With tears streaming down his face and his lip quivering, a young man came up to me in church, saying he had a word from the Lord for me.  I know the life of this young man, and I know that he would not do such a thing on his own, that God moved him strongly.  He said, "The Lord wants you to know that He will restore the years the locusts have devoured."

I started weeping!!  These years that my loved one has been away from God have seemed such a waste to me, but now I have a promise that those years will be restored, and I believe what God promises, He will do!

This morning I came across Joel 2:25.  It says, "'So I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten, The crawling locust, The consuming locust, And the chewing locust, My great army which I sent among you."

A friend who prays for her prodigal and mine, wrote the following:  "When things look so bad or impossible, Lord, help me to realize that it may be You're gonna use those very things that look so grim, for Your glory!  Give me faith that the 'ugly' is going (sic) be turned into spiritual beauty for the furtherance of the Gospel!!  Those dark, almost unbearable moments, can be used for life changing testimonies!  What satan meant for evil, hurt & pain; what he meant for defeat:  YOU can take those very things & transform them into soul winning tools for Your glory!  I pray, be glorified through every evil plot & scheme satan has devised, and put him to an OPEN shame, that YOU may be glorified -- In Jesus' Name!  'The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy:  I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.' John 10:10"

God will use these experiences to reach the lost.  My prodigal will be able to reach people you or I might not be able to reach because of experiences.

God will indeed restore the years the locust devoured!!

Praise the Holy Name of the LORD!