“How precious is the Book divine, By inspiration giv’n!
Bright as a lamp its precepts shine, To guide my soul to heav’n.”
Her family
says that she began to read, study, and follow her book earnestly when
she and her husband lost an infant child, Betty Jane.
She recorded the date of her baby’s birth and her death in the
flyleaf of her book, and wrote these words beside those dates: “I sure
hope I see you again, my sweet darling baby. Nothing can take her from
Christ now. A rose bud waiting to bloom in heaven.”
She continued to turn to her book when years later she lost an adult
child, Patsy. Her daughter had been a diabetic and experienced kidney
failure. When it was determined that only a kidney transplant would
prolong her daughter’s life, she gave one of her own kidneys to her.
Patsy lived a few more years until she passed away at the age of 42.
Her mother found solace in her book.
“It sweetly cheers my drooping heart, In this dark vale of tears;
Light to my life it still imparts, And quells my rising fears.”
She loved to
share her book with others. Late in her life, she befriended a
94-year-old woman who could not see very well. Since her friend
couldn’t see well, she read aloud from her book to her. She read aloud
from her book to many others.
At the age
of 80, she befriended another 80-year-old woman, Nora, who lived in same
apartment complex. She shared her book with her new friend. They
studied the book together. Soon Nora accepted the book as the guide to
her life.
“This lamp through all the tedious night Of life, shall guide my way,
Till I behold the clearer light Of an eternal day.”
Her name was
Thelma Clark. The book that she held dear was, as L.O. Sanderson
entitled a song about the same book, “The Precious Book Divine,” the
Bible.
“Holy Book divine! Precious treasure mine!
Lamp to my feet and a light to my way To guide me safely home.”
-- L.O. Sanderson
Thelma Clark
loved the Book because it is God’s Word. It tells of the great love of
God that sent His Son into the world to die on the cross so that Thelma
and the rest of us can be saved from our sins and receive the gift of
eternal life (John 3:16).
Thelma loved
to tell others about how to receive the gifts of salvation and eternal
life by the instructions given in the Book: we must place our
faith
and trust in Jesus (Acts 16:30-31), turn from our sins in
repentance
(Acts 17:30-31),
confess
Jesus before men (Romans 10:9-10), and be
baptized
(immersed) into Christ for the forgiveness of our sins (Acts 2:38).
Then, the Book should continue to be our guide: “a lamp to our feet and
a light to our path” (see Psalm 119:105). In other words, the Book
should be as precious to us as it was to Thelma Clark.