Dementia is one of the most difficult issues that families face today because the diagnosis is often a surprise, even though the statistics surrounding it are staggering.
Dementia is the general term for deterioration in memory and thinking, behavioral processing, and the ability to perform everyday tasks for yourself.
Sarah Smith, our guest on our Focus on the Family Broadcast “Finding God’s Beauty in Alzheimer’s and Dementia,” was shocked when her fiercely independent mother – nicknamed Beauty – was diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer’s.
Beauty was fun, had a lot of energy, enjoyed hosting parties and entertaining, and loved to raise people up and encourage them. Gradually, her personality began to change. She became edgy. Small things would set her off, and she got frustrated and anxious easily. Physically she began feeling tingling in her hands and arms.
And so began a journey for Sarah of sacrificial love and discovering God’s goodness as she cared for her mom. Along the way, she learned how God wanted to heal her broken heart and to help her through her trial and suffering. She found out what it means to rely on the power of the Holy Spirit and His fruit to help you be slow to speak, quick to listen, and to be able to see your loved one through His eyes.
Listen to our full conversation on your local radio station, online, on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, or on our free phone app. Sarah Smith shares from her heart about how to experience the love of God when caretaking for someone as well as how to experience it yourself.
If you need practical help related to the stress of caring for a loved one with dementia, we have a staff of caring Christian counselors who would be happy to offer you a free consultation. Call us, leave your name and number, and they’ll get back with you just as soon as possible. The number during business hours is 1-800-A-FAMILY (232-6459).
Sarah has written a touching memoir called Broken Beauty: Piecing Together Lives Shattered by Early Onset Alzheimer’s, which is available for a gift of any amount. For more information, visit our website.
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Jul says
-I took care of my mother with dementia for seven years past diagnosis. Both of us watching and noting the slow decline. While she never completely lost her memory, she became unable to move or talk and spent the last two years bedridden. This was by far the hardest work I’ve ever done. I did see God’s grace during that time to bear the burden. If you are the caregiver, this is a hard row to hoe, but looking back, I can see how Jesus carried us both through. It’s the only way I got through.
This verse kept me: Matt 7:12 “So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets”
May Culotta says
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May Culotta says
-When my mother was blind and very ill with alzheimers I could seat her beneath a shade tree and play a recording of the Bible and she would listen and sit still for a long time. She had read the Bible every day in the early morning throughout her life and this was a joy for her. She was always sweet and kind. She died at age 87.
May Culotta says
-When my mother was very ill with alzheimers I could seat her beneath a shade tree and play a recording of the Bible and she would listen and sit still for a long time. She had read the Bible every day in the early morning throughout her life and this was a joy for her.