Spiritual Dementia: What Happened?

Her knee hurt, and as she sat in the hospital bed, my mother-in-law didn’t know why. It could have been the surgery she had put off, but had finally had that morning, but she didn’t remember. She just knew her knee hurt. The following dialogue was on repeat until the anesthesia finally ended its dance with her dementia, and she returned to normal (her normal) three weeks later.

“What happened? Did I fall? Did I not take care of myself? Was this necessary?”

Trauma occurred in the form of surgery, and was immediately followed by healing and rehab.

Whether it’s knee replacement surgery or a broken spirit, sometimes the healing and rehab are as bad as the initial trauma. God, the ultimate physical therapist, walks us through the process.

And it’s painful.

And sometimes, like my mother-in-law, our spiritual dementia flares up. We forget what happened.

We forget the trauma and the wound it left.

We forget we are healing.

We forget that it’s getting better.

We just know it hurts.

Spiritual dementia robs us of why. And we lose hope because the pain seems endless. What happened and when will it get better?

I broke my wrist once and spent the next four months in a cast and in rehab. It took a full year for the swelling to go down. Really. So why am I shocked when emotional wounds take time to heal? When a memory ambushes me and leaves me in a mess—again?

Documenting our emotional healing helps keep spiritual dementia at bay. Journaling reminds us that the initial trauma has passed. God has a treatment plan. He’s started the healing and rehab,but they take time.

“The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion—to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair.” (Isaiah 61:1-3a NIV)

Trust Him with the process.

Remember what happened and that it is behind you.

Remember that now you are healing and recovering.

Remember rehab takes time.

Look ahead to your wholeness.

Questions:

Have you had a physical wound? Any rehab required?

How would you describe the healing process?

How does God do this with emotional wounds?

Journal your healing journey.

Tweetables:

Whether it’s knee replacement surgery or a broken spirit, sometimes the healing and rehab are as bad as the initial trauma. Click To Tweet
God, the ultimate physical therapist, walks us through the process. Click To Tweet
We forget the trauma and the wound it left. We forget we are healing. We forget that it’s getting better. We just know it hurts. Click To Tweet
Spiritual dementia robs us of why. And we lose hope because the pain seems endless. What happened and when will it get better? Click To Tweet
Trust Him with the process. Remember what happened and that it is behind you. Remember that now you are healing and recovering. Remember rehab takes time. Look ahead to your wholeness. Click To Tweet

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