About Fatherheart Journey
Organiser Sue Dawkes
Nearly 12 years ago I attended my first Fatherheart A School in Rochdale. It was an experience of mixed emotions and I have been known to describe it as being akin to open heart surgery! Core subjects are taught such as heart forgiveness and by giving ourselves time and space to receive we find that God, who I now know as Father, comes and heals areas of our heart so we can allow His love in.
Most people can relate to Jesus as our friend and brother but many of us see God as distant and angry. We think that if we don't do things to please Him all the time then he won't like us. We then worry about what pleases Him and can we ever do enough? I have learnt through this ministry, and others who have the same heart, that nothing could be further from the truth. In John's Gospel it tells us that Jesus only did what He saw and heard His Father doing. He lived in the presence of the love of His Father and had a heart of a Son to Him. Jesus invites us to join Him as Sons and Daughters to His Father, which is always how it was intended to be, so as we open our hearts the Father pours His love in by the Holy Spirit. I have learnt that no longer do I have to strive to gain God's love because He loves me anyway. His very being is love and there is nothing I can do to make Him love me more and nothing I can do to make Him love me less.
Four years ago Father put it on my heart to have brunch at my house and invite anyone who wanted to come. I would also invite a speaker from Fatherheart or sometimes Skype them in from other countries. There were times when my house was bursting at the seams but they were wonderful times of fun, fellowship and learning to live like children with open hearts to our Father's love. Because of travelling I haven't been able to host any recently but I am hoping that maybe we shall have some more in 2019. If anyone would like to help with the organisation of events or host anything themselves I would love to hear from you.
Of course, now in November 2020, things have changed enormously as we about to go into our second lockdown. Zoom has become a way of life and I am so grateful that it has been a lifeline to me, as well as others, to be able to meet up with people, share what is on our hearts and enjoy some really good teaching. I have met new friends from all over the world who would never have been able to come to my house for brunch. So this is how we shall meet for now but, hopefully, one day in person.
This life is a journey and we are all on it! My journey has had many ups and downs but I now know that Father has been there with me, as close as my breath, all the time. I have felt His immense comfort in times of sorrow and we have rejoiced together in moments of elation. I know He sings over me and, more importantly, I know He loves me. The journey since knowing Him as Father has been the most exciting and exhilarating time of my life. That doesn't mean that there are not times of sadness and even, when things aren't going well, that I can doubt His existence, but as soon as I return to the source of all things I remember how much I am loved. I just love this journey!
"My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one. I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you have sent me and loved them even as you have loved me"
Jesus praying to His Father in John 17:20-24
“The inner journey is not about intellectual knowledge, but a knowing with the heart”