A Cup of Suffering and Joy

April 4, 2007

Report by Heidi Baker
Pemba, Mozambique

Years ago, I had a vision of Jesus surrounded by a multitude of children. Jesus looked at me with His intense burning eyes of love and I was completely undone. He told me to feed the children and I began to cry out loudly, “No, there are too many.” He asked me to look into His eyes and said, “I died that there would always be enough.” Then He reached down and broke a piece of flesh out of His right side. His eyes were so magnificently beautiful, yet His body so bruised and broken. He handed me a piece of His flesh and as I took it and stretched my hand out to the first child, it became fresh bread! I gave the bread to the children and they all ate. Then, He put a simple poor man’s cup next to His side and filled it with blood and water. He told me it was a cup of suffering and joy and asked me if I would drink it. I drank it and then started to give it to the children. It became drink for them. Again He said, I died that there would always be enough. Since that day I have taken in every orphan child He put in front of me and have asked my co-workers to do the same.

For the next ten years, I was learning a lot about provision for the poor. With delight I have watched God place bread in our hands for the children to eat. By His grace, every day there is somehow always enough food. Since the vision, Iris has gone from caring for 320 children to over 6000. My heart is so full of praise and gratitude to God for how He has blessed us with all these beautiful children. I have stood in awe as God has grown us from a few churches to over six thousand in ten year's time. Jesus has given us fresh bread from heaven. We live to be in His glorious presence. He has poured out His love to us without measure. He has called us to bring the lost children home. I love him more then life! Every breath is for Him.

In the last few days, I have learned more then I ever imagined about the cup of suffering and joy. Mozambique, our nation, has been hammered with floods, cyclones and monster waves. Pemba, Cabo Delgado was hit with cholera. Finally, a few kilometers from our Zimpeto Children’s Center in Maputo, a large ammunition dump blew up and sprayed mines, missiles and scrap metal for thirty kilometers. Hundreds of people were killed. Houses were leveled leaving the victims crushed beneath the rubble. I have never seen such suffering as I have seen in the last thirty days. As I stood in the ruins of a house leveled by a missile and held a weeping women in my arms, I drank of His cup of suffering. As I embraced Marcelina 14, Edwardo 15 and Carvalho 12 orphaned by the blasts, I drank His cup of suffering. After driving all day through the mud and potholes of Zambezia to minister and deliver food to a distant village devastated by the floods, I rocked a tiny starving baby in my arms and tried to find milk to no avail, and I drank the cup of His suffering. After arriving in Kia, a region torn apart by cyclones I spoke to the director of a large non-governmental organization as he was evacuating his workers and helicopters after the cyclones because he could not get past all the corruption and red tape. I drank of the cup of suffering knowing those very helicopters could have saved the lives of the many precious people stranded in the flood zones clinging to the branches of trees. I opened my eyes wider still to see and drank the cup of suffering.

I also drank the cup of joy. God opened the door for us to provide food to fourteen refuge camps in Zambezia Province. I drank the cup of joy watching my Mozambican son, Norberto, lead the relief effort for the province. I drank the cup of joy seeing the faces of hopeless, desperate people run to meet King Jesus and thank Him for saving their lives. Worship to our beautiful savior reached heaven in Zimpeto when the children, co-workers, and missionaries gave glory to God for sparing their lives as missiles and mines flew in every direction above them and around them. I listened to the testimonies of children who were rescued from the streets thanking Jesus for holding them in His arms as the terror of the blasts continued all around them. Pastor Jose spoke of the amazing opportunity God had given all of them to worship in the middle of the frightening chaos. Missionaries shared how they would gladly give up their lives to protect the children, and I drank the cup of joy. We offered a home in our center to Marcelina, Edwardo, and Carvalho, and watched their tears turn into laughter. Knowing God made a way to bring the children into families. Truly we are filled with inexpressible joy knowing we dwell in the shelter of the most High God. We rest in the shadow of the Almighty. He is our refuge, and our fortress. We put out trust in Him. He covers us in His wings of love and we find safety in Him. We have opened our hearts to Him and He is our dwelling place. He loves us, He rescues us and commands His angels to surround us. We have called on Jesus. We have acknowledged Him. Trouble has come to our nation and we have opened our eyes and seen the pain. We have opened ours ears to hear the cry of the desperate and so we drink His cup of suffering. We drink His cup of joy knowing we can be His hands extended in the midst of it all and knowing He died that their would always be enough.

Love in Jesus,
Heidi

Photo gallery/refugee camp photos by Rolland Baker: http://www.irismin.org/march2007.htm

Feeding the hungry - see photos link - March 2007 - photos by David Morrison: http://www.morrisonafrica.com

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