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Dawn & Scott

In life, you never know when a dream planted in your heart will have a ripple effect to be a saving grace for potentially hundreds of other people.  You move on urgings,  completely unaware of a divine plan being worked out in your life.   You know you are compelled forward, but would never be able to explain where the promptings were coming from.  Such was the case with Dawn and her passion to empower women to be able to support themselves & their families through salon services.

Dawn has advanced her career from cutting and styling for other salons, to owning the Spa at Roops Mill where she currently employs 30 women.   Dawn has caught a vision in the last several years for the divine plan being worked out in her life and she is a force to be reckoned with that is changing the shape of eternity.  Little did she realize the path the Lord was moving her along when she began this journey, but she’s eager to bring as many people along with her as she can.

The girl who once secretly wished her ‘religious’ clients would speak more quietly when they proclaimed the name of Jesus in conversation at the Spa, is now a bold witness for the power of His hand in her life.  She is in love with a gentle Redeemer who comes in like a roaring lion at times and other times like a gentle Lamb with a still small voice.  Anyone who has spent time with Dawn knows she is a whirlwind of ideas and activity that fuels a thousand dreams.   She is being used mightily in the kingdom of God to proclaim the love of Jesus to anyone who will listen.

Dawn is using her Spa to be a light to those in need of knowing the love of Jesus through a ministry she has created and named “SHE”, serving Him eternally.  Many of the Spa girls have joined in her vision and are reaching out to the community locally and globally to be the hands and feet of Jesus, offering love via gentle hands and hearts.  The Spa is involved in ministry to men and women who have no homes, adults whose lives are shattered by addiction and orphans who need to know they have a loving heavenly Father.  Sometimes the ministry involves tender hands working out long formed tangles in a homeless woman’s hair to wash, cut and style her, maybe for the first time in her life.  Other times it comes through serving in the the prisons.  The form ministry takes under Dawn’s direction is a very long list.  Spa girls realize the power behind tender touch and showing someone they are worthy of being cared for.

Scott is Dawn’s cheer leader through this life.  It takes a special kind of guy to keep up with a woman like Dawn, and Scott is just that guy.   Scott raises and breeds race horses, while simultaneously running his own home improvement/remodeling business.   He’s so proud of all his girls and his horses.  Horse racing runs deep in his veins and his horses have a natural way with him that shows how much they trust him.   Dawn and Scott wanted portraits with their horses, hoping someday they will look back on this portrait collection as photos that mark the beginning phases of a racing/breeding career of a champion.  These two are certainly making a splash wherever they go so I wouldn’t doubt it!

Recently Dawn was approached about a girl’s orphanage in Guatemala that LifePoint Church is partnering with, called My Special Treasure.  She was shown a rundown building that used to be a hair salon and immediately volunteered Scott’s services to go help repair the plumbing and make the salon usable.  However, what the mission team needed was a team of women to help set up the salon and train the young women about to age out of the orphanage in hair styling.

Unfortunately, when children at 18 age out of orphanages around the world they have to leave the only home they have known.  Most often they have no trade, no family and no clue what their next steps should be.  Sex & drug traffickers scoop most of these children up into their destruction almost immediately.  LifePoint is working to end this cycle of destruction by providing the young women with a trade that will allow them to support themselves.  So, Dawn’s vision given to her many years ago, long before she realized a divine plan being worked out, is now marrying up to a vision to save women in another country.   She is busy at work, along with a select team of hair stylists from the Spa, to prepare for their trip in January to equip these young women and give them a hope and a future.   You can follow the journey via the blog on the Spa website.

 

  1. Dianne says:

    Dear Jennifer ~ I am deeply touched by your beautiful description and gorgeous portraits. Dear Dawn and Scott ~ Your ministries are in my prayers. Praying for safe travels and a wonderful trip. Thank you for the positively spiritual impact you are making in our world. ♡ Dianne Gunderson

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