155 YEARS AGO TODAY: LETTIE BURD COWMAN was born in Afton, Iowa in 1870. At 13 years of age, she met her future husband, Charles Cowman, a young telegraph operator. Six years later, on June 8, 1889, they were married in Chicago. They soon moved to Colorado for a new job but the altitude made Lettie sick and they returned to Chicago. They began attending Grace Methodist Church where they were both converted to Christianity.
Attending a special service at Moody Church they heard a sermon by A. B. Simpson, the founder of the Christian Missionary Alliance, telling of the great need to give sacrificially for the cause of Christ around the world.
In 1900, Charles felt that they should move to Japan as missionaries. There they founded the Oriental Missionary Society. along with two Japanese ministers. Acquiring some military maps from the Japanese government, they set up a strategy of distributing a Bible to every home in Japan – at that time having a population of 60 million … and THEY DID IT! But the strain of the work took its toll on Charles and his health forced them to return to the United States.
While caring for her increasingly ill husband, Lettie began writing herself a daily devotional thought to encourage her in the midst of the great difficulty of being a caretaker and the disappointment of leaving the work she loved so much. When she told a few friends about it, they said they would like to read it, too, so she printed a few copies in 1924 and thought that would be the end of it.
But it wasn’t. Demand grew. 100 years after it was first published, “Streams in the Desert” has sold multiple millions of copies and been translated into at least 15 languages. It is probably the most popular daily devotional ever written — comparable in sales to Oswald Chambers’ “My Utmost for His Highest: (which was compiled by his wife after his death). Many who wonder where God is in the midst of their suffering have found great solace in her honest writing.
After Charles’ death, Lettie continued the work they began. In the midst of her new writing career, Lettie continued serving as President of OMS — determined to carry out the same kind of ministry they began in Japan — reaching every home with the gospel of Christ. She began speaking at camp meetings and conventions, sharing her vision with anyone who would listen. She had already been to Japan, Korea, and China, and soon began to make plans to spread the vision of reaching into every home with the Gospel into India, Africa, South America, and much of Europe. She soon led a movement of scores of local missionaries working in their own villages, towns, and cities.
Lettie Cowman continued writing and speaking until her death at age 90, on Easter Sunday, 1960. She was one plucky lady and we honor her today. 
Ruthie Oberg 