Alzheimer's considerations

Alzheimer's considerations include Gospel ( For the whole article, click this link)

 Alzheimer's disease grips millions of Americans with fear and hopelessness daily, yet the Gospel can infuse a spiritual dynamic into the struggle, asserts a university psychologist and author. He suggests believers should prepare for the possibility that their lives could be upended by the increasingly common hardship.

"People will tell me beautiful stories of how their loved ones remembered the Lord even deep into dementia -- sometimes through singing well-known hymns, reading familiar Bible passages or praying together," Benjamin Mast, author of "Second Forgetting: Remembering the Power of the Gospel During Alzheimer's Disease," told Baptist Press.

An elder at Sojourn Community Church in Louisville, Ky., Mast is a board-certified geropsychologist and associate professor and vice chair in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences at the University of Louisville.

"It's clear in Scripture that God remembers His people and takes care of them even when they have trouble remembering Him," Mast said.

Tom James, pastor of Eastwood Baptist Church in Bowling Green, Ky., and a recent president of the Kentucky Baptist Convention, told Baptist Press what it's like walking the Alzheimer's road with his wife Jan, a mother of three who is battling the disease at age 57.

DeeEdrah White, whose husband Kevin White is executive director of the Nevada Baptist Convention and whose mother died last year after a struggle with Alzheimer's, relayed some ways churches can minister to Alzheimer's patients.

The title "Second Forgetting" refers to the way people, when devastated by Alzheimer's, risk forgetting the hope and power of the Gospel and can forget God as their comforter, provider and redeemer. Mast wrote the book to help people in the midst of the Alzheimer's journey experience the grace and love of Christ.

Short-term memory is the first thing "to go" when a person suffers from dementia, Mast notes in the book, but a person's deepest and most treasured memories tend to stay with them longer. For this reason, believers need to hear the Gospel every day, he says.

"Despite the effect of the curse upon our physical bodies, [believers with Alzheimer's] remain children of God, created in his image, and their identity and their life is still rooted securely in Christ," Mast writes.

One particular man at a dementia day center, Mast recounts, became somewhat belligerent, believing he was being held against his will. "As the staff considered how to address this problem, one remembered that he was a Christian and suggested that someone read the Bible with him," Mast writes.

"... Though he was still not sure of who I was or what he was doing in this strange place, as I sat next to him and read the Bible, the anger melted away. Soon, he was nodding in agreement with the words of God, whispering, 'That's right ... mmm hmm.' ... For him, God's Word was an anchor in the storm of his confusion. Reminded of the Lord's goodness, he experienced peace."

Mast writes, "By choosing how to live now, we are making choices about how we will live in the future.... Do you have a habit of daily prayer and Scripture reading? In developing godly habits we make them a part of who we are and embed them in our souls and procedural memory systems. All of these are more resistant to the effects of Alzheimer's disease."

A caregiver's perspective...

http://www.christianitytoday.com/edstetzer/2014/september/10-truths-from-second-forgetting-by-benjamin-mast.html

SEP 26, 2014
10 Truths from Second Forgetting by Benjamin Mast

Remembering the power of the Gospel during Alzheimer's disease |

Ed Stetzer

...

1. We are all imperfect and broken. We forget the Lord, even in the best of health. This is what I call “the second forgetting. (19)

2. Never forget the wonder of the good news: God never forgets us or his promises to us, even when we forget him. Throughout Scripture, God remembers first and then acts in grace to rescue his people. (26)

3. Although Alzheimer’s is one of the most devastating and feared conditions among older people, it can develop, in rare instances, in people in their thirties and forties. As many as 30 to 40 percent of people in their eighties have this dreaded disease. (30)

4. The longer the person lives with the disease, the more severe and widespread the underlying brain changes will become. As these changes spread, they begin to overwhelm the person, and as the person is overwhelmed, so is their family. (37)

5. Even though the outlook is not positive for treating Alzheimer’s disease, we are not without hope and we are never alone. We need to learn how to lean on, trust in, and remember our Lord and the powerful promises of the gospel in the midst of the Alzheimer’s disease journey. (41)

6. Memory is more than just the recollection of facts or events; it also involves things we feel and do and, to some extent, less conscious aspects of who we are. (45)

God pursues us and cares for us, even when we don’t understand what he is doing.

7. The Bible tells us that God has a definite storyline for us to live by, one that we often fail to recognize or remember. God’s story transforms our individual stories, giving them new meaning, even when they involve suffering.(57)

8. If you are caring for a person with dementia and find yourself overwhelmed, seemingly unable to do anything, this passage is for you. It is also a word of hope to the person who has dementia. 

In their weakness, the Spirit intercedes with wordless groans on their behalf as well. Sometimes, a person advances to a stage when articulating needs and prayers becomes difficult, if not impossible. But here we are told that the Lord continues to search and know their hearts, interceding on their behalf with these wordless groans in accordance with God’s will. (67)

9. On average, caregivers spend 70 hours a week providing care. This number is as high as a hundred hours per week among those who do not hold a job and averages about forty hours per week among those who do hold a job. In reality, caregiving represents a second full-time job. (76)

10. God pursues us and cares for us, even when we don’t understand what he is doing. This is God’s radical grace. He never turns away from us, even when we seem to resist his plans.(99)