Fill My Cup

Bread from Heaven

Feed me till I want no more

Fill my cup, fill it up

And make me whole

lyrics by Cece Winans

Photo: William at Harmony House

On our last day in Beijing, we had our guide contact Lily, the Director of Harmony House, to see if we could visit the orphanage in Langfang. Lily told our guide that she was doing business in Beijing and would be happy to pick us up at 1:30 p.m. When we met Lily in the lobby of our hotel, she directed us to the orphanage van. Lily's husband had driven and there were two other ladies sitting in the back of the van. I assumed that they were nannies from the orphanage. Lily told us that they were picking up a little boy who was three years old who also had a ear deformity on the way back to Harmony House. The boy had lived in an orphanage for three years and had lived with a foster family in China for the past three weeks. Lily said that the foster family could not handle the responsibility of another child and an American adoption agency had arranged for Harmony House to pick him up instead of returning him to the same orphanage.

When we arrived at the foster family's apartment building, Lily ran inside to get the boy and I started praying for him. After a few minutes, Lily returned to the van holding the boy. His eyes were filled with terror but he didn't shed a tear. She told me that the foster mom said that the little boy had to hold something in order to fall asleep because he was extremely scared at night. Lily went on to say that he had a horrible experience at his orphanage but didn't say what had happened. When I looked down, I noticed that he was holding a purple toy cup in his tiny hand, his only comfort at that moment. I could not contain the tears and had to look out the window to keep the little boy from seeing me. As we drove for the next forty five minutes, he never moved or made a noise. Lily looked him over and said he looked like a William, his new name while at Harmony House.

When we finally arrived at Harmony House, Lily placed William on the sofa and gave him a few toys to play with. Ian jumped right in and tried to play with him but William was still in shock, motionless, holding firmly onto his little cup. I felt STRONGLY that God wanted me to fill his cup. I had Cheerios in my bag so I filled his cup to the top. William still didn't move. I felt STRONGLY again that God wanted me to fill it until it overflowed with Cheerios. This time, I poured the Cheerios into his cup until they spilled over into his lap. At that moment, the fear left his eyes and he placed one of the Cheerios into his mouth. He slowly began to play with Ian and the other children at the orphanage. After a while, the other children noticed his cup filled with Cheerios. As they came over to him, he handed each of them some of his Cheerios. I was amazed that he was willing to share his cup of Cheerios, his only possession, with the other children. I didn't want him to give all of his Cheerios away so Chris and I started handing out Cheerios to the other children. We couldn't hand them out fast enough. They were gobbling them up. I looked over to check on William and he was still passing out his Cheerios to the other children. I kept reaching over and filling up his cup until it overflowed again. He would eat some more and again give some to the other children.

When it was time to leave, we gave hugs to William and to the other children then waved good-bye to them. At that moment, William broke down and cried. His cry echoed in my heart and is the same cry of all the orphans around the world. "Turn to me and be gracious to me, for I am lonely and afflicted" (Psalm 25:16). I know that God saves those who are crushed in spirit and many times He uses our hands and feet to do it. God has blessed us so much in America that our cups run over and spill into our laps. We think that the extra means that we should keep it to ourselves so we can feel secure about our future instead of giving it to the future. God showed me that just like I kept wanting to fill William's cup because he was giving to the other children, He also wants to do the same with us when we give to others. "Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you" (Luke 6:38).

Tonight, there are so many orphans who are lonely, afraid and holding their "cups" close to their chest and God is saying to us, "Fill their cups until it overflows!" How can we do it? We can fill their cups through adoption, helping families who trying to adopt (http://pathwaytoafrica.blogspot.com/) and by supporting orphanages like Harmony House (http://www.harmonyoutreach.org/) and True Children's Home (http://www.truechildrenshome.org/) who help orphans while they are waiting for their families. My prayer is that we no longer hear the cries of orphans around the world but their songs of joy to the God who "sets the lonely in families," overflows their cups and makes sure goodness and love follow them all the days of their lives (Psalm 68:6, Psalm 23:5-6).