In past parts to this series I told of how I had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, but I had an special encounter with Jesus. He came into my bathroom and met me there. He told me that He would heal my left shoulder that I had hurt while working in the yard. I was excited; but what I really wanted was to be healed of dementia. I asked Him then if He would heal my cognition instead, and His response was that He would heal that too!

My shoulder pain was gone the next morning and hasn’t returned. Since that time, I have also been experiencing gradual improvement of my cognition. I don’t lose things as often, I can remember the day of the week, I am beginning to be able to remember codes, and slight changes don’t confuse me as much. Bit by bit, I know my cognition is returning.
Today I went to see my gerontologist, the same one who told me I had Alzheimer’s. When he entered the office, he was surprised that I was reading J.R.R. Tolkien “The Children of Hurin.” From his response, I had to wonder if he had ever met anyone with dementia who would read such a book.

He then asked how I was doing. My response? “I’m doing great!”

You could tell by the look on his face that he figured I was talking about my physical well-being, not my cognition; but when my wife began to explain all of the improvements she has been noticing, he didn’t know what to say. She explained how I was able to better organize my pictures on the computer than I was back in January, and she described how I am improving in problem solving and time orientation, as well how I am not losing things as much as I was. She told the doctor that she felt I had regained about 40% of my lost cognition.

You could tell that this news really took the doctor by surprise. After all, hadn’t the results of the recent PET scan come in as “suggestive of Alzheimer’s”?

His response? “What are you doing different?”

“Nothing!” we assured him. “Only a miracle can explain the improvement we’ve seen.”

The doctor dismissed the idea of a miracle and proceeded to try to find logical reasons for my improvement. He wondered if possibly I had suffered a stroke that hadn’t been seen on the original CT scan. My wife reminded him that my cognition had been declining steadily over the course of two years, and if they had been caused by a stroke, there would have been a sudden onset.

He then suggested that I suffered from small vessel disease, again, too small to have been picked up by the CT scan. My wife asked him if he had ever seen people with small vessel disease dementia get better. He had to admit that he hadn’t.

He then suggested severe depression. My wife assured him I had never suffered from depression. “Not even Seasonal Affect Disorder?” he asked. She shook her head. “I suffer from that,” she admitted, “but he doesn’t!”

When none of his logical explanations would hold water, the doctor finally made the following declaration, “People with dementia don’t get better. You are getting better; therefore, you don’t have dementia.”

My wife and I just smiled. It’s easy enough to try to explain away God’s miracles; but it changes nothing. God visited me and told me He would heal my cognition, and He is doing so!

My gerontologist ended our visit by saying he still wants me to follow up with a world-renown gerontologist in a large city nearby, and he also asked me to return to see him every 6 months. I agreed. I pray that I will have the opportunity to explain to him why I was healed. There is no human cure for Alzheimer’s, but with Jesus, there is always hope.
As for me, my trust is in Jesus alone. He is my healer. My cognition will continue to improve. My dementia will soon be a thing of the past.

Wow!

If you have illnesses, ask Jesus to heal you. You will not be discouraged. God the Father is crazy about you. Jesus loves you enough to have died for you, and the Holy Spirit takes up residence in you. No one can heal like our Jesus, the Holy Father and the Holy Spirit.

Get to know Jesus. Develop a relationship with our Heavenly Father. Spend time with the Holy Spirit. In fact, ask God to be part of your family and to reveal Himself to you. Remember: “He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give all things.” (Romans 8:32 NIV)

Remember: we need Jesus; we need the Holy Spirit; we need our Heavenly Father. No one else is always there for us. God loves you. He will never forsake you. He loves you, and I repeat: He loves you!

There is ALWAYS Hope!

In His Love,
Rob Chaffart

(To access the entire “There is ALWAYS Hope” devotional series, please click here.)