Why Faith is the Secret Ingredient to Your Survival
The diagnosis was just a formal confirmation for what he already knew … she had Alzheimer’s. He had noticed the extreme forgetfulness which not only included her inability to know what day, month or year it was but also, that he was becoming a stranger in his own home. And the times that she didn’t remember him were becoming more frequent.
He had recently retired to be with her and every afternoon, without fail, she would be distraught at “the stranger” in the house. He found that he, “the stranger” would need to leave their home and go for a walk. An hour later he would return home and she would welcome him and ask him how his day was as if nothing had happened.
Together, they were suffering. Her suffering was in forgetting. His suffering was in her not remembering.
How would they survive? How would they manage to navigate this trial? What is the secret ingredient to surviving this slow and painful disease that began to rob them of their memories, and ability to function normally?
Their story of survival can be summed up in four words … Faith in Jesus Christ. This was the secret ingredient to their survival.
First of all, their faith in God, through Jesus Christ, assured them that despite the ugliness of this disease and the turmoil they were suffering, there was a purpose. They took refuge in the Scripture found in I Thessalonians 5:18, “In everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.”
Their prayer to God became an expression of thanksgiving for the disease and so their faith embraced His will for their lives. They realized that there was a purpose. This disease was not meaningless or arbitrary. Somehow, through faith, they knew He would be glorified.
They also realized, through their faith, that their sufferings were only temporary. There was hope and faith in a glorious future. They strongly embraced His promise of tomorrow as seen in II Timothy 4:7,8, “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.”
Additionally, through faith, they realized there was a cure for Alzheimer’s. Oh, not a cure that dissolved the disease or returned loved ones back to health. They did not pray for healing. They faithfully took Paul’s response from God in regards to his infirmity as found in II Corinthians 12:9, “And he said unto me, my grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly, therefore, will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.”
They prayed for grace by faith.
Finally, through the long days and the seemingly endless nights they were not going through the furnace experience alone. There was another walking with them. Their faith found solace in Hebrews 13:5 as He who walked with them and carried them promised, “Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.”
The secret ingredient to surviving the disorientation, the hallucinations, the anger, the fleeting moments of normalcy, was this couple’s faith. A faith, they found, to be the cure for the disease of Alzheimer’s. A faith that became the secret ingredient to their survival.
