Angels In Our Midst?

I work in a dental office. I'm the girl who schedules appointments and takes payments, etc. The job itself is extremely repetitious and I could be bored out of my mind every day if it wasn't for the people! I work for a general dentist, so we get repeat patients...at least twice a year if they're GOOD patients, right?! ;) Anyway, I've been there enough years now to know which patients I look forward to seeing...and others, maybe not so much. :) There are a few elderly patients that always manage to capture my heart when they come in! One of them came in last week. She is suffering from Alzheimers, and she doesn't even know who she is anymore. Deborah, her daughter, always brings her in for her appointments. Deborah speaks to her mother now as if she is just a child. ...I put myself in Deborah's shoes for just a moment...what would it be like if I was mothering my mother? Even worse...she doesn't even KNOW me! After all the conversations & life experiences I have shared with my mother - the woman I turn to most for help & advice, comfort & guidance - she has lost all memory of me, her daughter, her first born? I am a stranger to her now? No, I can't imagine it. I honestly cannot even imagine what Deborah must be feeling. I admire Deborah's patience. I mostly admire the love she obviously feels for her mother. So, last week they come in for her routine cleaning appointment. But today was extra challenging for Deborah. Her mother doesn't use the restroom anymore, she's like a baby...and she had an "accident" in the hygienist's chair. Apparently this is not the first time this has happened, because Deborah came prepared. She brought her mother around to my desk to pay her bill. She had a seat protector she placed on a chair & had her mother sit there while she wrote the check. I could tell Deborah was more flustered than usual.... Then a sort of miracle happened. :) Deborah stopped in the middle of writing her check and froze for a moment. Then she leaned toward me and said, "Listen. Listen to her. Can you hear her?" I listened. Her mother was humming. Then through her tears, Deborah says, "She's humming Amazing Grace...I haven't heard her sing that song in years..." I watched her mother as she was sitting in that chair, looking up toward the ceiling with a smile on her face, humming the tune of Amazing Grace - how sweet the sound! How sweet the sound!! :) Then I saw Deborah wipe away the tears that fell down her face as she finished writing the check. I asked Deborah if her mother used to sing. Yes, in the church choir - she loved to sing...but she hasn't in years. Then Deborah had me keep an eye on her mother as she ran out to the car to get her a change of clothes.

I didn't tell Deborah that I was also dealing with my own personal challenges. I was depending on God's strength to carry me through a time in my life. And that moment with her mother was a reminder to me of how CLOSE God is! Even if your mind is stolen by a disease such as Alzheimer's, He breaks through!! We may forget our daughter, or others we have loved...but nothing will keep us from remembering His love and KNOWING He is near...and He promises to take us home, when we are ready. :)

I believe her mother was singing with the angels. There was a peace about her that you could feel in the room! I wrote Deborah a letter expressing how much that moment meant to me! I told her how much I admired her relationship she has with her mother. I wanted Deborah to know that her mother touched my heart. I got a letter from her yesterday, and she wrote...

"...With God's help, we can get through anything. He really is a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path. Sometimes I wonder how people who don't know Him can survive..."