As I sit with the privilege of a shelter over my head and meals every day, I often wonder if our fellow brothers and sisters who are poor, vulnerable, orphaned and widowed read bible verses of comfort and actually experience God’s love and provision.
Recently, I got to witness the answer for myself - as a physiotherapist working in aged care in Sydney. It's terrible to see that many of our elderly are forgotten people. More often than not, these residents had no visitors.
Only a handful had families that visited consistently. The only interaction for most residents would be with the nursing staff, who have hearts of gold, yet were often too busy with the demand of their jobs to be able to sit and chat to the residents.
Most residents had no money to spare with their pension covering the costs of their room and medication. Therefore, new clothes were not an option. Many had four items of clothing at best which was often misplaced in the laundry process or taken unintentionally by other patients with failing cognition.
As I walked into work each day, I’d look around and wonder if they felt that God had forgotten them.
Then Jesus said to his disciples: “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear. For life is more than food, and the body more than clothes. Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds! (Luke Chapter 12, verse 22-24).
Did they really feel worth much more than birds? Thankfully, I got to witness moments of God's love that confirmed this.
God provides for our physical needs
Before starting my job, I had bought 5 shirts online for work. When I opened the package on my first day of work, I realized they had sent four correctly sized shirts, but one was mistakenly oversized. Frustrated that I'd now have to do extra washing mid-week to make up for one less shirt, I grumpily made my way to work.
On my first day of work, a patient cried that she had no money for new clothes and no family to buy it for her. I asked her what size she wore, and she was exactly the same size as the incorrect sized shirt I had. She couldn’t be happier to wear a matching top with me as we did exercises together.
Another patient suffering from multiple sclerosis lay in bed all day, only getting up to use the bathroom and eat. When I joined work and asked if he was too tired to get up, the staff explained he enjoyed his own company and liked being left alone. Not fully believing this, I asked him his reasons and was disheartened to hear he did not get up as he did not have a pair of shoes and therefore felt unsafe to walk.
He'd been there for twenty years and I felt greatly saddened to imagine him confining himself to bed because he didn't have a single pair of shoes! I cried out to God, "please don't forget these people even when everyone else seems to have". The next day, a wife coming to visit her husband brought in a pair of a shoes. She approached me and said, "My husband is no longer able to walk and doesn't need his shoes anymore, but I was thinking maybe someone else could use this."
You guessed it, the shoes were a perfect fit.
God provides for our emotional needs
I saw beautiful friendships between patients with dementia. Often their incoherence didn't stop their strong connections with each other. Two patients called each other the wrong name, but both responded to it gladly.
I saw best friends loving each other: some sitting out in the sun and talking for hours, another holding her friend's hand and encouraging her to walk around and stay active.
Whilst I watched families grieve the personality changes that come with dementia, more often than not I saw the residents finding moments of happiness despite their condition.
God provides for our spiritual needs
I had a patient with advanced dementia and the extent of her vocabulary was "hello" and "all right". This was also a rarity as usually she would only stare blankly. One day after greeting her she voiced "I'm really worried". I was taken by surprise, as I'd not heard her string a sentence together. Upon asking what concerned her, she expressed she was unsure but knew she felt worried.
I asked if I could pray for her. She nodded. Afterwards she said "I feel much better. Thank you." It was a moment of pure joy to witness God grant her immediate peace and experience her being able to communicate this to me.
During Easter, another patient with dementia told me he used to go to church. "Do you pray much these days?" I asked him, thinking that if he couldn’t physically go to church, he could perhaps always have the joy of prayer. "I'm afraid I've never been too good at it."
Resignedly, I confirmed I felt the same way. Desperate to know he still had a relationship with God I asked him, "Do you remember why we celebrate Easter and what Jesus did for us?" He responded "'I'm afraid I've forgotten". I was devastated.
But I felt a prompting from God, "Drop your love of knowledge! It's not the only way to know God". So rather awkwardly, I started humming the tune to "How Great Our God". "This I know!" He exclaimed. We continued to sing the lyrics loudly together. It was a beautiful and needed reminder for me of Romans Chapter 8, verses 38-39:
"For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord."
Yes, not even dementia could separate him from God's love.
I saw that God did value them ‘much more than birds’. Whilst death was inevitable and not every person's suffering was alleviated, God did provide for them countless times and met their needs. God did not forget the vulnerable.
Often, I had the privilege of showing His love by caring for them. Often, he used another resident do the same. I'd encourage you to pray that you can also be used as a vessel of God's love to those who need to feel it the most, that God would open your eyes to opportunities in your path and for the will to seek out opportunities to do so.
Melissa Ramoo is a physiotherapist, Pilates instructor and studying a Bachelor of Ministry at Morling College in Sydney. She’s married to her husband Roshan and has a Boston Terrier named Hercules who is completely doted on.