He Can Use Even Me — A personal testimony

by Rosimeire Cavalcante

I have worked in a furniture store for over 10 years, and countless customers have passed through looking for new or used furniture. But one day, a woman came into the store with her mother, interested in buying a queen bed. Despite the discounts, she kept saying to her mother that it was still beyond her budget. She was supposed to be just another customer, but I realized that she had a sad look in her eyes and that she needed a lot more than just a mattress. I discreetly started to investigate, and she began to open up. She told me that she had recently arrived in town with her husband and six children. One of her children was in need of special treatment, and that was why they had moved in search of better income opportunities to afford the treatment. Her husband was still unemployed, and all they had brought were some clothes and an old queen-sized mattress. It moved me to know that their youngest daughter (eleven months old) was sleeping in a suitcase, and they didn’t have anything to eat.

I contribute to a radio program in my town called “Family Counseling”, and I asked her if she would mind if I reached out to my listeners for some donations to supply the family’s basic needs. In tears, she asked if I really had the courage to do this for her, and told me that I was being an angel in her life. That same day I mobilized my family, and we managed to supply a queen and a baby mattress, a food basket, shoes and clothing, and donations continued pouring in. When we went to visit her, we found a spotless environment with improvised furniture, curtains, and rugs. As soon as their basic needs were met, she thanked us and said that she didn’t need anything more and that now she could help someone else.

We formed a friendship then and there, and whenever she finds herself in trouble, she comes to me. A year later, when she needed help again, I came to her house with some donations, and she told me about a dream she had had at the time of our first meeting when she moved to town. She told me that one of those nights she heard God speak to her in a dream, saying: “Tomorrow, go to a furniture store. There is a woman there who will help you.” She said that in her dream the woman’s dress was long, and it was very clear to her that the woman was a Christian. In the morning, she took the only money she had and left. She went into the first store, but said to her mother, “it’s not here”. Then she went into the used furniture section at the store where I work and thought again, “it’s not this store”. But, before she left, I crossed the street and went inside to welcome them, and she said: “Mom, it’s here. Look, it’s the woman that God showed me.”

That day, I was the one who cried, knowing that God often uses us to answer the prayers of people we’ve never met. I understood then that we are called daily to serve others, and that when we join forces, we can ease the burdens of many around us. We don’t have to be special aid workers or dedicate our entire life to welfare work, but if we ask God to use us, He will place opportunities in our lives to help make someone’s life easier. And in the end, we are the ones who receive a blessing in return. Purpose in your heart, this season, to allow God to use you. You won’t regret it.

“Real happiness is found only in being good and doing good.”-My Life Today, pg. 168