For the past year I have been involved in 'The Salvation Army Melbourne Project 614' program called 'Order 614.'
It has successfully lived up to what I read prior to begging it:
"Order614 is a group of passionate Christians who, for 1 year, will live and work together to connect and journey with the forgotten people in the city of Melbourne.
Order614 is not a place for soft, comfortable Christianity. It's about getting out on the fringes of society, and getting our hands dirty with some of the most broken and hurting people of the city.
Order614 will give you the opportunity to do life with, the homeless, mentally ill, prostitutes, transsexuals, abandoned children and refugees.
You will be stretched, challenged, overwhelmed and exhausted; but you will see Jesus working in you and through you to change the lives of some very broken people. It will be life changing."
I have been stretched to brokeness, challenged to change, overwhelmed by emotions and exhausted by the mundane tasks... But I have seen Jesus working in and through me to bring love, joy and hope to some very broken people, that I now call friends.
In 2 Corinthians 12: 9 God says "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness."
This verse has become so true to me.
Because without God, I am weak, I am nothing.
But what is the main thing I've learnt this year?... That without love, I am nothing.
In 1 Corinthians 13: 3 it says "If I give everything I own to the poor, and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don't have love, I've gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, what I do, I'm bankrupt without love!"
Jesus calls us to love.
In Matthew 22: 37 Jesus says "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'
So as I move into a new chapter of my life, LOVE is my goal.
"It's love that compels me.
Love that motivates me.
Love that drives me.
Love that keeps me going.
It's love that causes me to be secure.
It's love that causes me to run.
It's love that causes me to dance.
It's love that causes me to lay down in God's arms and rest.
Do you want to live in the secret place?
Be clothes in the secret garment?
You must understand that the whole entire thing is...
LOVE! LOVE! LOVE!" - Heidi Baker