The Kasicas.

John & Paula Kasica are visiting. They did all of the teaching today & will teach again the first half of tomorrow. I don't even know where to start this blog. What incredibly gifted, anointed people. You could literally feel God in the room. It was amazing...I took ten pages of notes throughout the day. I guess I can highlight the most significant parts to me, because to write out all my notes would take ages, & I doubt you would read all of them anyway. Haha.

One of the first things they did was play us a few songs & have us spread out & just write what God was speaking to us. It would probably be easiest just to copy down what I wrote...

"We are not to lose sight of Him. But when we seek answers, He should be the first & last place we look. We should never go to anyone else for answers first, & once He has spoken to us we should accept it as the ONLY truth. We don't need 'second opinions'...His Word is FINAL. Receive it, accept it, & allow Him to bless you in it! I hate that saying, 'It's always the last place you look.' Well of course it is, who continues to search for something after they've already found it? In the same way, we should not continue to search for anything AFTER He has revealed it to us. When God speaks to me, I tend to have one of two responses: If He answers me with something I don't want to hear, I look for that 'second opinion' until I hear the answer I want & get what I want from someone else. On the other hand, if He shows me something GOOD, I accept it gladly...but then start to worry that it is actually too good to be true. But His Word is FINAL, no matter how I feel about it, & I need to stop wasting time doubting & accept His blessings & word over my life!"

There was so much ground covered in between...but I'm going to jump ahead to part of one of the teachings. We probably spent the most time focusing today on what God's love really is. Dan brought an INCREDIBLE word about His love for us. It seriously moved me to tears. Phenomenal. One of the main things he said was to stop striving & struggling to understand love. We will never comprehend it! That totally spoke to me...I try to understand sometimes why PEOPLE love me, don't even get me started on why GOD loves me! But for whatever reason, He chose to save me & reveal a taste of that love to me. We have to know that He IS love. Nothing can separate us from that love...despite what the enemy says! We started really digging into the Bible & looking at what perfect love is, & it's just such an amazing picture! I long to love others that way. I long to BE loved by others that way. You cannot love until you have been loved first. You can read about it & see it, but you will never KNOW it until you've actually EXPERIENCED it for yourself! I just think of the blessings in my own life right now, & how sometimes none of it makes sense, but I am not afraid. Sometimes I think maybe I should be...but then I'm reminded that perfect love kills all fear! Fear is what hinders us from love! When I look at the attributes of love...man. I just want to strive for those qualities in my own life. To abide in love is to abide in God.

I could go on & on. That was just the MORNING session!

After lunch I got about a half hour of drumming in. Maaaaan I am sloppy! That's what not playing for a week gets you, I suppose. But I did come up with some new stuff, which was good.

The afternoon with the Kasicas was just as anointed as the morning was. We discussed how to use art & creativity & music for His glory. Also good stuff. I won't get into detail because we haven't finished that segment yet...that's where we're picking up tomorrow.

Now I have to go finish my songwriting assignment before CBC at 7:00. Oy. I don't know if I have the energy for that...Jesus give me strength.