Faith and Alzheimer's Disease

God loves people with Alzheimer's. I feel  really strongly that someone needs to know that.Writing about Alzheimer’s is really difficult for me. It’s emotionally painful, scary and unpredictable for the loved ones of its victims. Alzheimer’s has plagued my family. My grandmother has dementia which is a rapidly progressing form of Alzheimer’s.  

According to alz.org Dementia is not a specific disease. It’s an overall term that describes a wide range of symptoms associated with a decline in memory or other thinking skills severs enough to reduce a person’s ability to perform everyday activities. Alzheimer's is the most common form of dementia, a general term for memory loss and other intellectual abilities serious enough to interfere with daily life. Alzheimer's disease accounts for 50 to 80 percent of dementia cases.

I've given you the medical definition of Alzheimer’s. But I define it as a thief. It steals the minds of its victims.  My grandmother has dementia and I struggle with feelings of anger over her condition. 

One day I was trying my best to reason with my grandmother in the midst of her confused state. On this day she was particularly stubborn. It was well past bedtime and she didn't want to go to sleep.  I started to become frustrated with her defiance. I wanted to scream…just go to bed so I won't have to worry about wondering out the house in the middle of the night! Instead, I took a deep breath and sat on the bed. I started to talk to her and asked do you know who I am? I braced myself for her response because I knew the answer before I asked the question. She smiled looked into my eyes and said “I don’t know who you are but I know you love me.” Her words melted my heart. I hugged her all while struggling to hold back tears. I didn't go through the total emotional meltdown I was bracing myself for.  Instead, I felt God comfort my heart. 

God revealed to me she doesn't know me but she recognized His love which is His Holy Spirit living inside of me. In the days that followed, I realized I had done something so completely selfish. Over time I subconsciously wrote her off in my mind as already dead.  As I look back, this didn't happen overnight. It was so gradual I was completely blinded to it. I stopped calling her as much, I stopped buying her gifts, and I stopped praying for her. It was selfish of me because I did this as a defense mechanism.  The pain felt unbearable because she is so far from the vibrant, feisty and witty person I once knew. 

On that day I finally understood something; God has given me the grace to do the difficult things in life.God spoke this to Paul when he asked God to take away the thorn in his flesh. God choose not to take the thorn away but by God’s power Paul was empowered to complete God’s will for his life. (2 Corinthians 12: 7-10)  I can’t become consumed with my own selfishness and my feelings over dementia. My grandmother needs me more than ever. More importantly she needs Christ. Before she was stricken with dementia I have every reason to believe she hadn't given her life to Christ and that Jesus was not the Lord of her life. I have started to pray she will receive Christ as her savior before she leaves this earth. 

God has also given you this grace to get through the difficult seasons in your life. I don't know what you are going through but it's no accident you are reading this. God's grace is sufficient. It doesn't matter if the trial is painful and scary. It’s so easy to try and rush our way out of painful situations. Now, I’ll be the first to admit that I want to squirm out of a difficult situation immediately. It’s our human nature to want to run from difficult situations but I believe God‘s glory is often revealed even more in the hard times.