A Promise Kept

Robertson McQuilkin

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Copyright © 1998 by Robertson McQuilkin. All rights reserved.

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Man cover image copyright © 1998 by PhotoDisc, Inc. All rights reserved.
Woman cover image copyright © Jamey Stillings/Tony Stone Images. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.

“Lord Jesus, Keep My Next Step Faithful” by Alfred B. Smith. © 1959 Singspiration Music (ASCAP) (admin. by Brentwood-Benson Music Publishing, Inc.). All rights reserved. Used by permission.

Designed by Ann Gjeldum.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

McQuilkin, J. Robertson, date
A promise kept / Robertson McQuilkin.
p. Cm.
Expansion of two articles originally published in Christianity Today.
ISBN 0-8423-5099-3 (hc : alk. Paper)
1. McQuilkin, J. Robertson, date. 2. Caregivers—Biography. 3. Spouses of clergy—Biography. 4. Alzheimer’s disease—Patients—Biography. 5. Alzheimer’s disease—Patients—Family relationships—Religious aspects—Christianity.
6. Alzheimer’s disease—Patients—Religious life. I. Title.
RC523.2.M396 1988
362.1’96831’0092—dc21
[b] 96-16753

Dedicated to those Muriel loved
almost as much as she loved me,
the fruit of our love:
Mardi, Bob, David, Jan, Amy, and Kent

Contents

Acknowledgments

In Sickness and in Health

To Love and to Cherish

For Better, for Worse

From This Day Forward

For Richer, for Poorer

Till Death Do Us Part

Acknowledgments

There are strong reasons this story should never have been told.

I’m a private person by nature. To write and speak about our story—Muriel’s and mine—has come only after repeated requests and gentle pressure from friends. One further motivation: Following the publication of the first article, “Living by Vows” (Christianity Today, October 8, 1990), the response convinced me that God could use the story to help some of his people. So, reluctantly, I write again.

Yet that very response leads to another problem. Why should people consider my experience special? The world is full of people doing what I do. I feel a twinge of guilt that my story is told and retold rather than theirs. Besides, there are so many who carry far greater loads, and that with quiet heroism. I would rather their song be sung.

Another real hesitancy is that some might get the impression that I’m advocating my approach to caring for a loved one as the only right approach. And that misperception could easily bring condemnation or guilt for the many who cannot, because of various circumstances, do as I have done. I hope none will hear me advocating my approach as the only or best approach in all circumstances. I’m just telling my story, ...