“Sometimes it makes me mad when I hear people saying that they need to go out of the country to be on mission,” said Ashley Marie Eckstein. “There’s a field right here in Dallas. I really view my job as a mission… and that mission is in the classroom.
GLOW: A Day of Beauty at Watermark was much more than a day of pampering for women served by our partner ministries throughout the city. It was a day for volunteers at Watermark to help further ongoing relationships we have with women at Cornerstone Baptist Church, Union Gospel Mission’s Center of Hope, Exodus, and other ministries for women in need.
“In the last couple of months, the news has been filled with images, posts and conspiracies regarding Osama Bin Laden’s death. These images take me back almost 10 years ago when I was a new college graduate working in New York. My first job was as a stockbroker working in the World Trade Center,” said Nathan Harness.
Whether you donated one can or helped organize a delivery of hundreds of pounds of food, everyone’s contribution made a big difference during Hunger Month at Watermark in June. So much food was donated to the Stuff the Truck Food drive in the third week that the truck couldn’t be moved because it was so heavy! And Stuff the Truck was just one part of the Hunger Month initiative at Watermark. Here are just a few of the highlights.
“I am a natural born Pharisee. Trying to justify myself through works is the greatest sin of my life,” said Matt Boswell. “I love to make new laws to prove my own righteousness — and occasionally so I can judge others for not keeping them. I’m both a rule maker and a rule breaker. There’s a part of my nature that hates the rules. It’s a battle…every day.
On Monday, June 27, from 8:30 am to 4:00 pm, Watermark volunteers, as well as health, beauty and nutrition professionals will work together for a very special purpose: encouraging, pampering and sharing hope with women in need. The event is called GLOW: A Day of Beauty, which offers women an opportunity to talk with professionals about health and nutrition; have their hair cut, colored and styled; receive manicures, facials, massages; and, have their makeup done. But, there’s a deeper purpose as well.
“If I could go back and give some advice to myself 10 years ago, I’d say one thing: God is trustworthy. He’s not trying to rip you off. He’s trying to set you free,” said Alicia Crooks.
Imagine arriving in Dallas with little more than the clothes on your back… trying to settle into a community when you don’t speak the language…and working every day to simply survive. What if this person lives just down the street from you?
On Sunday, May 15, hundreds of people from the Watermark family gathered to worship, sing and celebrate changed lives and renewed hearts. Many stepped up to share their stories of faith and take the next step in obedience to Christ by being baptized. We heard stories of life-change from men and women whose lives have been transformed by God’s grace. There are just a few stories from Watermark family members as they prepared to be baptized.
This isn’t how the story was supposed to be written. At least that’s how Amy Skinner used to see it.
As a young girl, all Amy ever wanted was to be, “the perfect mom married to the perfect man,” said Amy. “I wanted the ideal life I thought my parents had, so I orchestrated my life and choices around that plan. I went to church, attended a Christian college and dated guys who had the potential to offer me the life I was searching for. I married the summer after college graduation, and started working so my husband could go through medical school. After that, we moved and my husband began his residency. After our first of three sons was born, I became a stay-at home-mom.”
