The Grandma Who Chose Everyone

My grandma, Jewel Yvonne Meyer Amyett, is gone.  Well, not gone, gone.  She simply fulfilled her purpose for here and has gone on to her forever home.

Since her passing a couple days ago, I have been thinking about her and the impact she had on my life. 1,500 miles separated us growing up, so our time together was generally in spurts of high-energy weeks, jam-packed with activity and family.  And if you know the Amyett family, you can only imagine what those times were like.  Loud.  Joyful.  Intense.  Humorous.  Weird.  Crazy.   Brandon sums it up best.  "I like being around your family.  They're funny and laugh a lot."

So, when I think of Grandma, the first thing I think about is how she always made me smile.  And laugh.  She had the best sense of humor and the ability to laugh at herself.  She was open and honest.  She also had a tender heart and loved everyone and everything.

This morning, I was thinking about her favorite passage of scripture that she shared with me, Isaiah 41:10.

So do not fear, for I am with you;
do not be dismayed, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you and help you;
I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

The verse right before this one jumped out at me as I read it this morning. 

I took you from the ends of the earth,
 from its farthest corners I called you.
I said, ‘You are my servant’;
I have chosen you and have not rejected you.

Grandma's life, like all lives that inspire, had some rough spots.  Particularly when she was a young girl.  She lost her mother when she was about 8 years old.  Her father remarried and eventually, my grandma found herself living in a home for young girls, separated from her family, the people she loved most in the world.  She knew rejection, loss, and grief at a young age.  It could have made her (justifiably) bitter and angry at life or a God who would let something like that happen to a little girl.  But instead, she let God do what He does best:  He takes all the good in our life and makes more good, and He takes all the bad in our life, and makes more good. (Romans 8:28)

She learned, over the course of her life, that God was always with her.  He was her helper, defender, her companion.  He chose her.

And grandma let that love spill out in her (imperfect) life into the lives of the people who surrounded her.  She listened to them.  She chatted with them.  She cried for them.  She invited them into her home.  She fed them.  (Then fed them some more.)  She laughed with them.  She prayed for them.  She loved them.  She chose them.

Thank you, Grandma.  Thank you for choosing me, too, and inspiring me to choose others.

I love you, now and always.

Give Grandpa a hug for me.

See you soon,

Melanie