YT Book Review + Creating Series: The Beautiful Woman Behind Streams in the Desert

I don't remember exactly how old I was when Grandma gave me the maroon-colored devotional with its crisp pages and old, early 19th century language.

It wasn't unusual for Grandma to get me books. Grandma loved to shop in thrift stores. She and Great Aunt Val went every Tuesday to the same three thrift stores in Stockton, CA and found treasures galore.

We didn't receive new gifts from my paternal grandparents. Grandma was economical, probably one of the most economical people I've ever met. Also, at the time, there were at least a dozen grandchildren! I suppose her economy was a result of growing up influenced by the depression, but I think Grandma really enjoyed a bargain.

But just because she was thrifty did not mean she lacked generosity. Grandma had a very generous heart, especially at Christmas time. As we gathered in Grandma and Grandpa's home, all of us grandchildren received gifts, usually a stack of books.

Grandma would find out what kinds of books we liked – mysteries, adventures, animal stories, biographies and so forth and collect them for us throughout the year.

One year Grandma gave me Streams in the Desert by Mrs. Charles E. Cowman. I'm not sure what prompted it, but I think Grandma enjoyed it and thought I would too.

It sat on my shelf for a few years until, as a tween, probably eleven or twelve, it caught my eye as the new year started. I noticed there was a short entry for every day of the year. I started to read.

I'm bit of a nosy person (I suppose 'curious' is a more positive spin on that, though my mother might say otherwise) and I was curious about Lettie Cowman.
What kind of a woman was Mrs. L.B. Cowman? What kind of storms did she go through that she could compile a book that pierces one's heart with such effectiveness?

To my surprise and delight, Michelle Ule, a biographer and novelist, released a biography of Mrs. Lettie Cowman in 2023.

When the book arrived, it was opened and read immediately. There were several times when I shook my head in disbelief. Where had this fountain of joy sprung up from? Her life had enough trials to justify locking herself in her home and not coming out, ever!

Significant setbacks in life, financial challenges and devastation, continuous physical challenges and health problems, giving up every comfort and luxury to bring the message of the gospel to Japan, exhausting world travel (it was not luxurious!) ,thwarted dreams in her work with her husband in Asia, years caring for her husband and his failing health, years of unanswered prayers, the premature death of her husband.

And yet, there is joy and hope and peace in Mrs. Cowman's life.

She loved her husband dearly. Such was her devotion to him that she preferred to be called and known as Mrs. C.E. (Charles E.) Cowman than by her own name of Lettie. Most of her book titles are "Mrs. C.E. Cowman."

Charles and Lettie met when they were teenagers. Aware of his inability to provide for Lettie (she came from a well-to-do family and he did not), Charles knew he needed to "make something of himself" to win her parents approval. He asked Lettie to wait seven years for him to return so they could get married.

Lettie agreed.

After they married, they were rarely apart. Their work and travels were done together. They shared a vision for their life, first as an up-and-coming couple in Chicago and then, as a dedicated couple moving to Japan to set up the first Bible school.

But Lettie never saw herself as an author. She saw herself as Charles wife and help-meet, assisting him in the vision he had.

Authorship came later as circumstances forced Lettie and Charles to move from expansive travel, speaking, and leading around the world to a small home in Los Angelas. There, they waited, confined to a room, praying desperately for Charles' healing.

Mrs. Cowman needed encouraging for her own heart as well as her husband's. For seven years she cared for Charles, wondering why God did not answer their prayers and heal her husband so they could return to the good work they were doing.

That's when Streams in the Desert came together.

Lettie began collecting encouraging words, sermons, articles, and conversations and compiling them into a book. Originally, the collecting of notes, sermons, and verses was to keep their (hers and Charles') hearts encouraged. Michelle Ule shares the challenges and the back work to the book, as well as the doubts that it would sell or be wanted by anyone.

God, in his expansive vision, took Mrs. Cowman's work and used it to spread a message of perseverance in Christ through trials to millions of people.

 

Lettie wrote, "In the pathways of faith, we come to learn the Lord's thoughts are not our thoughts, nor His ways our ways. Both in the physical and spiritual realm, great pressure means great power!

(p. 105, Overflowing Faith).

How many of us have been encouraged by the words in the devotional? Lettie continually and succinctly keeps us focused on God and his grand vision. She keeps the focus on Jesus always and forever, not our circumstance or the problems or even our reactions.

We know Lettie Cowman for Streams in the Desert, but her life consisted of much more. I highly recommend reading Unshakable Faith by Michelle Ule to get the whole story!

Mrs. Lettie C.E. Cowman was a woman who loved deeply. Her love for others came from a deep love for and with God. May that be said of each of us!