‘Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away.  Also there was no more sea.’  Revelation 21:1 (NKJV)

Feeling all at sea is how many feel about memory loss.  It’s also  how a husband, or wife feels when their other half is in a care home because they have dementia, and in the current Covid crisis they are not able to spend time with them as they used to. Emotionally, it’s like being tossed about by giant waves.

We have all seen an angry sea – great waves and wind, a huge noise of the waves crashing against the rocks. In the Scriptures the sea is often used as a picture of trouble in our lives and of the fallen nature of this world. Memory loss is indeed a cruel sea – rough, tough, and turbulent.

As the Bible comes to its close, it makes a promise in Revelation that there will be no more sea.  No more separation because of illness or pandemic.  There will be a day of perfect calm, a meeting with the Lord Jesus Himself, in all His glory, for those who believe and trust in Him.

Carers, too, sometimes find they are all at sea, emotionally and in their caring role.  Ask the Lord to give them patience and the ability to bear the troublesome sea of today.

PRAYER:   

Dear Lord, there is going to be a day of perfect calm when we will stand with Jesus in glory.  Help us to look forward to this.  And for today – let there be some calm as we trust you.  Amen.

(From Worshipping with Dementia, Lion Monarch, 2010. Meditations, Scriptures and prayers for people with dementia and their carers.)

 

Louise Morse

Louise Morse MA (CBT) is media and external relations manager for the Pilgrims’ Friend Society. She is a writer and speaker, and author of books on issues of old age, including dementia, published by Lion Monarch and SPCK. She is a cognitive behavioural therapist, and her Masters’ dissertation examined the effects of caring for a loved one with dementia on close relatives.

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