About the Author

Stephanie Bryant is the co-founder of @incourage and a podcaster at the #JesusLedAdventurePodcast. She owns a Marketing & Business Coaching company. She is passionate about guiding you to your promised land and personal brand therapy. She enjoys spending her days with her husband and their miracle daughter, Gabrielle, on #BryantFamilyFarm....

(in)side DaySpring: things we love
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(in)side DaySpring:
things we love
& you will too!
Find more at
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  1. Stephanie,
    “Only God knows where the Promised Land is for each of us.” So often I think I know what’s best for me…where I should head…where my ultimate happiness and fulfillment will be. I struggle with- is that “vision” or is that “pride”? Maybe a little of both. I often don’t like to hear God’s answer of “wait”, but I am learning that as I journey through this life, that “wait” means that God is preparing something even more awesome than my limited mind could envision. And, yes, it may even contain “ugly”, but I believe that’s because God’s glory can be revealed when he is allowed to work through us to transform ugly. When I realize it’s all about God and not about me, that’s when I step into the Promised Land. Wonderful inspiration this morning!
    Blessings,
    Bev

  2. I’m not comfortable with the idea of an ugly Promise Land. It doesn’t give me the warm and fuzzies, but when I think about God, I realize that He mostly works in a slowly unveiling. I love the thought of Him hiding His work behind the ugly, only to eventually reveal it’s beauty.

  3. Wow. This is so good and it’s also an answer to a prayer this morning. Ten years ago my husband had an affair and walked away. God spoke to my heart that He would restore. After years of standing, praying, extending unconditional love, looking like a doormat to all, he did come back. But not the way I thought he would. He’s still not surrendered to God. Wants to sweep it all under the rug. Pretend none of the devastation occurred. And I often ask God, “THIS is what you promised?! THIS is restoration?!”. Thank you for this reminder that our promised lands may contain the ugly but God’s still got this. THIS Is HIS story not mine.

    • Dear JSG,
      Thank you for sharing what must be an incredibly difficult situation. I like to think of myself as a stander too, though my situation is different from most standers. I pray God gives you enough strength to get you through each day even when it seems others may not appreciate your effort and sacrifice. Do not grow weary in doing good for in the proper season you shall reap a harvest. May having your spouse back home, even though he may still be far from what you have prayed for (having him back is a miracle that most do not receive) be a reminder that you are one more step closer to ”all things beautiful”‘. He does make all things beautiful in His time, and your turn is coming. Soon. Big hugs from Nairobi.

      • Thank you Nairobi for you encouraging words. Standing for a restored marriage is not a popular thing to do. Every time when I feel like I am done, God graciously provides messages like this one to remind me that He sees, He knows and ultimately all I have to do is obey Him and leave the consequences in His hands. I will lift you up in prayer for your situation as well. God bless.

    • Prayers for you JSG. May God give you the strength and contentment to carry on each day no matter what! Keep pushing through and eventually God will answer your prayers. He may be changing your heart as well as your husband’s.
      Prayers that you don’t grow weary in this season of your life! May God shower you with His mercy and love!

      (((Hugs))))

  4. As a young girl…and all the way up until I was married…I prayed to be a mom some-day. Well, God granted that prayer 29 years ago, when our first child was born. I remember being beyond elated with our baby son…and I also remember the doctor telling us that he had Down Syndrome. Or, words to that effect. And I remember thinking that it couldn’t be real. I was young…I did everything “right” to take care of myself. What was Down Syndrome, anyway? I had no clue. But I figured that God knew what He was doing, and we would just figure it out as we went…which we did. We have 4 children now. The younger three have all gradually become more independent through the years, and no longer need me in that “mothering” way. As parents, our roles naturally grow and change as our kids grow and change. But with our first born? Our Joshua? God gave me the desire of my heart…in a completely unexpected way, because I have had the awesome privilege of being a MOTHER to him for 29 years. No, it wasn’t how I pictured my dream…or my “Promised Land.” It hasn’t been “ugly,” but it’s been hard, scary, frustrating, fun, uncertain, rewarding…and better than I ever could’ve imagined.

  5. Stephanie,
    These beautifully crafted bittersweet words are speaking to my heart {your words always do!} as I wonder if I really heard the promise God whispered to me because I thought where I am would look so much different. I pray, I wonder, I question, if I had waited this long, surely God wouldn’t get my hopes up to tease me? But I too pray for the renovation I need to view the promises and desires as God sees them and to see my life from his perspective. In the meantime, I will always be looking for what he is doing, experience the miracles {as I already have} and enjoy my life, even if the promises and desires look different than I thought they would. Love following your adventure on Instagram – -thanks for inspiring us!

  6. This resonated with me, Stephanie. Your post brought to mind the metamorphosis of caterpillar to beautiful butterfly. Our eyes are trained to view the finished creation as magnificient, and the beginning stages, that are necessary in order for the transformation to take place, are overlooked or dismissed as inconvenient or “ugly.” Sometimes, I think “Lord, what in the world are you doing?” And then, He gently reminds me of how the hardest moments have brought a deeper appreciation of His love and of the simplest things in life. The things that matter most. Without the hard, I could not as easily appreciate the beautiful moments. “Miracles along the path I would have missed.”

    • Veronica,
      Thank you for the analogy of the caterpillar and the butterfly. So often I feel like the caterpillar wanting so desperately to become the beautiful butterfly and have all this hardship off me and my desires granted!

  7. Stephanie, your post spoke to the deep places in my heart. So much of what you said resonated, but this part here? “He’s preparing me to take on what the promise is. Maybe I wouldn’t be capable of possessing the promise without the much needed time with Him in the wilderness.”

    This part gives hope. I’ve definitely walked some of the ugly, and then seen God, in His faithfulness, transform the ugly into His shining beauty. When we struggled with infertility, I grappled with Him for years about how He must have loved others more than me because He hadn’t given us children. He showed me becoming a mother had become an idol. Yet, in His perfect timing, and in lots of renovating of my understanding of Him and His ways (and his crazy-passionate love for me!), He gave us two sons.

    I’m in process right now with another dream, and I’m trying to lean into Him. Is it easy? No. But, I’m learning He’s got this. Even in the ugly, in the Promised Land that doesn’t look too promising. He holds me in the palms of His hands. I can rest on that truth.

  8. I so needed to hear this today. Please pray for God’s peace and hope for me at the moment. I appear to be in a night that seems to have no end.

    • Read Psalm 30 to remember what happens in the morning, dear friend…Gentle Hugs & Prayers

  9. What a right on time message. This post resonates deep in the crevices of my heart. I entered my Promised Land last year. However, things got a very ugly when the battle to claim what God has promised ensued. What I know for sure is that the Israelites had to claim their Land and so do we. For me, claiming the Land lasted 60 days. I must admit those were some of ugliest I’ve experienced. However, I wouldn’t change a thing. God peeled back the layers of my heart to reveal that even though I had audacious faith, my trust had faded in the midst of the ugly. And out of ashes I see beauty and love.

  10. Stephanie,
    I think sometimes I know what’s best for me in that moment and I want it then and there!~ God know what’s best for us and He sees the future. As
    Jeremiah 29:11 states “For I know the plans I have for you” declares the Lord. “Plans to give you a hope and a future”. That said waiting is hard and the refining process is not fun. Like Bev stated we don’t like to hear wait-but learn through the journey of this life that “wait” means preparing us for something better. We have to trust that He knows best!
    Blessings 🙂