Father's House Blog

Every one of us is here on the earth on purpose. We are not here by accident. Every morning we should wake up hearing again the wonderful promise of the World’s Greatest Daddy, that he knows the plans he has for us, plans to prosper and not to harm us, plans that involve a hope and a future (Jeremiah 29.11). We should wake up and get up saying, ‘Dad’s created me for a reason. He formed me in my mother’s womb. All my days are written in his book of life. I am going to live my life on purpose today” (Psalm 139).

        This July, I went to speak on the Father heart of God at the Clan Gathering in St Andrews in Scotland. When I returned, a lady called Karen sent me an amazing testimony. It so encouraged me that I asked her if I could post it on my Fathers House blog site. She has very kindly agreed.

I pray that it will richly bless you, and affirm the Father’s perfect plan for your life... even from conception.

“My name is Karen Graham. I was at CLAN gathering in Scotland (July 2008) and heard Mark Stibbe speak about the Father's House. I have heard Mark speak at CLAN a couple of times and have been greatly impacted by his teaching about the Father's love. I became a Christian when I was 16 and felt I did not have a problem relating to God as Father as although my Dad was quite passive and did not show a lot of emotion, we were close.

However about 5 years ago a friend read the Father's love letter poem to me (see www.fathersloveletter.com) and when she got to the line 'you are not a mistake' I began to cry and could not stop saying over and over in my head, 'you are not a mistake'. I could not understand why this had affected me SO much. Growing up I had always felt that I wasn't fully wanted and that I didn't fit in although I knew my parents loved me and I had lots of friends.

A few months after hearing the Father's Love Letter I discovered ('accidentally') that I was conceived out of marriage and was not planned, (my parents are from very religious backgrounds and this carried a lot of shame.) Suddenly everything made sense, my feelings of not fitting in, believing I was a mistake, being treated differently to my younger brother, striving to earn my parents love etc. With this revelation came a lot of hurt and trust issues as I felt very deceived by my family.

A few months later I was up at a conference in Scotland on a course entitled The Father Heart of God. During that course God ministered deeply into my spirit and did a major healing work, where I was able to forgive my parents and receive something of the Father's love. I began to see God no longer as a strict judge but as a loving Father who cared so much for me. Since then God has been taking me into a deeper revelation of His love for me.

There have been many incidents where God has shown me His love for me, one in particular I will never forget, it was 2 years ago just coming up to my birthday and I was worshipping God in my house when the passage in Acts 8 about Stephen being stoned to death came into my mind, and especially the verse where it says that Stephen saw Jesus stand up at God's right hand. I did not understand why this passage came into my mind then all of a sudden it was as if I heard a voice in the room say, "on the 28th of April 1980 at 20 past 11 I stood up'. 

I did not understand what this meant (my date of birth is 28th April 1980 but I did not know what actual time I was born.) I phoned my Mum and asked her what time I was born and she said 11.20 at night.

I was blown away. I felt God was saying that at the exact time of my birth He stood up and took notice. He had it planned, it did not take Him by surprise. Wow I was blown away.

I have heard teaching on the Father heart of God and spoken and ministered at my church on it and I think it is the most fundamental thing to being a Christian and it totally transformed my Christian life. I never realised I could have such an awesome loving relationship with God, it’s ace! Last year my Dad came to CLAN gathering for the 1st time and heard Mark's teaching on the orphan heart and he is a different person.

I praise God that He is the best Dad ever”.