are fully known by Him and lavishly loved by Him. You are chosen. You are special. You are set apart. No matter what you’ve done or what’s been done to you, these words of God are true about you.”
— Lysa TerKeurst
87. “Today, let’s be determined to see blessings in the midst of things that seem like burdens.”
— Lysa TerKeurst
88. “We can go to Bible study and amen every point made, but if we don’t apply it to our lives, we won’t be changed. And I’ll even take it a step further and say that if we’ve been exposed to a teaching that we know we need to implement and we don’t make any changes, that’s a clue that the hardening of that part of our heart is in process.”
— Lysa TerKeurst
89. “Whatever has you afraid, angry, intimidated or frustrated tonight – take it to our all-powerful and all-capable God. He has the answer.”
— Lysa TerKeurst
90. “It’s impossible to hold up the banners of victim and victory at the same time.”
— Lysa TerKeurst
91. “How I wish we could all see the cost of our choices as clearly as a price tag on items in a store. If I know how much something is going to cost me, I make much wiser choices. But we have an enemy who schemes against us to keep the cost of dumb decisions concealed until it’s too late.”
— Lysa TerKeurst
92. “If you give your mess to the Messiah, He can turn it into a message.”
— Lysa TerKeurst
93. “God gave me emotions so I could experience life, not destroy it.”
— Lysa TerKeurst
94. “God never intended for us to rely on others for our sense of well being. Only He is equipped to provide that.”
— Lysa TerKeurst
95. “Lord, help me to see what comes my way as an opportunity instead of an inconvenience.”
— Lysa TerKeurst
96. “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.”
— Lysa TerKeurst
97. “Feelings follow correct behaviors, not the other way around. Make right choices to honor God, and your feelings will eventually catch up. And though at first following God this way may appear to make your life harder, it actually does the exact opposite. It makes your attitude more in line with His, thus enabling you to weather whatever comes your way.”
— Lysa TerKeurst
98. “Because the need to be loved and accepted runs so deep, we find ourselves doing things we never thought possible just to try to satisfy those desires. What starts off as a seemingly small compromise can easily become a complete contradiction to the people we long to be. We set things in motion that we never intended, all because we missed the miracle of His presence and promise in the midst of the mess.”
— Lysa TerKeurst
99. “Keep your eyes on the Master, because He knows things we do not know!”
— Lysa TerKeurst
100. “Feeling the pain is the first step toward healing the pain. The longer we avoid the feeling, the more we delay our healing. We can numb it, ignore it, or pretend it doesn’t exist, but all those options lead to an eventual breakdown, not a breakthrough.”
— Lysa TerKeurst
101. “Humans are very attached to outcomes. We say we trust God but behind the scenes we work our fingers to the bone and our emotions into a tangled fray trying to control our outcomes. We praise God when our normal looks like what we thought it would. We question God when it doesn’t. And walk away from Him when we have a sinking suspicion that God is the one who set fire to the hope that was holding us together.”
— Lysa TerKeurst
102. “Hope is the melody of the future. Faith is dancing to that melody right now.”
— Lysa TerKeurst
103. “Staying here, blaming them, and forever defining your life by what they did will only increase the pain. Worse, it will keep projecting out onto others. The more our pain consumes us, the more it will control us. And sadly, it’s those who least deserve to be hurt whom our unresolved pain will hurt the most.”
— Lysa TerKeurst
104. “Being uncertain and scared and riddled with doubt some days isn’t a sign of bad things to come. It’s actually quite the opposite. After all, if great things weren’t on the horizon, I don’t think the enemy would be so bent on attacking us.”
— Lysa TerKeurst
105. “To live is to love. To love is to risk pain. To risk pain is to live. It’s what it means to truly be human. As fragile as dust. The breaking of us. The making of us. The building up of our faith.”
— Lysa TerKeurst
106. “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.”
— Lysa TerKeurst
107. “Not reaching back for what was lost in my yesterdays. And not reaching for what I hope will be in my tomorrow. But living fully with what is right in front of me. And truly seeing the gift of this moment.”
— Lysa TerKeurst
108. “Compromise built upon compromise equals failure. Instead, resisting temptation allowed promise upon promise to be built up in my heart, and that creates empowerment.”
— Lysa TerKeurst
109. “Resisting God’s promises will make us forget God’s presence.”
— Lysa TerKeurst
110. “If I’m going to call myself a person of faith, I need to be willing to live a life that actually requires faith.”
— Lysa TerKeurst
111. “Jesus doesn’t participate in the rat race. He’s into the slower rhythms of life, like abiding, delighting, and dwelling – all words that require us to trust Him with our place and our pace. Words used to describe us being with Him.”
— Lysa TerKeurst
112. “I want my kids to head out the door full of peace, not the echoes of my frustrations.”
— Lysa TerKeurst
113. “My attitude of love must not be sacrificed on the altar of activity.”
— Lysa TerKeurst
114. “Remember: The pain isn’t the enemy. Pain is the indicator that brokenness exists. Pain is the reminder that the real enemy is trying to take us out and bring us down by keeping us stuck in broken places. Pain is the gift that motivates us to fight with brave tenacity and fierce determination knowing there’s healing on the other side.”
— Lysa TerKeurst
115. “My ability to heal cannot be conditional on them wanting my forgiveness but only on my willingness to give it.”
— Lysa TerKeurst
116. “Don’t get so locked in to your overwhelming schedule that you haphazardly spend your soul.”
— Lysa TerKeurst
117. “Don’t get so consumed by and focused on the mess – the feelings of rejection, hurt, and disillusionment – that you miss the miracle.”
— Lysa TerKeurst
118. “I so desperately want my words to be indicative of how deeply and completely I love my people.”
— Lysa TerKeurst
119. “My reactions testify to the kind of relationship I have with Jesus and the effect He has on my heart.”
— Lysa TerKeurst
120. “If I’m trusting God, I will stare at all the possible ways He’ll use this whether I fail or succeed.”
— Lysa TerKeurst
121. “If the enemy can isolate us, he can influence us. And his favorite entry point of all is through our disappointments.”
— Lysa TerKeurst
122. “My counselor says, “Adults inform, children explain.” I will state my boundaries with compassion and clarity. But I will not negotiate excuses or navigate exceptions with lengthy explanations that wear me down emotionally.”
— Lysa TerKeurst
123. “Don’t let the hurt of today blind you to the hope of tomorrow. Disappointment ushers in a new appointment.”
— Lysa TerKeurst
124. “Like a tree, a woman can’t carry the weight of two seasons simultaneously. In the violent struggle of trying, she’ll miss every bit of joy each season promises to bring.”
— Lysa TerKeurst
125. “The mind feasts on what it focuses on. What consumes my thinking will be the making or the breaking of my identity.”
— Lysa TerKeurst
126. “Humility opens the door of opportunity.”
— Lysa TerKeurst
127. “If the enemy can isolate us, he can influence us.”
— Lysa TerKeurst
128. “Feelings should be indicators, not dictators.”
— Lysa TerKeurst
129. “Sometimes to get your life back, you have to face the death of what you thought your life would look like.”
— Lysa TerKeurst
130. “Satan has no power over us except what we allow. Moment by moment, decision by decision, step by step – will we operate in God’s all powerful Truth or allow Satan to entangle us in his lies?”
— Lysa TerKeurst
131. “Love isn’t what I have the opportunity to get from this world. Love is what I have the opportunity to give.”
— Lysa TerKeurst
132. “Moms, let’s pledge to build each other up instead of tearing each other down.”
— Lysa TerKeurst
133. “A woman who is careful with her words is a gift to all who know her.”
— Lysa TerKeurst
134. “Rejection isn’t just an emotion we feel. It’s a message that’s sent to the core of who we are, causing us to believe lies about ourselves, others, and God. We connect an event from today to something harsh someone once said. That person’s line becomes a label. The label becomes a lie. And the lie becomes a liability in how we think about ourselves and interact in every future relationship.”
— Lysa TerKeurst
135. “Everything I do and say tells a story of who I am serving. If I am acting out of anger and spite, I am serving the father of darkness and spreading his darkness. If I am honoring to the Lord with my actions, I am serving to further the name of Jesus and spreading His light.”
— Lysa TerKeurst
136. “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.”
— Lysa TerKeurst
137. “The space between our expectations and our reality is a fertile field, and it’s the perfect place to grow a bumper crop of disappointment.”
— Lysa TerKeurst
138. “How dangerous it is when our souls are gasping for God but we’re too distracted flirting with the world to notice.”
— Lysa TerKeurst
139. “Whether we’re on the path toward victory or defeat is determined by the very next choice we make. Not the choices from yesterday. Not the choices five minutes ago.”
— Lysa TerKeurst
140. “The problem with saying yes all the time is that it won’t make you Wonder Woman. It’ll make you a worn-out woman. And soon you’ll find the relationships you treasure most are constantly getting your ‘less’ instead of your ‘best’ because of your endless to-do list and overwhelming schedule.”
— Lysa TerKeurst
141. “Determine to pray more words over your marriage than you speak about your marriage.”
— Lysa TerKeurst
142. “Do not check in with the screaming demands of the world before you exchange whispers with God.”
— Lysa TerKeurst
143. “We try so hard to hold onto our stuff. We call it our treasure and expect to feel joy. But in God’s economy if we want to gain, we must give up. For joy won’t ever be found in collecting treasures. Joy radiates in our life only when we share our treasures.”
— Lysa TerKeurst
144. “Today’s choices become tomorrow’s circumstances. Proverbs 27:12 says, “The prudent see danger and take refuge, but the simple keep going and pay the penalty.”
— Lysa TerKeurst
145. “I can rest in the fact that God is in control.”
— Lysa TerKeurst
146. “When the world beats you down, open up your Bible.”
— Lysa TerKeurst
147. “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.”
— Lysa TerKeurst
148. “How it must break His heart when we walk around so desperate for a love He waits to give us each and every day.”
— Lysa TerKeurst
149. “Spending some time getting quiet can really be the best remedy for tangled situations. Taking a step back from all the emotion, frustration, and exhaustion to sit quietly with Jesus will do more to untangle a mess than anything else I’ve ever found.”
— Lysa TerKeurst
150. “Truth is the only healthy place from which to speak. Assumption is the birthplace of godless chatter.”
— Lysa TerKeurst
