Precept, Parkinson's, and the Truth That Sets Us Free

Dannah Gresh: What did Kay Arthur do when she had a problem to solve?

Kay Arthur: Anytime that I have a need, I run to the Word of God. I ask God, “God, show me what I need to know. Show me what I need to do.” And then I wait upon the Lord.

Dannah: This is the Revive Our Hearts podcast with Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth, coauthor of You Can Trust God to Write Your Story, for October 7, 2025. I’m Dannah Gresh.

Have you been participating in our Quiet Rest challenge? How’s it going with reading God’s Word every day? If you haven’t joined, you can start today! Visit ReviveOurHearts.com/challenges to sign up and commit to thirty days of meditating on Scripture. I know that nothing really blesses me, centers me, creates freedom in me like time spent with the Lord in His Word! 

Today we’re going to get to know a woman who I know felt the same way. Kay Arthur. 

Just this past May, this godly woman went to be with the Lord. And now, we get to honor her legacy of faithfulness. Let me tell you, not only did Kay know her Bible well, she knew her God! And now she’s with Him face to face, no doubt worshiping before the throne. Kay helped found Precept fifty years ago. Precept is an organization dedicated to helping you “know God deeply and live differently.”

In 2022, Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth invited Kay to join her on the True Woman platform in front of thousands of women in the room and tens of thousands watching online. Our theme for the conference was the two-word phrase, “Heaven Rules.” 

Now, Kay suffered from Parkinson’s disease, and she would sometimes lose her train of thought. But you’ll notice there are some things she never lost at all: her sense of humor, and her passion for God’s Word.

Let’s listen to part of that conversation now.

Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth: Would you please welcome my dear friend—and yours—Kay Arthur! (applause)

Kay: We are dear friends. We don’t get to spend that much time together, but her heart and my heart beat the same for the Lord! I love you, and I thank you. It’s such a privilege to be here at my age.

Nancy: Well, thank you, sweet friend. We’ll tell that age in just a minute, but let’s sit down, because we’re all old here! Right?

Kay: Oh, we are.

Nancy: Let me just ask, how many of you (because I just may not need to introduce Kay) have been through a Precept study or heard Kay teach or have been in some way impacted through her life and ministry? I want you to stand up so she can see you. (cheers)

Kay: Whoo! Look at all them over there!

Nancy: To God be the glory! You may be seated. 

And that’s all Kay has ever wanted, for God to get the glory. We contacted Kay and said, “We’re going to be talking about Heaven rules—that’s our theme.”

That’s been Kay’s theme for as long as I’ve known her, which is pretty much most of my life. Our hearts beat alike when it comes to the providence of God, the sovereignty of God, that you can trust God to write your story.

So I just knew she was a fit for what we were talking about this weekend. We asked her office if she could come, and she said she wanted to. She’s been here all weekend! I just expected her to show up tonight, but she loves sitting under the Word! 

We’ve been so thrilled to have you, Kay. How old are you?

Kay: I am eighty-eight, and I will be eighty-nine November the 11th [2022], Lord willing. I just want to say one thing, because it means so much to me. One of my favorite truths about God is the fact that He rules over all, that He is the Sovereign Ruler of all the universe! 

When I got saved . . . I’d been married; I’d been divorced; I’d been immoral. I’d shaken my fist in the face of God and said, “To [expletive] with you. I’ll see you around town. I’m going to find someone to love me!”

So I went out and looked for love in all the wrong places. And then, God gloriously saved me! Blessed, blessed are we who belong to the Lord and know and realize that we are daughters of the living God and that God does according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth: and none can stay his hand, and none can say unto him, “What doest thou?” (Dan. 4:35) What He does is good and perfect and acceptable! (applause)

Nancy: And that verse comes from Daniel. You’ll find it there.

Kay: Yes it does. Yes, I love Daniel!

Nancy: I know you do, and you’ve helped me to love it more. So as you think about God’s providences and His sovereignty in your life, that doesn’t mean it’s been an easy life. 

Kay: That’s right.

Nancy: So, as you’ve experienced testing—the dementia and departure of your precious Jack, and now you’re dealing with Parkinson’s . . .

Kay: Yes. See my foot shaking? Camera, get the foot shaking. (laughter) I thought I might as well just let everybody know what it’s like to go through Parkinson’s and share it with them so that they can know, they can pray, and they can help others.

Nancy: Tell us—in this season, and in the hard seasons—how does God’s rule make a difference?

Kay: Why fight against God when He is God? Why not allow Him to put His arms around you and encircle you and be your strength, your life, your Redeemer? So in any given situation . . . because I’ve been in the Word of God so much, it’s really neat, because God often will just give me a Scripture, give me a truth. 

 

You have to forgive me, but in Alzheimer’s . . . No, in what is this disease that I have? (I have to keep Nancy on the ball!) In Parkinson’s, there is a shaking, but there is also a memory problem.

And so sometimes while I’m talking, I’m thinking, Lord, now what is her name? And the Lord has to bring it to mind. So, I’ve decided that what I will do is that I’ll just stop and be honest, “You know, I can’t remember what I was saying. Help me say it.” Now, did I answer your question?

Nancy: I don’t even remember my question! (laughter) Robert and I listened to a message on the way here that Kay gave five years ago to a group of seminary students at Dallas, and it was so powerful! We looked at each other and we said, “That’s the kind of heart and faith that we want to have!”

The two things you come back to again and again and again—you’re like a broken record (for those who remember records!)—the character of God and the Word of God. You talk about “they who know their God.” Tell us why it’s so important to know your God.

Kay: It’s vital that you know God, because you and I are living in a time when what we are being fed is a colossal lie about our gender and our morals. We’ve got to know the Word. We’ve got to hold it forth in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation. (see Phil. 2:15)

In Isaiah—this is another book that it would be good for you to start reading—it says, “To the [law] and to the testimony! If they will not speak according to this word, it is because they have no dawn” (Isa. 8:20 ESV). In other words, they’re walking in darkness.

We are living in a time when they are speaking against the Word of God. It goes on to say what is going to happen. It’s in the passage. This just came to me and I felt like I was to share it, and that is in chapter 9, we have that wonderful verse. 

It says: “A child will be born for us, a son will be given to us, and the government will [rest] on his shoulders. [His name shall be called] Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace” (Isa. 9:6 CSB).

The passage says there will be no end of the increase of his government or peace on the throne of David, and over His kingdom to establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness from then on and forevermore (see Isa. 9:7).

It’s been said that everything depends on our response to His Word. Everything! In any given situation you can either respond and live as God says and count it all joy and press on in all the Scriptures, or you can turn your back (see James 1:2). But the minute that you turn your back, you’re going to be in trouble!

No individual, no society, can recover except by returning to His Word. That’s why I love Revive Our Hearts, because it holds forth the Word of God in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation (see Phil. 2:15). We’ve got to live; we’ve got to let His Word be heard; we have to remember that it’s truth.

Isaiah 59:14 says it, “Justice is turned back [and we see the lawlessness right now] and righteousness stands far away. For truth has stumbled in the streets, and uprightness cannot enter.” We’ve got to hold forth the Word of God!

Nancy: Kay, has there been a season of your life you look back to . . . I know the homegoing of your husband, the diagnosis with Parkinson’s, challenges in your family. How, in times of trouble, has the Word of God and the character of God kept you steady?

Kay: His Word is a strong tower, so anytime that I have a need, I run to the Word of God. I ask God, “God, show me what I need to know. Show me what I need to do.” And then I wait upon the Lord. But the more you’ve studied the Word of God, the easier it is.

You know, I’ve been in the Word of God for all these years, and so it’s ready for me. It’s not necessarily that you know where to run, but we teach you how to go to the Word of God and how to discover the answers. 

There’s “everything that pertains to life and godliness” (see 2 Peter 1:3). Everything is in this Book! So, you’ve got to know the Book! Scripture interprets Scripture. If you will start and just make this—not a legalistic rule—but every day you get up, you eat food, eat the Word of God! Go through the Bible book by book. Mark the text. It will soon become your friend.

I have been here [a spot in her Bible] about when God called Jack home, and different things and events that happened just in answer to prayer. They’re next to Scripture that has to do with the situation. 

And so, the more you know God, the more you know His Word, the stronger you will be so that whatever comes your way, you can stand firm and take action and walk righteously.

Nancy: I know you’ve been through some circumstances in life and ministry where it didn’t seem like God was in control. There were hard things, things you would not have chosen. We have women here tonight who are going through some very dark valleys and deep waters. How can you trust God to be in control when it doesn't look like He is, when it looks like the government is in control or some ungodly husband or a prodigal child? When it looks like things are out of control, how do you counsel your heart to trust that heaven rules?

Kay: If He’s God, and if He is the One that spoke and brought the world into existence and said, “Let there be . . . and it was so . . . let there be . . . and it was so” (see Gen. 1). If He is God, He cannot fail! If He is God, He knows what’s coming. He’s omniscient. He’s omnipresent. He’s omnipotent. He is eternal. You go through the attributes of God.

And, honestly, it’s just plain stupidity and absolutely ridiculous for you not to believe Him and cling to Him as a waistband clings to the waist of man! (see Jeremiah 13:11). We don’t always understand the horrific situations that people go through.

Precept is working in all the countries of the world. We have it in their language, and this is the thing that heals them and gives them direction and gives them comfort and gives them assurance.

We just have to know that God will not give you anything you cannot bear, but in any given situation He will make a way of escape so that you can handle it. Whether it’s temptation or whether it is testing, God is the answer (see 1 Cor. 10:13). Know God deeply and live differently. And you cannot know God deeply apart from the Word of God.

The problem today is that a lot of people are twisting it and distorting it, and they are not being challenged by those who know what God says. There’s going to be a warfare. You and I have to know that our warfare is not against flesh and blood. It’s against principalities and powers and spiritual wickedness in high places (see Eph. 6:12).

That’s what we are seeing, and we’re just seeing what lawlessness is like when there’s no fear of God before their eyes (see Rom. 3:18). You’ve got to know it! You want to get Hosea 4. Read it tonight before you go to bed, and look at what’s happening.

People are being destroyed for a lack of knowledge. And children are suffering because we have not been in the Word of God (see Hosea 4:6). We have not lived according to every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God (see Deut. 8:3). We’ve got to start living it! Live it, live it, live it! 

Someday you and I, precious one, are going to stand at the judgment seat of Christ (this is for Christians), and we’re going to give an answer for the deeds done in our body, whether they be good or evil (see 2 Cor. 5:10).

God is honest and fair and just. You and I have to know this. He cannot reward sin. He has to deal with it. He cannot honor you—or even have to answer to you—if you have not respected Him as God.

May the fear of God fall on the United States of America! May it fall on the Church of Jesus Christ! May we put away and turn off and get free from a lot of this garbage and this talk and the way they’re doing things. May we go back to the Word of God, and may we be cleansed by the washing of the water of God’s Word (see Eph. 5:26) so that we might be a vessel unto praise and honor and glory unto His appearing (see 1 Peter 1:7). (applause)

We just had our partners in for the weekend, just before I came down here, and I got to tell them that I was honored to be speaking here. I said, “I’m going to be eighty-nine years-old, and that’s going to happen very, very soon.” I saw some of you and I thought, Boy, you’re looking at me and you’re saying, “The ol’ gray mare, she ain’t what she used to be . . . many long years ago!” (laughter)

May we, may you and I, stay on target. May we not turn to the right, may we not turn to the left, may we observe to do according to all that He has commanded us, and may we hear, “Well done my good and faithful servant. Enter into the joy of the Lord!” (see Matt. 25:21).

The people who know their God are what? “But the people who know their God are able to stand firm” (Dan. 11:32). But not just stand firm, to take action. May the results and the fruit of this time together and this ministry, may it be used mightily of God so that when we see Him, He’ll look at us and He’ll say, “Well done my good and faithful servant. Enter into (what?) the joy of the Lord.”

I love you, and I thank you so very much! (applause) Thank you.

I have one more thing to tell you. I’ve done it when I’ve spoken to large crowds, so you meet the qualifications. What I’ve prayed (I don’t think He’ll do it tonight) but I’ve prayed, “Lord, I pray that when I die, I’ll die on the platform!” (laughter)

I pray that I will be standing there, having taught the Word of God, and get a grand and glorious heart attack and that someone will come to the platform and tell them to repent and how to be saved.” (laughter) That would be a good way to go, wouldn’t it? (applause)

Absent from the body, present with the Lord (see 2 Cor. 5:8), and wanting to hear, “Well done, my good and faithful servant.”

Nancy: I believe Kay’s going to hear that, “Well done.”

Dannah: Well, that conversation between Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth and Kay Arthur was recorded at our True Woman conference in 2022. And since then, Kay has heard those words. She’s entered into the joy of the Lord. We had the privilege of interviewing Kay one last time, not long before she went to be with the Lord. Parkinson’s had taken its toll on her body and mind, but there was one thing Parkinson’s could not steal from Kay—and that was her unfailing love for God and His Word. I think you’ll feel that as you listen to these words of wisdom from a woman who devoted herself to the study of God’s Word until the end. 

Kay: Here I am, ninety years old and in assisted living, and I hear Nancy every morning because I have the station in here, but here I am getting to partner with you all. And I think probably one of the most necessary, life-changing, vital things you can do is to know that Word, to love it, to feast on it, to obey it, and know that God watches over His Word, to perform it.

Tthe most important thing is to know His Word. You shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free.

With Parkinson's, you know you don't remember much or handle your thinking process. It is really affected. But just to know that, here is Truth. He put me in his hand and curled His fingers around me and said, "No one can touch you or do a thing to you without My permission. I am God."

He loves us with an everlasting love, and so every one of us should seek to share what we have learned from God and from His Word, and to hold ourselves accountable for the way that we handle it and the way that we live. That's why I'm so excited about what Nancy's doing, what you're doing and how you're working together to get them in the Word. "Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God" (Matt. 4:4).

We need to know the Word of God, we need to teach our children how to know it. We need to teach our children how to study it because He writes His Word, He breathes it, and then we can inhale it, and then we can live it.

Father, we come to You. We thank You for what manner of love You have bestowed upon us that we should be called the children of God. May we remember that, that we are Your children, Your children, that You are Father, that You are our master, our Savior, our Lord, our life, our shield, our fortress. You're everything that we will ever need.

Father, we look at this culture, and we see all that is going on. And Father, they desperately need to be healed by the Word of God, mentally and emotionally, so that they stand firm in the Lord and in the strength of His might. So Father, lead them, guide them, direct them.

Thank You for this privilege and of talking to them and working with my sisters and brothers in Christ. And Lord, now we say unto You be praise and honor and glory and power and dominion. Even so, come quickly, Lord Jesus. When You come, if we're here, we vow before You that we will stand firm and that we will do the work that You have for us to do. Thank You so very, very much. In Jesus name we pray, the name above all names, amen.

Dannah: Amen. That was Kay Arthur, ninety years old and still overflowing with the Scriptures she dwelled in all her life. I want to be like Kay when I grow up. 

This month at Revive Our Hearts, we’re dwelling in the Scriptures together. When you choose to support the message of Revive Our Hearts this month, we’d like to send you Nancy’s book, A Place of Quiet Rest, as our personal thank you! This book is all about developing a personal devotional life and cultivating a quiet heart in the process. Request your copy when you make a donation of any amount. You can do that by visiting ReviveOurHearts.com or calling us at 1-800-569-5959. 

Tomorrow, we’re getting a sneak peak into the Wonder of the Word content coming in 2027. (I know that's a long time away!) Nancy’s teaching on Psalm 23, a beloved passage for restless hearts. If you need some gentle comfort from the Lord, I hope you’ll be back for Revive Our Hearts.

This program is a listener-supported production of Revive Our Hearts in Niles, Michigan, calling women to freedom, fullness, and fruitfulness in Christ.

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