Sprague, Thelma
Those blessed with godly parents have received a precious heritage. Sis. Thelma Sprague, the mother of my wife, Mary, has been gone for some time, but the effect of her life for God remains. Following is a letter that she wrote to one of her children on their birthday. I trust that you will be blessed by sharing her personal testimony. –Wayne Murphey
“Dear . . . I haven’t written you a note for a long time! I don’t get an opportunity to talk to you, so I’ll write the things I want to say and give them to you as a birthday bonus!
“First, I want to say, I love you! Next, I want to say, I wish I had been a more thoughtful mother and have used the opportunities I had when you were little to better advantage. I feel like I could and should have talked to you more and told you more about Jesus, and how He saved me, then perhaps you would want to know Him more, and understand your need of Him better.
“I don’t know if I ever told you, or if you ever heard how I became a Christian? First, I was just your age (a couple or three months younger) when the Lord saved me. I was saved in October before I was 22 in January. How come I got saved? Well, it was through the goodness and mercy of God!
“For many months, even for several years, there were times when I was so restless and dissatisfied. I thought if I had this or that, or if I could do this or that, or we had more money, that was what I needed. I can’t describe those times of discontent and restlessness, but looking back now I know it was the cry of my soul for God. It is at times like these the Devil sometimes takes advantage and leads souls deeper into sin. Sin only drags people down and gets them more dissatisfied and their lives in a bigger mess. Remember, sin destroys and corrupts! Only God can lift you up and give you a good life and peace.
“As time went on I began to realize I wasn’t living right, and I really did want to. I didn’t want to get mad, (which I did; I had a temper!) I didn’t want to hate anyone, I wanted to tell the truth, and I wanted to be a good mother. I realized I couldn’t help myself, because I really tried. I quit reading magazines that were not good. I tried to tell the truth and control my anger, but always I would fail to do the things I thought I should. Then I would be sorry, and sometimes I cried at night when my little children were asleep because I hadn’t been patient with them through the day.
“Remember, I was ignorant. I didn’t know anyone who was really a Christian, and though I had gone to church some, I knew some of the church people weren’t any better than I was, and I didn’t believe they could help me. I know God sent His Holy Spirit to talk to me and convict me of my sins, and put a hungering and thirsting in my soul after righteousness. I really wanted to live right! I felt dissatisfied towards Ed [my husband] thinking, ‘Now if he would just take me to the movies and other places, that would make me feel better.’ These things wouldn’t have helped me at all; probably made me worse.
“But for the grace of God we might have become alcoholics. Ed had a friend he liked real well at the bus station. They made plans for this bus driver to bring his wife and come to our house. The man was going to bring whiskey (or something) for mixed drinks. I went to the store and bought ginger ale as a mixer. We were all ready, only they didn’t come! (I thank God they didn’t.) Who knows where that might have led! “Anyway, as time went on, and I had this struggle in my heart, longing for peace and finding none, getting so miserable that when I got up in the morning I would wish it were night so I could go to sleep and not feel the way I did, I thought about my soul. I remember in particular one special day when I was in my kitchen and I was thinking, ‘Surely, if I died I wouldn’t go to hell, because there are so many who are worse than I am.’ It seemed a voice spoke in my heart immediately and said, ‘Yes, Thelma, you would be lost.’ “I often thought how good God was to search me out, and reveal this truth to me even speaking plainly to my heart, so that I would understand what it was I needed. He knew my ignorance and had mercy on me, and in His goodness led me to repentance.
“After this I began to feel I would give my very life for peace. I tried to pray at home, and know I could have gotten saved at home if I had only understood the conditions. At last God worked in such a way to send someone who could tell me that I could know I was saved. I had often wondered if it was possible to know. “Mom had asthma real bad, and I loved Mom, and felt like she was going to die. The doctor had given her so many shots he said he was afraid to give her any more, and I just knew she would die if she didn’t have something. A lady across the street from Mom was attending the Church of God where Sis. Potts was pastor, and she came over and told us they believed in healing and asked if we wanted them to pray for Mom. I grasped at that because somehow I believed God could help Mom. The lady went after Sis. Potts and she came to pray for Mom.
“When Sis. Potts came I was in the backyard, either hanging out clothes or taking them down, and Grandma Blessing came to the upstairs window and said, ‘Thelma, Mrs. Potts is here.’ I remember the sinking sensation I had, the dread somehow, yet because I thought I should, I went in to see her. As I went into the back door and started towards the stairs, I met her coming down. I began to cry and to talk to Sis. Potts, and I told her how miserable I felt. I said, ‘Can you really know when you are a Christian?’ She told me, ‘Yes, you can know.’ That was the first person who had ever told me that.
“After that she would come to see how Mom was, and each time she would talk to me. I just loved her, and in my heart I decided as soon as Mom was able, I was going to church and go to the altar and stay there until I knew my sins were gone.
“About two weeks later, after Mom was better and I was able to go home, on a Sunday night, I asked Ed if he would keep the children so I could go to church. He did, and I went into the building with my decision made to go to the altar when the service was over. I listened to the message, and I can’t remember what it was, but they had two invitation songs: first a special song by two sisters who sang, ‘Take Up Thy Cross and Follow Me,’ then they sang ‘Softly and Tenderly Jesus is Calling.’ I decided when they sang the last chorus to the last verse, I would go, but before that a young girl came to me and said, ‘Are you a Christian?’ I shook my head ‘no’ and went to the front. I stayed at the altar and prayed earnestly. I stayed and stayed thinking I ought to shout or something, I guess. All the difference I could tell was that I felt lighter. (The burden was gone.) Finally Sis. Potts said, ‘Thelma, if you were to get killed on the way home, have you done all you could to get right with God?’ I said ‘Yes’, because in my heart I knew I truly had. I had confessed my sins and repented. All I needed to do was believe. After I said that I had done all I could, then I got up from the altar and the service was dismissed. When I got home I told Ed I had gone to the altar to get saved. In the night I awoke and began to think about going to the altar, and oh, what joy flooded my soul!
“The next day I was so happy I wasn’t even hungry, but I knelt by the bed and thanked God for saving me. In the afternoon Sis. Potts came to see me and I told her how happy I was. Grandma S. came and I told her the Lord had saved me. I told my neighbor, ‘This is the happiest day of my life,’ and why. “I could hardly wait for Wednesday night to come so I could go to prayer meeting. You see, I was completely changed, ‘made a new creature in Christ Jesus,’ or ‘born again’ as Jesus told Nicodemus he must be in St. John the third chapter. ‘Old things passed away, and all things became new.’ I felt like everything was new. I no longer loved the things I had before (worldly music, etc.). I loved to go to church. I loved the saints (Christians) and wanted to be in every service. I loved the songs we sang at church. My whole life was turned around. I found power to live above sin. I didn’t have to tell any more lies and I didn’t get mad. I loved everybody and wanted to help anyone else find this wonderful salvation. (However, not very many were interested in it or believed they needed it.) I have never been the same Thelma since Jesus saved me. I became a better wife and mother, neighbor, and friend. Oh! I thank God for what He did for me!
“I want to tell you it is good to be a Christian. It isn’t dull and hard. It is the way of the transgressor (sinner) that is hard. Sin just gets you into trouble and destroys and corrupts. Jesus came to give you the more abundant life. I didn’t realize I hadn’t begun to live until I found God, then I found ‘newness of life’, and peace, and joy I had never known before, and a satisfying life. No matter what you ever gain of this world’s goods, you will never be satisfied without God. No matter where you go, or what you have, or what you do, there will always be something missing until you find God. . . .
“Remember, God loves you. Jesus died for you. It isn’t His will that you perish. “I love you. Mom”
