Recently I heard a snippet from a sermon by Sarah Jakes Roberts that has been sitting with me ever since.
She said something along the lines of: “The only way the promise can be disrupted is in the process.”...And I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it.
Because the truth is, most of us don’t lose sight of our dreams at the finish line. We lose sight of them somewhere in the middle. In the process.
The part where things are harder than we expected. The part where progress feels slower than we imagined. The part where life is still moving, responsibilities are still piling up, and the vision we’re working toward feels just far enough away to make us question everything.
The process is rarely glamorous.
It’s long workdays and quiet doubts. It’s showing up when you’re tired. It’s trying to hold onto belief while navigating the realities of everyday life. It’s the moments where you wonder if what you’re building will actually become what you hoped it would.
And if I’m being honest, I’ve felt that tension lately.
Between what I know I’m working toward and what the current season actually feels like. Between the promise I believe in and the process I’m currently walking through.
Because the process asks a lot of you. It asks for patience when you want clarity.
Faith when you want proof. Consistency when you feel stretched thin.
And sometimes the hardest part isn’t the work itself — it’s staying connected to the reason you started in the first place.
But that line from the sermon reminded me of something important...The promise itself isn’t usually the fragile part.
It’s our relationship with the process that gets tested. When the process feels uncomfortable, messy, or exhausting, it can make us question whether the promise was ever real to begin with. It can make us feel like maybe we misheard something, or maybe we’re just pushing ourselves too hard for something that won’t happen.
But maybe the process isn’t meant to disrupt the promise.
Maybe it’s meant to shape the person who will eventually carry it.
Maybe the middle seasons — the ones that feel uncertain, busy, or overwhelming — are doing a deeper kind of work in us that we won’t fully understand until later.
And maybe the reminder we all need sometimes is simple:
Don’t let the process make you forget the promise.
Because sometimes the very season that feels the most challenging is also the one quietly preparing you for what you’ve been praying for.
Sunday reminder:
The process may stretch you, but it doesn’t have to steal your belief in what’s meant for you.
