Once back home, my
family doctor was concerned. She sent me to a gerontologists, who in
turn, sent me for tests. The results were NOT what I wanted to hear:
Alzheimer's...
They say that Alzheimer's is hereditary, and
true to form, both my grandmother and my mother had Alzheimer's. I know
from my experiences with them that there is no cure for Alzheimer's. It
only progresses, and there is no going back. Nonetheless, my wife tried
to help me regain my cognition by encouraging me to play cognitive
games, help me learn memory strategies, etc. Unfortunately it didn't
seem to help at all.
To make things worse, I have a friend in the
United States who has a progressive illness as well, and I knew that in
the end, unless God intervened, he would die of this disorder. It choked
me to think of what he was going through; yet here I was, in the same
sort of situation. It was all so very discouraging!
I had learned through
my life experiences that I should always be positive; but in the face of
Alzheimer's, it was very hard to maintain my optimism. It was like my
brain was on its own vacation with no healing in sight, and all I could
think was that my life would end the way my mother's and grandmother's
had ended. For all practical purposes, it appeared that my life in this
world was over.
While I was wallowing in my discouragement,
however, God was busy reminding me of the truth of Deuteronomy 31:6: "Be
strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them,
for the LORD your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake
you." (NIV). That truth really hit home. Alzheimer's or not, God will
NEVER leave me or forsake me. To prove His point, God began giving me
Bible text after Bible text to encourage me and to teach me about
dependency on Him.
I will be sharing some of these lessons
throughout this series, and the lesson I want to share with you today is
about worship. Let's go to the story of Jesus' temptation in the
wilderness. When tempted to worship the devil, Jesus replied: "Away from
me, Satan! For it is written: 'Worship the Lord your God, and serve him
only.'" (Matthew 4:10 NIV). In His famous rebuttal, Jesus is quoting
Deuteronomy 6:13, which says, "Fear the LORD your God, serve him only
and take your oaths in his name." (Deut 6:13 NIV). As I read this text,
I heard God speaking to me, reminding me that this is a battle of who I
choose to worship. The devil wants me to be discouraged, and when I fall
into his trap, I am worshiping him. Meanwhile, my Heavenly Father wants
me to be filled with joy, and when I chose His way, I am worshiping Him!
No way will I worship the devil in this! I choose Jesus Joy!
When the text encourages us to "fear the
Lord", we must remember that this means to honour Him. It does not mean
we are to be "afraid" of my Him. In fact, When we worship our Heavenly
Father and leave our problems in His hands, all of our fears fade into
His glorious light, the light which: "... shines in the darkness, and
the darkness has not overcome it." (John 1:5 NIV). This light chases the
enemy from us, removing our fear, and leaving us able to glorify our
Heavenly Father forever. All we need to do is trust in Him. He loves us
so much.
Even though I found my cognition so low while
in the Caribbean, I decided to worship Him by putting my faith in the
One who will never leave me or forsake me, by accepting His joy. I will
forever put my trust Him. For my cognition, and for the rest of my life.
Rob Chaffart