“In Exodus 34, verse six, God describes himself as merciful and gracious and slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness. Over the past six years with Hands, I feel like I've been able to get to the heart of the Father. To get to know on a deeper level those truths that He says about himself of his love, his grace, his mercy, his faithfulness, how he is slow to anger. I've got to know his compassion and that his heart is to bring healing and to bring restoration. He doesn't look away from the suffering and the pain.
He is so full of compassion that he is constantly longing for his children, for everyone, to encounter his love because God is love and he is compassion. And when we see that, we experience healing. I've experienced that personally. Without a shadow of a doubt, I can say that God has healed me in the core of my being and that he has been restoring parts that have been broken. It's given me hope and joy.
It's giving me resources to be able to recognise when pain comes up and to be able to take that and trust that the Spirit is going to heal and restore, but I've also seen him do that in the lives of our children, of our Gogos, of our Care Workers, and there is nothing better than watching someone who has experienced so much pain in their life, taste and see that God is good and experience his love. You can see the healing and transformation on their face. Even seeing some of the young people come to the Hands at Work base in South Africa; as we got to talk about God's love, as we got to go deeper into his word about it, you could see the youths’ faces transform before your eyes, as they realised, “I'm loved.””