This Is Where It All Began
I'm Lisa Goodbrake, founder of The Promised Land Community.
The roots of this community began long before I knew I would someday build it.
I grew up around my family's cottage colony, working alongside both my mom and dad and learning about business by watching them, helping them and doing the work beside them.
But some of my most precious memories with my dad had nothing to do with work.
My dad and I loved to fish.
Fishing was our time together. We would sit beside each other, talk and make the kind of memories that stay with you for the rest of your life.
My dad became seriously ill when I was seven years old. For the next eight years, much of my childhood was shaped by his illness. His cancer returned three separate times, and through it all, I remember his strength and how little he complained. He died at only 41 years old, when I was fifteen.
At sixteen, I left home and school and began supporting myself.
I had to grow up quickly. I learned how to work, figure things out and keep moving forward. I also learned what it feels like to be alone and, eventually, just how much people need people.
When the Pieces Began to Make Sense
I didn't come to know God until I was 38 years old.
When I did, I began looking back at my life differently. Things I had always considered simply part of who I was began to look more like gifts God had given me long before I understood where they came from.
Over the years, I built and operated more than 14 businesses, spent more than 30 years in real estate, operated RV communities and founded a nonprofit residential program for women.
And just as my parents had taught me by letting me work beside them, I did the same with my three children, having each of them work alongside me and learn business by doing it.
I didn't realize then how much that idea of one generation teaching the next would eventually become part of what we're building today.
There were plenty of difficult chapters along the way too. But through them, I learned to have faith, keep moving and trust God even when I couldn't see what He was doing.
Then God gave me the vision for The Promised Land Community, and so many pieces of my life began to make sense.
Why Adults 55+ and Veterans?
I'm part of the same 55+ generation The Promised Land Community was created to serve.
I'm not building what I think someone else should want. I'm building the kind of community I would want to live in myself, a place where I can keep my independence without giving up friendship, belonging or purpose.
Veterans are personal to me too.
My father served in the U.S. Air Force and was medically discharged after an injury. My first husband served in the Army, my stepfather was a former prisoner of war, and my son served in the Army and is now a disabled veteran.
There was never a question in my mind that veterans would have a place here.
Why the Pond Means So Much
The pond at The Promised Land Community isn't just an amenity.
It brings part of my own story full circle.
Some of the most precious memories I have of my dad are of the two of us fishing together.
Someday, I hope to look down at our pond and see a resident sitting there with a child or grandchild, sharing that same love of fishing.
They might catch a fish.
But what I really hope they catch is a memory they'll carry for the rest of their lives.
In Honor of My Mom and Dad
The Promised Land Community is dedicated to my mom and dad.
My dad taught me strength. Through three battles with cancer, I watched him continue forward without allowing his illness to define him.
My mom taught me perseverance. After losing her husband when he was only 41, she had to learn things she had never expected to do alone. She kept going, used what she had and figured out what she didn't know.
And throughout my life, my mom has always been there for me. She has supported my ideas, my businesses, my dreams and my new beginnings.
As my faith has grown, I've realized something else.
God has always been there too, even during the years when I didn't know Him and during the seasons when I couldn't see what He was doing.
My life has taught me that God doesn't require a perfect past before He can use you.
Your age doesn't disqualify you. Your losses don't disqualify you. The difficult chapters of your life don't disqualify you.
God can use what He's placed in your hands, your experiences, your gifts and even the hard parts of your story to serve someone else.
Your mess can become your message.
For me, the greatest purpose I've found is also the simplest:
Love God. Love one another. And use what you've been given to serve His people.
“And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.”
1 Corinthians 13:13 • NIV