Biography
Lettie Burd was born on March 3, 1870, in Iowa, in a family of modest means. She grew up in the Midwest and was a quiet and thoughtful girl, with a gift for words. She was a devout young woman who attended a Methodist church. As a girl, she lost her mother and was raised by her father and relatives. She was educated in the local schools and showed an aptitude for music and writing. In 1889, she married Charles Cowman, a telegraph operator from Chicago. The two began a life together in the city and joined a church where they heard the preaching of D. L. Moody.
She and her husband shared a growing interest in missions. In 1901, they sailed to Japan and helped to found the Oriental Missionary Society in Tokyo. She served at his side as a teacher and a hostess and cared for the students and the missionaries. She was a woman of gentle manner, who held to a deep faith. She taught the young women who came to the Bible school, and she helped with the translation of hymns. She also was a leader in the work with the poor and the sick, and she was known for her warmth.
In 1917, her husband suffered a serious heart attack. He was an invalid for the next seven years, and she nursed him, cared for his needs and held the mission together. She had to leave Japan and return to the United States, where she lived with him in southern California. During those long years of waiting, she turned to the Scriptures for comfort. She collected a number of devotional readings from the Bible, from poems and from the writings of others. She wrote in a notebook the passages that sustained her in the dry and difficult time. She called her notes Streams in the Desert, to show that God can supply water in the desert places of life.
Her husband died on March 24, 1924. She was left a widow, at the age of fifty-four. She took over the leadership of the Oriental Missionary Society, and she became its president. It was a daunting task, as the mission was in debt and as she lacked experience in administration. But she took up the work with courage. She traveled widely, speaking and raising funds, and she supervised the growth of the mission. Under her leadership, it expanded into Korea, China, India and other parts of Asia, and later into Latin America and Africa. The mission continues today as OMS International.
She published Streams in the Desert in 1925, a year after her husband's death. It was a small book of daily readings, and it became a best seller. It has been translated into many languages and has sold millions of copies. It has comforted countless believers who have walked through suffering. The book is marked by its gentle tone and its trust in God in the midst of trial. She also wrote a biography of her husband, Charles E. Cowman: Missionary Warrior, and a book on prayer called Springs in the Valley.
She suffered from various illnesses, and she was often tired. She traveled until her late years, and she faced the loneliness of widowhood. She said that she had learned the secret of finding God in the desert. She was also a woman of firm views, who stood for the traditional faith. She had to deal with disputes in the mission, and some of the staff found her strict.
She died on April 17, 1960, in Los Angeles, at the age of ninety. Her life shows how sorrow may become the source of a ministry. A woman who sat by the bed of her sick husband wrote a book that has helped many to bear their own trials.