LETTIE COWMAN (1870-1960)

Charles and Lettie Cowman worked as missionaries
in China and Japan from 1901-1917, then had to return
to the U.S. because of Charles' poor health.
Lettie had to then care for her husband for six
years, before he died. She wrote the treasured
devotional book "Streams in the Desert" by compiling sermons, writings, and poems that meant so much to them during those six years. She also wrote seven other books and suffered physically herself. She went on to serve God in many other ways. In 1960, she went to be with her Lord, who she faithfully served.

Poems by Lettie Cowman:
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God hath His mountains bleak and bare,
      
Where He doth bid us rest awhile;
      
Crags where we breathe a purer air, 
      
Lone peaks that catch the day's first smile.
"God hath His deserts broad and brown-      
A solitude-a sea of sand,
      
Where He doth let heaven's curtain down, 
      
Unknit by His Almighty hand.

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PUT GOD IN THE MORNING
In the early morning hours,

'Twixt the night and day,

While from earth the darkness passes

Silently away;

Then 'tis sweet to talk with Jesus

In thy chamber still

For the coming day and duties

Ask to know His will.

Then He'll lead the way before you,

Mountains laying low;

Making desert places blossom,

Sweetening Marah's flow.

Would you know this life of triumph,

Victory all the way?

Then put God in the beginning

Of each coming day.
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It matters not how the battle goes,
The day how long;
Faint not! Fight on!
Tomorrow comes the song!
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I cannot know why suddenly the storm 
      
Should rage so fiercely round me in its wrath; 
      
But this I know--God watches all my path, 
      
And I can trust.
I may not draw aside the mystic veil 
      
That hides the unknown future from my sight, 
      
Nor know if for me waits the dark or light; 
      
But I can trust.
I have no power to look across the tide, 
      
To see while here the land beyond the river; 
      
But this I know--I shall be God's forever; 
      
So I can trust.
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A Quote from Lettie:
"Through the leaves of every trial there are chinks of light to shine through. Thorns do not prick you unless you lean against them, and not one touches without His knowledge. The words that hurt you, the letter which gave you pain, the cruel wound of your dearest friend, shortness of money–are all known to Him, who sympathizes as none else can and watches to see, if, through all, you will dare to trust Him wholly."

LETTIE COWMAN (1870-1960)