Friday Afternoon Fun

Friday afternoon I planned an afternoon of fun for Nicholas and Elizabeth, beginning with a trip to my apartment to meet my roommate Rebecca. It's surprising how the simple things in life can bring such excitement to children!
After visiting with Rebecca, we enjoyed some time outdoors feeding the ducks, the fish, and the turtles in the lagoon near our apartment. Talk about exciting times! For them, this experience was euphoric! Of course it was such a delight for me to watch them interact with nature and ask questions! Getting a glimpse of the world through their eyes is so refreshing!

Last, the great finale of our afternoon was the Family Fall Fest at my school. The lawn was filled with smiling children engaging in games, crafts, face-painting, pumpkin decorating, and much more! Elizabeth and Nicholas were among them, overwhelmed by the excitement of it all! Much to my amazement and delight, neither of them ran away from me, got hurt, threw a temper tantrum or wet their pants! If you are a parent or a nanny, you know what I mean! We did have a couple of close calls when their helium balloons floated away into the sky, but I quickly responded with something like, "Now you can make a wish!". That helped turn their disappointment upside-down! Overall, I think a good time was had by all! The best part, I got paid for it!

It was the first beautiful fall day filled with soul-penetrating rays of sunshine and crisp, cool air. The kind that brings back memories in college of hiking through the Blue Ridge Mountains enjoying the beautiful foliage of fall arrayed in hues of red and orange! Following weeks of rain and the compounded stress of school and life, this was a much needed change for me as well as the kids!

A Soul Pondering

The knowledge of our own poverty brings us to the moral frontier where Christ works. -Oswald Chambers

I have been struck by contemplation of my own spiritual poverty this week. The more I grow in grace, the more I come to grips with my deep need for more. In this soul discovery, I've found the basis for much of my sin is unbelief. As this was turning around in my mind, it really started to bother me. So, I took some time to journal and asked myself the question: "If I really believed God is who He says He is and will do what He says He will do, then how would my thoughts and actions change?" Needless to say, the list was inexhaustible and I very quickly felt overwhelmed by the contrast of God's magnitude and my fluttering unbelief. In the end, I stopped to worship Him for who He is and recognize that He is in charge of changing me. It is my charge to repent and give myself again to His shaping. My mantra in prayer this week was, "Lord, help my unbelief!" In other words, transform me from the inside out. I want to act in accordance with the truth about God that dwells deep within. The basis for all of this thinking is of course the fact that we innately act out what we believe to be true (Proverbs 12:20). If I worry when God says not to worry (The truth being everything is under His control), then clearly I am faltering in my belief that God is, in fact, in control.

The past few weeks, in conjunction with this, I have also been meditating on Romans 6 all the while asking God to transform my heart. I come back to this passage daily to soak in its pungency. I can hardly grasp this concept of grace in my life! My hope is that as this passage becomes part of me, I will begin to be transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit. On top of all of this inner turmoil, I have experienced tremendous amounts of grace in context of friendships, work and study. My heart sings with gratitude, but it also stings with a sense of unworthiness. Experiential knowledge leaves an indelible impression, yet sometimes a much harder lesson!

Turning Another Page

Thank you Chic-Fila! Last week I heard on the local radio station that Chic-Fila would be giving away free chicken sandwiches on Thursdays in September from 6-7pm. A little skeptical, my roommate and I decided as poor graduate students it was worth a try! We get out of class at 6:30 pm on Thursday, so we booked it to Chic-Fila ASAP! Alas, it was true with no strings attached! We had free dinner at Chic-Fila two weeks in a row!


Classes are going well! I am still really enjoying the privilege of sitting under such amazing professors. A sense of gratitude and awe still overwhelm me at times. The course load attempts to as well, but by the grace of God I maintain the perspective that grades are not of foremost importance. That isn't the best way to glorify God or learn effectively anyway. My highest aim in all that I do here is to work with all of my energies invested for the sake of God's glory and those I will be impacting. It's not easy juggling three-plus jobs with graduate studies while maintaining excellence in all things. However, God is gracious. When I depend on Him and trust Him with the strength for now, and leave the next thing to Him, I am at peace. He will not fail me.

Work is ministry. Since I am a nanny, I have the opportunity shed light on kids and families. God is gracious to give me wisdom to know just how to interact with these kids in such a way that they know they are loved while providing much needed boundaries. There is a delicate balance between discipline and fun. Each child has their own way of testing. Again, I trust God to give me wisdom in how to lovingly guide these kids toward the truth.

Opportunities abound! This is just a taste of how my work schedule can be: Yesterday I babysat three different times. My day begins at 6:45 am with Sasha, the little boy I take to school in the mornings. I help him get ready until 7:30 and drive him to school. Then at 8:30, I was at NWB Church doing childcare for their MOPS program until 12:30. I went home and had lunch, did homework then left again at 3:20 to pick-up Elizabeth (7) and Nicholas (3) from school. I pick them up four days a week and keep them until 6:30-7 pm. Their parents are going out of town today, so I am staying with them overnight for the first time! It should be interesting!
You are probably wondering when I have time for school. I have the same thought sometimes, but somehow it works out. He gives exactly what is needed for the very thing He calls us to do!

Elizabeth and Nicholas

Re-connecting

Yay for connecting with old friends and new ones!

Liz is an old kindred spirit from my college days in Campus Outreach. I haven't seen her since she got married five years ago, but we've kept up with each other through newsletters and Christmas cards. Her and her husband, Jeremy, have spent the past five years in Austin where he is finishing up his PhD in Sociology.
I got a surprise email from her the other day saying she was in Dallas for the week and wanted to get together. I was so excited, I could hardly contain myself! As you might imagine, there was much to catch up on! Not to mention, this was my first time meeting little Annie, the newest addition to their household!

Isn't she a doll?!

What If, Perfect Grace?

Choose one characteristic of God's personality and describe how this characteristic would appear in your life if you were as perfect as God created and requires you to be.

(Class assignment)

Grace. This particular character trait of God’s personality absolutely confounds me. I am mystified by the perfection of His grace toward mankind and what that should exactly look like in my own life. Though intrinsically impossible, when I imagine displaying perfect grace as God does and requires of me, I can only think of one scenario: Adopting a child out of life of complete poverty and despair. I imagine a child that is scarred by the pain of loneliness and rejection, harboring distrust, anger and hostility. I imagine a child that is marred and undesirable. His parents have discarded him for mere convenience' sake. I imagine this child wallowing in mud along with the swine at an attempt to bathe himself. He doesn’t even know that he should belong anywhere else. Survival up to this point has depended on his ability to lie, steal, cheat and fight his way through life. This is the only identity he knows up until…

I come along, manifesting God’s perfect grace, swoop this child out of his current conditions, bring him into my loving care, and claim him as my own. After holding him in my arms for a while, I take him home and clean him up. Though he is still very skeptical of the genuine nature of my love so he continues to lie, cheat, and steal. He has never had anyone protect or provide for him, much less show him an ounce of love. I take time to explain to him God’s extravagant love and grace as I am displaying it in his life. In spite of his reactions, I continue to lavish my love on him by spending hours each day sitting with him, listening and telling him how much I love him. I give him a room in my house to call his very own with toys to play with and new clothes to wear. I take him to school and church to meet new friends and learn new things. I help him with his homework and cook nutritious meals for him to eat. No matter his response to my love, I continue to give and give and give. Though my heart aches because he doesn’t return my affections, I continue to lavish it upon his undeserving little soul. It is perfect grace that enables me to love something deemed so unlovable and undeserving. My love toward this child is what you call unconditional love. He did nothing to earn my love nor did he go so far as to ask me to love him. In fact, he turns his back on me and is unresponsive to my love at times. Though my heart aches for the return of his affection, God’s perfect grace will not allow me to withhold good from this little child.

Trained in Godliness

"Nothing strengthens us so much as isolation and transplantation...under the wholesome demand his soul will put forth all her native vigor... it may not be necessary for us to withdraw from home and friends; but we shall have to withdraw our heart's deepest dependence from all earthly props and supports, if ever we are to learn what it is to trust simply and absolutely on the eternal God."

-F.B. Meyer

I found this quote in a book that I have been reading about a lady's journey through doubt into faith and eventually onto the mission field in China. It struck me personally because I feel that my heart is constantly challenged by these principles. Even this very moment, my heart is torn about some things. I can't help but acknowledge that it is by removing all earthly dependence that we can truly learn to trust and depend on God. That is what is so glorious about the trials in life!

I must share the recent joys of my week. Yesterday, after a full day at school getting some essentials taken care of, we journeyed over to a restaurant called Texadelphia. The place was packed out with DTS students and staff. The owner is a graduate of DTS and hosted a welcome dinner for all the new students. The best part for me was towards the end when I finally worked up the courage to walk over to a booth where a Chinese couple sat with their young daughter and another Chinese gal. I introduced myself and shared a little bit about my past experiences and interest in China. They seemed really excited to talk to me. He even thanked me for my service there. I told them that I really love China and would love to be their friend. They have only been in the US for 3 weeks waiting for classes to start. He will be studying full time so I imagine his wife will need some companionship! I'm sure they've experienced quite a bit of culture shock to say the least. The little girl doesn't speak any English, however the wife does. I am very excited to see how the Lord might use me in this family's life this year.

I'm planning to attend a Chinese church tomorrow too as I'm really praying about how God might use me and teach me in the Chinese arena! I really want to establish some deep friendships with Chinese people here.

Also, my roommate and I are having dinner with old city teammates from China that we met coincidentally at orientation on Thursday! They invited us for Chinese dumplings...how appropriate!

Surprises Unveiled

If ever I felt overwhelmed by God's control over the circumstances in my life, it is now. I just got back from orientation at DTS, where I was stunned once again by the realization of the enormous privilege I have to study at the "Harvard of biblical seminaries"! Exciting and intimidating! My eyes welled up with tears during one of the hymns we sung as I thought about how long I've waited to make this dream a reality and it's finally here!!

God has a way of showing up in the most unexpected ways. Today, I figured I would meet tons of awesome people, but I had no idea how some of those connections would be arranged! Listen to these awesome and sweetly divine appointments!!

We ran into a DTS student that Becca met last year as he was passing through Nanchang, China. She met him once in China and found out he was going to DTS this fall so they kept in touch through email. He was one of the first people we saw on campus this morning! He is also fluent in mandarin and is planning to attend the local Chinese church!

Then, Becca and I were stopped on our way into orientation by a guy that used to be a team leader in Nanchang the year after I left. (For those that know, he was Jon Golike's team leader!) He and his brother are studying at DTS along with their wives! He lived in Nanchang during Becca's two-years of service and his brother lived there while I was there over two years ago! They have already scoped out the good Chinese restaurants in Dallas, so we plan on having them take us there before things get too crazy!

Then, at the end of the day I am sitting down waiting for one of the meetings to start and this guy sits next to me and says, "You're Heather Scruggs?" (I had a name tag on). Come to find out, he is one of the guys who was suppose to help us move into our apartment. Never met the guy before! He is a connection I made indirectly before moving here. I emailed a local church requesting help with moving our furniture up to our second floor apartment and he was one of the guys they recruited to help us! We didn't end up needing his help because we arrived a day early. Anyways, it gets better! He is also a biblical counseling major AND he lives in our apartment complex one street over!

More highlights of my day include the formal acknowledgement of all the international students from around the globe, including at least two from China! And, meeting a very sweet older student who is also studying biblical counseling AND has an adopted daughter from China! I love it!

As you can imagine, I am so drained from all the input today! I thought that it might help me process if I wrote some of it out. Tonight, a friend is making lasagna for a few of us. She is the friend that graduated from DTS as a biblical counseling major! That should be fun!

And, tomorrow is a little lighter. Activities start with a women's lunch and then have to take the MMPI personality test tomorrow afternoon. Can't wait to see what other fun surprises God has in store! Thanks for keeping up with it all! It feels like a whirlwind!