Faith "By Heart"
(used by permission)
Yesterday, God brought to life something I have read a thousand times. My husband and I had volunteered to serve communion at Arden Courts, an Alzheimer’s unit. Since my mother in law has been there, we have come to know the sweet souls that live there and felt compelled to provide them all the opportunity to partake in worship, singing and communion. The residents there really enjoy singing and since I am bereft of a voice, we asked our First Evangelical Free Church Worship Director, Mary Ellen Johnson, if anyone from the choir might have a heart to serve in leading song. Mary Ellen and her family decided to try it out but needed to be a little later than 2:00 PM. So while we awaited their arrival, the activity director played a game of Catch Phrase with the residents. Catch Phrase is a memory game that helps to exercise the minds of Alzheimer’s patients. She picked up verses from the Old and New Testaments and stated part of the verse and asked the residents to complete the verse. Most of the sayings were familiar to me as a seminary student but, quite frankly, they were not all easy. However, there was one woman who seemed to be able to answer every one of the questions. Time after time, as the phrase was spoken, this woman would then complete the phrase them. My work in this was just to answer questions if someone asked what the phrase actually meant. They wanted to know what He meant by clothing the lilies of the field and why we should give with the left hand not knowing what the right hand is doing. They seemed engaged in wanting to understand.
When our music team arrived, we opened with the Lord’s Prayer. Not a soul in the room had a paper with the prayer on it and yet they could all say it by heart. Then we sang, took communion, sang again. Even after the 5th song, the residents still wanted to sing, so we sang Amazing Grace. Again, we were not prepared with papers with the words but they all knew them and sang along. And that is when it hit me. Something I had heard and been taught took on life. In Psalm 119:11-12 David says, “I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you. Praise be to you, O LORD; teach me your decrees.” These gentle souls had hidden His word in their hearts. God had instructed their hearts. It was so ingrained that even the disease from the pit could not pull it out of memory.
After the service, we talked with the sweet lady who seemed to know all the answers. She said that she attended Bethany United Methodist. A couple was also there from Bethany visiting another relative who is a resident.
[Bethany] has helped this woman hide His word. As we minister, we don’t’ always get to see the fruit that God bears in the lives of those we teach. We surely don’t always get to see it in the lives of those souls whose minds get fragmented by the disease that is surely from the pit, Alzheimer’s. But I wanted to share His mercy and grace actually made it through and His word is hidden in her heart. God smiled during that half hour service. And He smiled because [Bethany] was faithful to Him so that she could be too.
Kindly HIS,
Eliza Bushn