Will - August 2020

It is not uncommon for people to mistake the mission of Watered Gardens and assume we exist to serve the poor in our community. We don’t. We exist to serve the church. Our founding passage from Isaiah 58 says it is the people of God who will be “like a watered garden” as we care for the needs of the most vulnerable among us. While volunteering as a resident assistant for the Outreach Center, Will is experiencing the refreshment and renewal that comes from giving of his life for others.

“Several times in my life, I narrowly avoided being homeless. More than one stint in foster care is part of my own story. Thankfully, I was blessed to have the right people in my life at just the right time to get back on a healthy track. To be one of those people for others is why I volunteer at Watered Gardens, where there’s an emphasis on new relationships and new habits that will lead out of dependency into self-sufficiency.

“As I talked to one young man in shelter about God’s purpose for his life, he said he had never thought beyond his own circumstances to consider not only how to choose well for his own sake but also to help make his little part of the world a better place for others. He just needed someone to look past his outward disorganization and help him create a vision of what is possible.

“When I serve as an overnight R.A., I get to be part of helping people go in that positive direction, the way others helped me.”

Our goal is to make sure Watered Gardens Ministries is a compassionate, responsible, relational conduit for Christians to care for those in our community who are struggling. Thank you for your support of the ministry. It’s helping the church serve well those in greatest need among us.