Why are we called to confess to the Lord if he already knows our thoughts? In today’s episode, faithful Watermark member T.J. Detwiler and Emma Dotter talk about how confessing our sins to God instills humility, repentance, and an open heart in us towards God. Since God knows everything, acknowledging our sin and no longer trying to hide it allows God to pour His mercy, forgiveness, and healing upon us. Additional Scripture mentioned in the episode: 1 John 1:9, “If we confess our sins, he is fai...
Jun 18, 2024•12 min
How can we have confidence in God when we experience distress? In today’s episode, faithful Watermark staff member Hannah Pickle and Emma Dotter talk about the structure and statements of Psalm 31. Hannah points out how David sees God working even though he still felt the brokenness of the world. God has won the war even if we feel the effects of sin in our day to day life, and we can trust Him in the already but not yet of God’s victory over evil. Interested in learning about how we can love ou...
Jun 17, 2024•10 min
What if I feel like I can't dance in my mourning? Emma Dotter today interviews Daniel Roby, a faithful Watermark Member and the CEO of Austin Street Center. David is familiar with mourning, but he also is familiar with the joy that comes from the Lord. There is a calling for expression, and acting in the joy of the Lord. Looking to get involved with Austin Street Center? Check out the link here: https://austinstreet.org/ Want to partner with Watermark Health? Here’s the link below: https://www.w...
Jun 14, 2024•8 min
A fair question that we can ask is what does nature say about God? Emma Dotter & Watermark Health staff member Jesse Collins share that nature expounds on God’s character. Jesse encourages us to create time and cultivate space to be in awe of who God is and to marvel at what he has done. Additional Scripture references in this podcast: Psalm 19:1, “The heavens declare the glory of God, the sky above proclaims his handiwork.” Romans 1:20, “For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal pow...
Jun 13, 2024•9 min
How should we respond when we struggle? In today’s episode, Our Calling staff member Jad Dagher and Emma Dotter unpack Psalm 28 and how David handles despair by turning to the Lord as His Rock and saving Refuge. Instead of being left to handle things on our own, we have a good God who can handle our circumstances and anything we face. We can rejoice in Him and trust that He will be our solid fortress in times of uncertainty. Interested in helping the homeless? Check out the link to Our Calling b...
Jun 12, 2024•10 min
How do we respond to when things don’t go as planned? How do we face darkness in the light of Christ? In today’s episode, Burlon Leffall III with Watermark South Dallas joins Emma Dotter in talking about how the Lord is our sure fortress in times of trial. Additional Scripture in this Podcast: Romans 8:37-39, “No, in all these things we are more than conquerors…” Want to get involved with Love Our City? Check out the link below: https://www.watermark.org/engage/city/serve-the-city Grab a NEW Joi...
Jun 11, 2024•12 min
Being a part of something bigger than ourselves can give such purpose to our lives. So, is serving about just “doing” what we should? Or it is more about the heart? In today’s podcast, Emma Dotter interviews Watermark Member, Marty Washington! Jesus never wants us to do something to check a box or list, but always looks at the heart. Want to serve with The Kitchen? Check out the link below: https://www.cornerstonedallas.org/kitchen Want to get involved with Love Our City? Check out the link belo...
Jun 10, 2024•10 min
How can we find hope and comfort when we are faced with loneliness and affliction? In today’s episode, faithful Watermark Health Staff member Samantha Parsons and Emma Dotter talk about how God is our help in affliction and how we can find refuge in Him in all circumstances. Just as He sees us where we are at, we can love others as well by seeing them as created in the image of God love them like Christ. Interested in learning about how we can love our city better as a church? Check out the link...
Jun 07, 2024•8 min
What does Psalm 24 have to say about interacting with others? Emma Dotter interviews Providence Okaalet to talk about this and more! When we interact with people, we are reminded by Providence that we are to look at people as God’s. They are valuable to him. Every interaction can be a blessing. Providence challenges us to a life of stewardship, servitude, and surrender. Additional Scripture in this Podcast: Revelation 3:20, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and ope...
Jun 06, 2024•12 min
What does a shepherd mean to me today? In this episode, faithful Watermark member and Our Calling cofounder Carolyn Walker talks with Emma Dotter about how we can trust in our good Shepherd, Jesus. Carolyn points to how Christ’s boundless love protects us and meets our needs. We can face any circumstance with confidence, not because of where we are, but Who we are with. Additional Scripture in the episode: John 10:10-18, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may h...
Jun 05, 2024•12 min
In Psalm 22, David cries out to God in a place of deep suffering, yet, despite his circumstances, trusts in God’s plan and character. As faithful Watermark staff member Edna Sanchez and Emma Dotter point out, this psalm captures the pain of extreme suffering while highlighting God’s glory. Edna then goes on to share the hope we have in Christ and how this makes it possible to suffer well and remain in a healthy relationship with God. Interested in learning about how we can love our city better a...
Jun 04, 2024•11 min
How do we face wins and losses well? In Psalm 21, David finds joy in the Lord no matter what he faces, because all circumstances are under God’s providence and sovereignty. Faithful Watermark staff member Amie Bradley and Emma Dotter talk about how we are given the choice whether to put our faith in results or God’s power, presence, and plan. We can trust that God will work out all things for our good and His glory because of our assurance in Christ, the Weaver of our story. Want to study more a...
Jun 03, 2024•12 min
“Will God fulfill all of my plans?” That is what we are talking about on the podcast today! Listen as Emma Dotter walks us through Psalm 20 and teaches us how to approach this passage and understand it better. Grab a NEW Join The Journey Journal for 2024: https://a.co/d/7rt0H3g Got kids? Check out the NEW Join The Journey Jr. Journal for 2024: https://a.co/d/eYBgvUM You can also check out the Join The Journey Jr. Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/join-the-journey-junior/id1660089898...
May 31, 2024•11 min
The Lord reveals Himself to us through creation, His law and His Word. Today on the podcast, Emma Dotter is joined by faithful Watermark member, Abbey Edwards to talk about how we should respond to the Lord revealing Himself to us. Additional Scripture in this Podcast: Hebrews 5:2, "He can deal gently with the ignorant and wayward, since he himself is beset with weakness." Romans 1:20, "For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever s...
May 30, 2024•9 min
In Psalm 18, there is consistency in words like rock, fortress, and shield. Emma Dotter & Teegn Sisson unpack how David uses those words to show the protection of God. Not only that, looking at passages through the lens of Christ’s finished work on the cross is called looking at passages “Christologically”. Teegn encourages listeners to re-read the passage with the lens that the deliverance that we are experiencing is from our sin. Additional Scripture in this Podcast: 2 Samuel 22:1, “And Da...
May 29, 2024•10 min
How do we rightly respond to being hurt by others? In Psalm 17, David cries out to God as he is on the run from Saul, who is trying to kill him out of jealousy. Today, Join the Journey Editor Jayci Williams and Emma talk about how David trusts in God’s control of the outcome and appeals to God’s character, love, and promises. Interested with serving with Join the Journey? Check out the link below! https://www.watermark.org/search/serve?query=Join%20the%20journey Grab a NEW Join The Journey Journ...
May 28, 2024•10 min
What does it look like to be kept by Christ? In today’s episode, podcast editor Katie Riley and Emma Dotter discuss about how through Christ, we get to experience both safety and freedom. Katie describes God’s will and rules not as a tightrope or a line we must stay on, but a path with borders. Additional Scripture in the Passage: Galatians 3:3, “Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?” Romans 8:31, “If God is for us, who can be against us?” Want...
May 27, 2024•10 min
How can sinful people dwell in the presence of a holy God? Today, faithful Watermark Staff member Emily Hope and Emma Dotter unpack Psalm 15 and its question, answer, and assurance. Because holiness is only possible through the Holy Spirit, it is through His faithfulness and sanctification that we can fully hope in the promise at the end of the chapter, that in full surrender to Him, we can never be shaken. Interested in the Women’s Bible Study? Check out the link below! https://www.watermark.or...
May 24, 2024•7 min
People want to believe their goodness makes them worthy of God’s reward, so do all good people go to heaven? Emma Dotter for the 100th episode interviews Watermark Staff Member, David Penuel! The psalm starts with a problem and ends with a solution. So, do good people go to heaven? Actually, only good people go to heaven, the goodness that comes from redemption in Jesus Christ! Additional Scriptures in this Podcast: Genesis 1:27, “So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he c...
May 23, 2024•12 min
Today we’re looking at a Psalm of lament. It’s only 6 verses long! As Watermark Institute student Hannah and Watermark High School Student, Noah Self show us, God can use broken, imperfect people to accomplish His purposes! And when we’re clouded by fear, we can lose sight of who God is; but, God never truly leaves us. In today’s episode, Noah and Hannah talk all things Psalm 13. Additional Scripture referenced in this Podcast: Colossians 3:23 - working for the Lord rather than people Want to re...
May 22, 2024•10 min
Why do our words matter? Why do our words matter? Today, Emma Dotter talks through Psalm 12, where David is crying out to God for help because he sees how people are hurting one another with their words. As Proverbs 18:21 says, the tongue has the power of life and death, which means our words can either tear people down or build them up. Maybe you personally have been hurt by the words of others, whether careless or intentional. We can find hope knowing that God sent His Son, the Word made flesh...
May 21, 2024•10 min
The Lord is the one that we have to take refuge in! When Psalms compares the attacks of the enemy to a bow and arrow, what does that mean? Today, Emma Dotter & Watermark Staff Member Tess Brag unpack arrows and the Lord’s being a refuge of the heart. This passage shows that the enemy will come for the hearts of people, and that’s why we must look to God as our refuge. Additional Scriptures used in this passage: Ephesians 2:8-9, “For by grace you have been saved through faith, this is not you...
May 20, 2024•12 min
There is an underlying lie that Christians can believe that says that we can’t say the things that we are really feeling to God. Today, Emma Dotter and faithful Watermark Staff Member, Neil Monroe combat that lie. Neil explains that we have a God who isn’t just sympathetic, or concerned about something bad happening, but empathetic, where He is putting Himself in our shoes. Want to serve with Kids? We would love to partner with you! Click the link and sign up today! https://www.watermark.org/ser...
May 17, 2024•14 min
How do we practically think about God’s thoughts and ways being higher than ours? Our desire for control can result in us wanting control when in reality, the judgment and control of God is best. Emma Dotter interviews Paige Ward, and she shares the way she showed the love of God to people in her everyday work. Additional Scriptures used in the Podcast: Ephesians 2:8-9, “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing, it is a gift of God, not a result of works, so...
May 16, 2024•10 min
How do we wrap our minds around science and the Bible going together? Oftentimes, people put these two things at odds. Emma Dotter interviews Brett Bruster and they explain how Psalm 8 shows God at work. Brett shares about how science truly can point to the Creator. Additional Scriptures in the Podcast: Psalm 19: The heavens pointing to the creator. Romans 1:20, “Ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. Grab a NEW Join The Journey Journ...
May 15, 2024•11 min
In this podcast, Emma Dotter interviews Watermark member Seth Master. Seth points out in Psalm 7 that David is crying out for help not because He is in the wrong, but rather because he is right. Seth points us to four “R’s” in this psalm: refuge, reflect, rely, and rejoice. Grab a NEW Join The Journey Journal for 2024: https://a.co/d/7rt0H3g Got kids? Check out the NEW Join The Journey Jr. Journal for 2024: https://a.co/d/eYBgvUM You can also check out the Join The Journey Jr. Podcast: https://p...
May 14, 2024•9 min
What sticks out from Psalm 6? Today, Emma Dotter is joined by Watermark member Ross Ferrans! In Psalm 6, Ross unpacks three movements: a sin that David is confessing, a vulnerable posture to God, and then a confidence David has in God. Additional Scriptures in the Podcast: Isaiah 53:3, “He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief…” Romans 8:1, “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” 1 Corinthians 15:57, “But thanks be to God...
May 13, 2024•10 min
We know God spoke through prophets in the Old Testament, and then Jesus in the New Testament, but how does God lead us today? In today’s podcast, Hannah Staubs from the Watermark Institute explains that God stays the same, but also speaks through his Word and His people. Additional Scripture in this podcast: Exodus 34:6-7, “The Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness…” Hebrews 13:8, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forev...
May 10, 2024•7 min
How do we avoid sinning in our anger? Do the Psalms talk about anger? How can we approach God frustration and anger? Emma Dotter interviews Watermark Member and JTJ volunteer Maryann Adams to talk about Psalm 4. Additional Scriptures in the Podcast: Luke 24:45, “And then he opens their minds to understand the Scriptures…” Proverbs 6:16, We should hate what the Lord hates. James 3:17, “But the wisdom from above is first Psalm 37:5, “Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him, and he will act.” Psa...
May 09, 2024•14 min
In today’s episode, Watermark Institute student Hannah Staubs and Watermark High School Student, Lauren Fricke show us all about the context of Psalm 3! In today’s episode, Lauren (our future Join The Journey Summer Intern) and Hannah talk all things Psalm 3 and 2 Samuel 15-18. Additional Scripture referenced in this Podcast: 2 Samuel 15 - Absalom taking over & David on the run 2 Samuel 18 - Absalom’s death Want to hear more from Lauren? Check out these episodes: Proverbs 19 - https://podcas...
May 08, 2024•13 min
