How Can God Use Me?

Hello! My name is Emelie Falde and I just returned from a mission trip with Parakaleo to Haiti. Right before leaving for Haiti, I spent time in Iowa with my dad for his last weeks of His life here on earth. One day I was sitting with him

and his friend came to visit. At this point, dad was very weak, rarely opened his eyes, and it was very difficult for him to talk. I was showing pictures of our last trip to Haiti and we were talking about what God is doing there. I thought dad was asleep the whole time, but when his friend got ready to leave my dad said in a slow, shaking voice, “I want you to…remember…to remember Emelie and her mission. I was thinking we could team up and help her.” This is the legacy that my dad left for me. When you are focused on how you can give to others, you are less likely to be consumed with your own pain and challenges. After Dad went to Heaven, my mom gave me some of his things for me to take to Haiti and give to people there that needed them. It brought me much joy to see how excited some of my friends were to get a new pair of shoes

or a new shirt that had belonged to my dad. To me the best part was his bedroom slippers. I told mom I didn’t think they needed slippers there, but at the last minute packed them anyway because they were so light. Those slippers ended up being their favorite thing! The day after I gave them away, both of the guys came back and told me thank you. One of them asked the interpreter in Creole how to say they are “sweet”! Something else that brought me joy was that my brother was able to get 75 laptops donated from his work. He let God use him even though he is just a computer guy. One of the ladies that received one told me how she had been praying for a laptop. She does so many things down there, but one of her responsibilities includes keeping the mission hospital running. She has all the finances for that and her preschool ministry on paper and in her head. She told me that God used us to answer her prayer. It’s an incredible feeling to think how God can use us if we let him.

These people that I have spent this last week with have many challenges they

face everyday. We saw many different things while we were there. We saw people that don’t have any material things at all, we saw people that are hungry with no food to eat, we saw two families who both lost children during the time we were there. Although I have faced my fair share of challenges during the past couple years, by putting my heart and my time into other people’s lives, God has showed me that my challenges and worries seem less significant when I focus on others and ways to help them.

I know sometimes it’s easy to feel like God couldn’t use someone like me. I mean, after all, I’m JUST a mom who stays home with her kids or whatever you can say you are, but this week, I saw God use JUST a mom, JUST a teenager, JUST a nurse, JUST a computer guy for His glory. Because if you will JUST let God use you, you will have the opportunity to touch lives for God’s glory. One of the verses God gave me while I was there is found in Ephesians 3. It says, “Now all glory to God, who is able, through His mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think.” God has always used JUST ordinary people to accomplish great things for Him. For example, the prophet Elijah. In the Old Testament God used him to do many great things such as bringing fire down from Heaven for the prophets of Baal to see and many other things, but we read in James where it says, “Elijah was a man with a nature like ours; yet he prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the land. Then he prayed again, and the sky gave rain and the land produced its fruit”. Right there it says Elijah was like us…just an ordinary person! Most of the people in the Bible were just ordinary people, but their relationship with Jesus and letting Him work in their life is what made them extraordinary.

  Parakaleo is a unique ministry trying to be good stewards of the funds God supplies. Please take a moment to read about who we are in the ABOUT PARAKALEO tab. Help us get the word out by sharing our posts on twitter and facebook.