Lettie was in her 50's when life imploded.
Surely something has gone amiss, surely God will fix this mess, and we'll get back to the good work we had planned out, she thought. These kinds of concerns are implied in her journals from this season of her life – pages of asking questions and pleading for solutions to painful conditions that weren't letting up.
These were supposed to be the harvest years. The glory years. The years where the work she and Charles started would culminate not only into a glorious finish, but in a season of enjoying the good work they'd planted.
Goodness knows they'd worked hard enough.
Not only had they poured out their heart and soul into their work, but as if to add salt to a wound, Charles' health took a nosedive. Specifically, his heart started failing.
"Go home or plan your funeral," was the gist of the words from the doctor to Charles and Lettie, who was always by his side.
And so, they went home.
And the work they should have been part of finished without them.
Lettie and Charles, struggling through in a small bungalow home in Los Angeles, the work of OEM continuing in Japan by their team.
They did their best to continue their part of the work from L.A. Praying and writing. Answering correspondence. More praying. Encouraging visitors.
This was a setback, a delay.
After a bit of rehab and rest, Lettie was sure Charles's heart would regain its strength and he would return to his work, his life's calling. She believed this with all her heart and might and her prayers mirrored what she believed.
But Charles didn't get better.
His heart pain increased. His ability to rest decreased. Many nights laying down to sleep was a struggle.
Lettie went back to her Bible to seek out God's promises. She scoured magazines and books for encouraging words. Her favorite authors included Charles Spurgeon and F.B. Meyer. She clipped out messages that were especially encouraging and read them to Charles. And herself. She read to herself a lot.
Lettie continued to pray. To care for Charles. To search. And to write. Her journals are filled with her concerns and cares, for Charles and herself. Why was God allowing this? Why wasn't he answering their prayers?
In the wrestling with God and searching, Lettie began to see God's providential movement in her life. Not in fixing her problems, but in being with her, guiding her through them. Lettie would not give up believing for a miracle, not only for Charles' health but for a return to the life and vision they had been in pursuit of.
As she labored over caregiving and writing, she received questions from many other people. Why was God not answering their prayers? Why were they allowed to suffer? How could
As Lettie studied, prayed, and cared for Charles, she began to see her questions were not unique to her alone. All sorts of people struggle with figuring What is God up to in the difficult and harrying seasons of life.
The absence of the answers did not mean God did not care or her own faith was lacking.
And so, Lettie began to compile the encouragement and verses she'd received to create a book, a small devotional.
It was a book about the love of God in the middle of the suffering and struggles of life. It was a call to continue to delight in God and his faithfulness. It was a beautiful song of hope in the darkest of nights.
With much labor, she put the book together and self-published it.
At first, it didn't make much of a splash.
But slowly, steadily Streams in the Desert began to be picked up by hundreds, then thousands, then millions of people all over the world.
Create a Life of Delight that Results in Quiet Confidence
Psalm 111 and Psalm 112 are written in an acrostic style. Each line begins with a subsequent letter of the alphabet. The Hebrew doesn't translate to English, but it does make me appreciate the skill and effort the psalmist put in to creating these two psalms.
Psalm 112 describes a pretty amazing life because the individual has become a certain kind of person.
Psalm 111 shows how to become that person – at least, in my opinion.
It is one of the many areas in the Bible that quietly but distinctly whispers, this is it. This is a life of delight, a life worth purusing.
A Life of Delight Regardless of Paint and Heartache
Lettie Cowman delighted in God. She knew she was loved and she knew whom she loved! She didn't serve or work for the Lord out of obligation, but out of love.
A person who delights is a person who loves deeply, whose attention is caught up in what they are looking at.
Lettie's delight is seen in all her books, her journals and the letters she left behind. She had no children, most likely was unable to have them (according to biographers). Her husband was taken from her decades before she died. Much of the work she longed to see and participate in Japan happened without her. She had few possessions and struggled with finances much of life.
But we don't see a bitter woman.
Instead, we have a woman of depth and delight. I imagine Streams in the Desert never would have happened if she had given in to self-pity and discouragement.
Lettie chose to have a different kind of life.
She chose to look up and out to her Savior always and forever, even in the darkest season of her life.
We can learn to have that "different kind of life," with deep roots, delight and a quiet confidence.
No matter what has happened.
No matter where you are.
No matter the outcomes.
Your life can be full of delight. You can be full of delight.
Pray & Paint through Psalm 111 & 112
In the latest installment of the Pray & Paint series, we explore the beauty of delighting in God as seen through Psalm 111 & 112. There are four painting sessions and four video devotionals. I share how I'm working and wrestling through some of these concepts as outlined in the psalms including:
• The idea that a confident heart is built on a deeply rooted life (Session 1)
• Self-focus may come naturally, but a focus that is "up and out" to God and away from ourselves may hold the key to a heart that delights (Session 2)
• What is the connection between delight and confidence? How do we move from duty to delight (throughout the sessions)
• What might the interior of a confident heart look like? What kind of flowers would grow in that heart? (Session 4).
We'll paint trees and flowers and even dive into sketching and drawing people (I keep it simple and fun!). I hope these four sessions deepen your prayers through listening, meditating on the psalms, praying through them and painting through them. Enjoy!
"Great are the works of the Lord, studied by all who delight in them." Psalm 111:2
Note: For more on the life of Lettie Cowman,I highly recommend The Vision Lives by B.H. Pearson (out of print, but it can be found on Thriftbooks.com), Missionary Warrior by Lettie B. Cowman, Handfuls of Purpose by Lettie B. Cowman, and Overflowing Faith by Michelle Ule.
