This article came about because of close friends, both around my age. The wife fell and was going through rehab. Next, her husband died of a heart attack. Then, I learned the wife suffered from dementia/Alzheimer’s syndrome.
I messaged a son-in-law to learn how the wife was doing. He messaged back that she was struggling and the stress only exacerbated her dementia. One of the family members stayed with her during the night and part of the day.
I replied that we would continue to pray for her, also leaving a praying hands emoji with my comment.
Would Jesus have just tossed out a general statement like that and left a prayer emoji?
No, absolutely not! Jesus WOULD have healed her. So, what am I doing wrong?
Somehow, I had just accepted dementia as being one of those tough-luck, too-bad-for-you disorders. A disease that I really never gave a second thought about, even though the families of the seven million sufferers in America live with the sad debilitating symptoms on a daily basis…and with no hope of a medical cure.
Neil Cole, in his book, Pray, summed up my attitude on dementia: “We often underestimate Jesus as well. We pray for things that are far less than what He could actually do.”
So, what is dementia?
Dementia involves a decline in the mental abilities you need for daily living. It develops when there’s damage to the parts of your brain involved with learning, memory, decision-making and language.
It’s not a specific disease. It’s a clinical description of a set of symptoms caused by underlying brain diseases. The most common cause is Alzheimer’s disease.
If you have it, you might forget the name of a close friend or loved one. Or you might get lost in the neighborhood where you’ve lived for many years. It isn’t part of normal aging and may shorten a person’s lifespan.
How did Jesus handle sickness?
The news about Him spread throughout all Syria; and they brought to Him all who were ill, those suffering with various diseases and pains, demoniacs, epileptics, paralytics and He healed them. (Matthew 4:24)
Somewhere amongst the above diseases is dementia. So, what does Jesus want us to do?
Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do, he will do also; and greater works than these he will do; because I go to the Father. (John 14:12)
So, how can we possibly heal dementia sufferers?
(Continued in Part 4)
Larry Who 