Rick and I are coming to the end of our trip in Southeast Asia. Our last stop has been Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam. We’ve loved everything about our self-guided tour through Thailand, Malaysia, Cambodia, and Vietnam. We took almost three months to tour this part of the world and still, we saw but a fraction of it. There’s still so much more to see. 

I didn’t realize how big Vietnam was and I fell in love with it. It’s a beautiful country, beautiful people, and I love the food. 

One of the things that I’d like to highlight is how the Lord brings back to mind dreams that we sometimes don’t have all the answers for at the time we have the dreams. I had a dream in 2019 and though the dream was for a specific group and people, there was but one section that did not make sense to me. The Lord had given me this dream for the church I visited in India in May of 2019. And, as the Lord so often does, there was a book in the dream titled M19, which ultimately ended up representing the month in which I presented the dream, May 2019. Of course, it is nothing I could have orchestrated as this dream was given five years prior to my landing in India. I didn’t even know the person who led me to India at the time of the dream. 

From the moment I landed, until the day I presented the dream, the Lord continually affirmed how that dream was a promise to the church and their community. Additional scriptures that “M” stood for were found in Micah, Malachi, and Matthew. Micah was on mercy and Matthew was on miracles. 

There was one scene in the dream, however, that I never quite understood. The scene of the dream ended with Rick and I in and out of a vehicle looking at what I understood to be Hindu or Buddhist temples. They were green in color. At the time of the dream and upon waking up I had recorded the dream and for this particular scene I had noted that I had never seen these temples in person and it’s what I believed was Hindu and Buddhist temples and what I think I’d seen in movies and/or on television. I kept telling Rick in the dream that I had to get back to my class, to my meeting at 3:30. What was always left unknown from this scene, however, is that Rick was not with me in real life in the dream, so I didn’t feel it was important to share with the church. Therefore, I didn’t spend much time on it given 99% of the dream had been fulfilled and was so literal. At the time of my trip to India, Rick was in Afghanistan. Overall, he supported my going to India. While he was in Afghanistan, he supported me through prayer, financially, and as a spouse in every way. But like the dream, he was not with me physically. 

When things don’t make sense in dreams, dismiss them, or set them aside until such a time God reveals otherwise. I simply set it aside. I figured if there was any other meaning, God would bring it to light. And, that’s what has happened in 2024.

2024. When the year began I asked the Lord to show me how to pray for the year and what the focus should be. I tend to do this at the beginning of each year. “What’s the “word” for the year, Lord?” E.g., one year it was Truth. As the year goes along, the Lord reveals how to pray what he wants to bring out on this area, whether it’s for myself, my family, friends, the country. I felt the Lord was saying “restoration” for 2024. Immediately, I thought back to India because the conference was on restoration. I asked the Lord, is that the focus for the year or is this just me thinking this? I then sensed what the conference had been about and it had started with Mercy (M - Micah 6:8-9) and when mercy is extended, we experience Restoration, and when restoration comes, we will experience signs and wonders. 

To this day, I believe the church in India still has God’s promise to be fulfilled that when they extend mercy, families and relationships will be restored, and there will be a floodgate of signs and wonders that will be released. As I pondered this, what is remarkable is that there is a member in the church who at the time of the conference did not have a family situation where they needed relationships restored, however, since that time, many unfortunate situations have occurred and they are in great need of restoration amongst parents, children, in-laws, and I imagine many others I don’t even know about. it is an unfortunate situation. It is more evident today I imagine than it was back then during their conference how their prophetic words to their congregation is still very much for today. One doesn’t need restoring when things are put together.  God can only restore what is broken and they are in great need of restoration.

I believe 2024 is the year of restoration and God validated it while I was in Southeast Asia by fulfilling the last part of the dream that I had set aside. When Rick and I saw the first Hindu temple in Thailand, immediately, my dream came to mind. I felt as though I were seeing part of my dream, but I paused because I didn’t want to make something spiritual out of nothing. I was in a place of dark spiritual forces and I wanted to ensure I went to prayer to hear the Lord first. 

Rick and I continued to tour the region and I was learning how dark many of the Buddhist temples are used and was continually asking Him how he wanted me to pray for 2024. Continually, I felt hope in my spirit rise up and that this was the year for Restoration. 

It wasn’t until Rick and I toured the Batu Caves in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia that without hesitation I knew I was seeing my dream unfolded before me. When I entered the cave, Rick and I were looking at this large, colorful, Hindu temple, but green stood out to me, and Rick was commenting on it, and I couldn’t help but tell him … “I feel we are living the last part of my dream from 2019. We are touring this region, seeing Hindu and Buddhist temples together. This is exactly what was taking place in my dream. It never made sense, but we are doing it now!” God is confirming this is the year of restoration, 2024, and that it is the Word for the year and I believe what wasn’t yet complete from the dream back in 2019, will now come to pass. 

I’m going to continue to pray for it and await answers to prayers from friends and families. It may be relationships that need restored, finances, health, whatever needs restored, we serve a God of restoration. But there are prerequisites according to scripture. Do you need something restored? Take time to reflect on scripture, humble yourself before the Lord, seek him in prayer, and ask him what you need to do so that you can experience the miracle of restoration in your life. Let 2024 be your year to usher in signs and wonders so that God’s name will be seen among your family and friends, and I believe the nations. 

Micah 6:8-9

“No, O people, the Lord, has told you what is good and this is what he requires of you: to do what is right, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God. Fear the Lord if you are wise! His voice calls to everyone in Jerusalem! The armies of destruction are coming, the Lord is sending them.”

1. Do what is right: Do you know what is right to do, but don’t want to do it? Is there someone you need to forgive, but simply don’t want to? Is there someone you need to go to, but are afraid to? Has the Lord asked you to give extra money to the needy, but you don’t want to extend kindness? Righteousness is living right with God = being obedient to his voice and Word. Don’t delay! DO WHAT IS RIGHT!

2. Love mercy: Do you love to extend mercy to others the way God has extended mercy to you? Before I could write this post I had to pause and ask the Lord if I was loving those that have hurt me, if I have been extending mercy to them the way he has extended mercy to me. In actions, I think I have, been in my heart, I can’t say that I have at all times. I had to repent. “Lord, help me love everybody with the same love and mercy that you have extended to me (with unending grace). I want to love mercy. Reflect on this for about 10 minutes and then proceed.

3. Humble yourself: Ask the Lord to reveal where pride exist in your life. What triggers your defenses? Do people quickly irritate you? Does the name of a specific person stir up anxiety in you? Maybe it’s pride. Do you like to control things, have OCD issues? Not everything is pride, but sometimes the weaknesses that stir us up most often can be caused by pride that never gets called out for what it truly is. “Lord, where do I have pride in my life? What does it look like?” Reflect on these questions in silence for 10 minutes before moving on. Wait on the Lord and listen. Truly listen to him with an open heart.

4. Fear the Lord: Do you fear him? Do you fear consequences to your sin? Do you think about what might happen if you don’t forgive someone, or what might happen if you treat them with contempt and arrogance? Do you have to get the last word or prove you were right in a situation? Do you make compulsive decisions that often get you in trouble because you didn’t ask the Lord first? “THE FEAR OF THE LORD IS THE BEGINNING OF WISDOM…” Proverbs 1:7

   Micah says “fear the Lord IF you are wise? Are you wise? I want to be. The outcome of fearing God is wisdom. Who doesn’t want to be wiser, smarter? 

I pray that 2024 will be a year of restoration for you in the areas that you are needing a miracle. Start by focusing on Micah’s words to us. May the Lord indwell in you richly, may you experience the depth of his love, and may those around you see his love through you.