8 Reasons Your Life Matters Quotes

“I’ve learned difference between a friend and an acquaintance. Acquaintances provide a warm body in the room. They provide entertainment. They can keep you from feeling lonely. And acquaintances don’t involve sacrifice. If they don’t fit your schedule, it’s no big loss. You can know someone for decades, get together with them on countless occasions, and never become their friend. Friendship means cutting away a small piece of your heart and allowing another person to fill that gap. Friendship is anchored in love. When we put love into action, it communicates value.”
― John Herrick, 8 Reasons Your Life Matters

“No matter how your day goes, the sun always rises the next day. You get a fresh start.”
― John Herrick, 8 Reasons Your Life Matters

“Success might manifest overnight, but years of preparation preceded it.”
― John Herrick, 8 Reasons Your Life Matters

“Nothing in this life lasts forever. Your dark season will come to an end. And chances are, it won’t take until your dying day. It won’t kill you.”
― John Herrick, 8 Reasons Your Life Matters

“Darkness Always Ends No matter how your day goes, the sun always rises the next day. You get a fresh start. Likewise, I’ve learned every dark season in life comes to an end. If you hang in there long enough, you’ll reach the dawn. I believe God created that sunrise-sunset pattern as a reminder for us when life gets difficult. For official records, we measure time by the midnight hour. Our calendar days go from midnight to midnight. We begin and end our days in darkness. And when we consider our days, we split them into two parts: daytime first, followed by nighttime. Light first, then the darkness. But not everyone views the cycle that way. The biblical account of creation reverses our cycle: “And there was evening and there was morning, one day” (Genesis 1:5). The Jewish calendar follows suit with that original creation account. That calendar runs from sunset to sunset. The full hours of darkness come first, followed by the full hours of light. In other words, from God’s perspective, each day ends with light. Year after year, I’ve derived such encouragement from that picture. I believe this is why the psalmist David wrote, “Weeping may last for the night, but a shout of joy comes in the morning” (Psalm 30:5). You have every reason to believe for a miracle. You have every reason to believe God won’t abandon you. Nothing in this life lasts forever. Your dark season will come to an end. And chances are, it won’t take until your dying day. It won’t kill you. Things might look bleak at first, but they can improve. With night and day, God has given us a picture of hope. The sun always rises. Things will always get brighter. “The end of a matter is better than its beginning” (Ecclesiastes 7:8). Whether it’s a day or a season in your life, it doesn’t matter how things look in the midst of it. What matters is how it ends. Oftentimes, for the circumstances to improve, we must take particular steps along the way. A bright outcome might depend, in part, on how we choose to respond to what has occurred. Or preemptive steps might put us at an advantage down the road. God give us a role to perform. But the breakthrough is available.”
― John Herrick, 8 Reasons Your Life Matters

“Nothing in this life lasts forever. Your dark season will come to an end. And chances are, it won’t take until your dying day. It won’t kill you. Things might look bleak at first, but they can improve. With night and day, God has given us a picture of hope. The sun always rises. Things will always get brighter. “The end of a matter is better than its beginning” (Ecclesiastes 7:8).”
― John Herrick, 8 Reasons Your Life Matters

“Do your circumstances look bleak? Take heart. God put a destiny on your life. You were born for such a time as this. God allowed you to be born in this era. He allowed you to be alive today. Your life matters. You have a purpose and destiny. It’s worth sticking around for tomorrow, next week, next year—just to see what good things are headed your way.”
― John Herrick, 8 Reasons Your Life Matters

“The truth is, we cannot change other people. “People change” must occur in the heart, and the heart realm exists between God and the individual. We can walk in love toward the person. We can offer encouragement. But we cannot change them.”
― John Herrick, 8 Reasons Your Life Matters

“For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,’ declares the LORD. ‘For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts”
― John Herrick, 8 Reasons Your Life Matters

“Whether it’s a day or a season in your life, it doesn’t matter how things look in the midst of it. What matters is how it ends.”
― John Herrick, 8 Reasons Your Life Matters

“But regardless of his motive, words can be destructive. As Proverbs 18:21 points out, life and death are in the power of the tongue. If you lend credence to a continual onslaught of negativity, whether self-inflicted or external, eventually it will wear you down.”
― John Herrick, 8 Reasons Your Life Matters

“Picture God molding you, getting each detail just right: Shaping your nose. Forming your hairline. Giving distinct length and shape to your fingers and toes. Yet after God formed him, the man still wasn’t alive. And that’s where the next distinction comes in. God breathed his own breath into man. At that point, man became a living being. The Bible tells us that God made us in His image. Like God, we create. We strategize. We experience emotions. We have the ability to love. You have a distinct origin. You were created in God’s image. God used these factors to set you apart, to mark you as significant. They separate you from all other created things.”
― John Herrick, 8 Reasons Your Life Matters

“Your life matters because it is broader in scope than the darkness you might experience today. Your life is more permanent than your struggles.”
― John Herrick, 8 Reasons Your Life Matters

“If offering a criticism, accompany it with one potential solution.”
― John Herrick, 8 Reasons Your Life Matters

“Don’t give up. Your life matters because it is broader in scope than the darkness you might experience today. Your life is more permanent than your struggles.”
― John Herrick, 8 Reasons Your Life Matters

“Gideon saw in himself an unqualified, insignificant individual. But God saw someone He could use. God feels the same way about you. He sees potential and value that you might not see in yourself. He wants you on His team. You were His first pick.”
― John Herrick, 8 Reasons Your Life Matters

“Maybe other people have torn you down to the point where you wonder why you should get out of bed in the morning.”
― John Herrick, 8 Reasons Your Life Matters

“Darkness Always Ends”
― John Herrick, 8 Reasons Your Life Matters

“Unqualified Champions Consider these individuals from the Bible. Each person was aware of a personal shortcoming which should have rendered him disqualified for service. God, however, saw champion potential … Moses struggled with a speech impediment: “Then Moses said to the LORD, ‘Please, Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither recently nor in time past, nor since You have spoken to Your servant; for I am slow of speech and slow of tongue’” (Exodus 4:10). Yet God served as Moses’ source of strength. God used him to deliver the Israelites from bondage. Jeremiah considered himself too young to deliver a prophetic message to an adult population: “Then I said, ‘Alas, Lord GOD! Behold, I do not know how to speak, because I am a youth’” (Jeremiah 1:6). God’s reply: “Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you,” (Jeremiah 1:8). Isaiah, whose encouragement I quoted earlier, had reservations of his own. Perhaps his vocabulary reflected my own—especially my vocabulary as a teenager: “I am a man of unclean lips” (Isaiah 6:5). Despite Isaiah’s flaws, God saw him as a man He could use to provide guidance to the nation of Judah. Paul the Apostle had, in his past, persecuted the very people to whom God would send him later. To most of us, Paul’s track record would disqualify him for use. But God brought change to Paul’s heart and redemption to his fervency. Samson squandered his potential through poor life choices. As I read about him, I can’t help but think, “The guy acted like a spoiled brat.” But God had placed a call on his life. Though Samson sank to life’s darkest depths—captors blinded him and placed him in slavery—at the end of his life, he turned his heart toward God and asked to be used for God’s purposes. God used Samson to bring deliverance to the Israelites. Do you feel like the least qualified, the least important, the least regarded? Perhaps your reward is yet to come. God has high regard for those who are the least. Jesus said, “For the one who is least among all of you, this is the one who is great” (Luke 9:48) and “But many who are first will be last; and the last, first” (Matthew 19:30). If heaven includes strategic positioning among God’s people, which I believe it will, that positioning will be ego-free and based on a humble heart. Those of high position in God’s eyes don’t focus on position. They focus on hearts: their own hearts before God, and the hearts of others loved by God. When we get to heaven, I believe many people’s positions of responsibility will surprise us. What if, in heaven, the some of today’s most accomplished individuals end up reporting to someone who cried herself to sleep at night—yet kept her heart pure before God? According to Jesus in Matthew 6:5, some rewards are given in full before we reach heaven. When He spoke those words, He referred to hypocritical religious leaders as an example. Could we be in for a heavenly surprise? I believe many who are last today—the ultimate servants—will be first in heaven. God sees things differently than we do.”
― John Herrick, 8 Reasons Your Life Matters

“God Sees You Differently When we focus on our shortcomings and limitations, it doesn’t leave us with much of a reason to believe in ourselves. Under personal, honest scrutiny, we don’t look like winners. But God sees you differently than you see yourself. While we tend to focus on outward evidence, God focuses on the heart. We analyze the past and present, but God looks toward the future. As we make a list of our mistakes and failures, He identifies crevices where potential exists. “‘For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,’ declares the LORD. ‘For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts’” (Isaiah 55:8-9). When God looks at us, He doesn’t see lost opportunity. He doesn’t see failure. God looks at us through eyes of love. When someone loves you and you yield to that love, you feel comfortable in their presence. Your confidence mounts. You know you’re accepted. And where room for improvement exists, someone who loves us will encourage us to step out with boldness and make progress. If we feel unworthy or unqualified, if fear tries to cripple us, we can choose to move forward in spite of it.”
― John Herrick, 8 Reasons Your Life Matters

“Early in my career, I formed a personal motto, one by which I continue to live: If offering a criticism, accompany it with one potential solution. In the case I described, the individual didn’t want to work together to find a solution. Unfortunately, I’ve never found an effective way to deal with adults who exhibit immaturity. The Bible offers a bit of interesting insight that I consider applicable: “Do not eat the bread of a selfish man, or desire his delicacies; for as he thinks within himself, so he is. He says to you, ‘Eat and drink!’ but his heart is not with you. You will vomit up the morsel you have eaten, and waste your compliments. Do not speak in the hearing of a fool, for he will despise the wisdom of your words” (Proverbs 23:6-9). The Bible also says, “If possible, so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all men” (Romans 12:18). It saddens me to say, but in that individual’s case, peace meant limiting my interactions with him. To foster peace, I stopped saying hello in the mornings. Not out of spite, but because friendly conversation led to comfort, and comfort, I noticed, opened the door for negative comments. Rarely do I take such an extreme measure, but sometimes distance is helpful. His visits ended. My peace and fervor began to reemerge.”
― John Herrick, 8 Reasons Your Life Matters

“I’ve learned that effort spent on unwinnable battles is wasted effort. It’s best to simply move on to something worth conquering.”
― John Herrick, 8 Reasons Your Life Matters

“The end of a matter is better than its beginning”
― John Herrick, 8 Reasons Your Life Matters

“If heaven includes strategic positioning among God’s people, which I believe it will, that positioning will be ego-free and based on a humble heart. Those of high position in God’s eyes don’t focus on position. They focus on hearts: their own hearts before God, and the hearts of others loved by God.”
― John Herrick, 8 Reasons Your Life Matters

“When God looks at us, He doesn’t see lost opportunity. He doesn’t see failure. God looks at us through eyes of love. When someone loves you and you yield to that love, you feel comfortable in their presence. Your confidence mounts. You know you’re accepted.”
― John Herrick, 8 Reasons Your Life Matters

“bigger picture. I ceased explaining the why behind the what. I’ve learned that effort spent on unwinnable battles is wasted effort. It’s best to simply move on to something worth conquering.”
― John Herrick, 8 Reasons Your Life Matters

“But many who are first will be last; and the last, first” (Matthew 19:30).”
― John Herrick, 8 Reasons Your Life Matters

“For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,’ declares the LORD. ‘For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts’” (Isaiah 55:8-9).”
― John Herrick, 8 Reasons Your Life Matters

“life and death are in the power of the tongue. If you lend credence to a continual onslaught of negativity, whether self-inflicted or external, eventually it will wear you down.”
― John Herrick, 8 Reasons Your Life Matters

“So why would God want to include us in his plan? My theory is simple: It’s more fun to take someone along for the ride. Maybe God didn’t want to do it all alone. We crave fellowship. Maybe He does, too. As”
― John Herrick, 8 Reasons Your Life Matters