Let’s Wait and See

Psalm 27:14
“Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.”

It’s 2:24 a.m. and I couldn’t sleep. Worry consumed me. But as I lay there, I was reminded of the words a good God once laid on the heart of a wise woman: “Let’s wait and see.”

The wise woman was my grandmother, Betty. She was possibly the most remarkable woman I have ever known—the precise kind of person a good God likes to use. Humble, unassuming, simple-minded, ordinary, unlikely. My grandma could never quote Scripture. She never attended Bible studies because she often didn’t feel worthy—she doubted she had anything real to offer. And yet, her comforting words still resonate with me today.

To say she was ordinary and unlikely was never a reference to her faith life. You see, my grandma’s faith was at the core of her existence. It sustained her in every way a good God does. Always by her recliner was the most recent issue of Portals of Prayer, one that would routinely arrive at my college dorm mailbox each quarter. No note, no lecture—just an envelope with a subtle invitation to sit with Jesus each day.

Growing up, I spent a lot of time at my grandma’s house. My parents both worked to provide for our family, and my grandma was a pillar of support for them—for us. Now that I am a working parent myself, often reaching for a pillar of support, I look back and see all the pieces God was weaving together through her life.

Day after day, the door would revolve. I would watch as the needy, the brokenhearted, and the weak in spirit came to that house looking for comfort. Looking for love. And just as a good God does, He worked through my grandma to extend the grace they all needed.

I never heard my grandma lecture anyone. I never heard her pontificate with long diatribes about what she believed to be true about the world or their current circumstance. In fact, I heard her say very little. She listened—offering very few answers. She hugged a lot—Held their hand as they wept.

And then I’d hear her say, “Let’s just wait and see.”

To me, those words were a translation of God’s gentle whisper: Be still, and know that I am God. They weren’t passive or dismissive—they were an act of trust. Surrender, actually. My grandma didn’t try to fix the people who came through her door—she simply loved them. And in her most gentle nature, she surrendered them to the very good God who created them.

This week, I am grateful for Grandma Betty.
For the faith she instilled in me.
For the good God who made her my grandmother.
For the way she lived out what was required of her: “To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” (Micah 6:8)

Happy Thanksgiving.