Streams in the Desert Devotional Bible - Book Review

When I picked up Streams in the Desert, by L.B. Cowman at a library book sale a few years ago, I had never heard of it.  After after I fell in love with what I thought was an obscure little devotional book, I discovered it was actually a best seller.  L.B. Cowman was a missionary with her husband overseas until his health declined. Then they returned to the United States where she took care of him for six years until he died.  She collected the writings that satisfied her thirst in those dry, desolate days.  Those writings were compiled into a book and first published in 1925.

Zondervan has just released the Streams in the Desert devotional Bible in the NIV translation.  The daily devotional readings are placed within the Bible, each near the Scripture verse or passage that is key to the subject of the day.  The editor, Jim Reimann, added some features such as references to every Scripture quote, which enable the reader to easily look it up in this Bible within its context.  At the bottom of the page of each reading, he provides the page number to find the next devotional reading.  In the back of the book, he provides a subject index for finding a daily devotion in the topic of interest.

At first I thought it was easier just to have the devotional book separate from the Bible, but the further along I traveled through the Bible, the more I appreciated having it compiled in one book.  I could use the devotional readings to pace my way through the Bible, incorporating Bible reading with it.  This is not a study Bible, just a devotional Bible, so no historical or exegetical explanations are provided.  However, I did enjoy being able to see the devotional’s Scripture references within its biblical context.  

I was provided a complimentary copy of this book from Zondervan in exchange for my honest review. 

When the Wind Throws Us Off Course

"God speaks in the language you know best - not through your ears but through your circumstances." -- Oswald Chambers

Sometimes we are smoothly sailing along, when suddenly, we are knocked off course by a strong gale, taking us by surprise.  We struggle to get our bearings and recover our sense of direction as we realize it isn't letting up.  

The circumstance that slams unexpectedly into our lives demands a response.  Do we throw up our hands and let it take us wherever it wants and conquer us? Or do we fight it? Or do we let God use it to our advantage?  

Just as a skilled sailor can use a headwind to carry  him forward by using its impelling power to follow a zigzag course, it is possible for us in our spiritual life, through the victorious grace of God, to turn completely around the things that seem most unfriendly and unfavorable.  Then we will be able to say continually, "What has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel." (Philippians 1:12). -- Streams in the Desert, L.B. Cowman, page 30.

God will give us what we need to not just face it, but turnaround the loss into gain if we turn to Him.

Sips from Streams in the Desert

New challenges erupted into our lives this week as my friends Grace & Faith and I read from the September 8-15 in Streams in the Desert.  Two of us faced or are facing results from medical tests that have the potential to be ominous.  My grandma, my last living grandparent, was also diagnosed with ovarian cancer at age 89.  Then throw in the daily challenges (and joys) that come with raising teenagers and preschoolers along with the mix of strained extended family relationships, we find ourselves leaning on God begging Him to lift us above our circumstances and to quench our thirst with His love and peace.

I don’t want to live a shallow life directed by my own impulses, moods, and circumstances. I don’t want a spirit of hastiness, nor a spirit of complaining and criticism.  I want patience, peace, and quiet submission to God’s will and way.  Yet sometimes when I need it most, it disappears as quickly as a the falling star I glimpsed early yesterday morning. 

The best way I know to do this is to begin each day on the mountain with God where we can draw strength and sweetness to prepare for the tasks of the day – planned or unplanned. It is there that we can draw the peacefulness to accompany the nagging worries and pettiness of daily life. It is there that He lifts me up to peek into the quietness of eternity.  It is there that the purpose of God becomes my primary purpose. Then I can move steadily ahead in the face of circumstances, even rise above them to see the future where sorrows, seeming defeat, and failure will be reversed. 

Jesus draws me close in order to mature my wisdom, deepen my peace, increase my courage, and boost my power. All this He does so that through the very experience that is so painful and distressing to me, I will be of greater use to others and give greater glory to Him.  None of it is in vain.

Why sips from streams in the desert? Click here for original post.

Kinship in Suffering: Sips from Desert Streams

Yesterday way my 43^rd birthday.   My two precious friends from high school share their birthdays within a few weeks of mine, and we have a 25-year tradition of celebrating together, especially recently since we are no longer scattered across the Midwest and can easily gather in the hometown where we met.  To protect their privacy, I am going to call them Faith and Grace.

The year 2013 has been difficult for all three of us in different, multiple ways - raising teenagers, family tensions, stress, difficulties in the workplace, sickness, death.  Faith and Grace were both at my side immediately upon hearing of my husband’s heart attack, even as they were both facing crises of their own that very day.  Our kinship has deepened on our desert journeys this year, and though we would sometimes rather life was peachy, we can’t deny that trials has strengthened our bonds.   

Sometimes it has felt like a desert journey, leaving us feeling parched, desperate for refreshment and strength from Jesus.  Grace, who is also my faithful blog reader, had been exchanging encouragement and quotes from her devotional time as she has plodded through the driest desert of her life thus far.   

During this desert time of our lives, we discovered a month ago that we had been drawing refreshment from the same 'obscure' devotional book.  I picked my copy up at a book sale (fill a bag for $5) and discovered in January this year that I had picked up a treasure after reading the first few pages.  She found her copy among her late mother-in-law’s prayer journals earlier this year.  When we finally shared the name of the devotional book we had been reading from, she couldn’t believe it could possibly be the same one.  We laughed with delight after I read a page to her over the phone to prove we had been reading from the same book for the last six months or so.  Coincidence?

Faith lost her mother this year and is grieving, unable to open her Bible, truly a weary desert traveler.  When she heard of the encouragement we had found in this little book, she thought it might be a good place to begin to draw nearer to Jesus in this season of suffering.  So we gave her a copy for her birthday gift.

It turns out that this little book, which was obscure to us, is actually a bestseller.  Streams in the Desert, by L.B. Cowman, was first published in 1925 and is a compilation of her favorite writings.  She was a missionary with her husband overseas until his health declined. Then they returned to the United States where she took care of him until he died six years later.  She collected the writings that satisfied her thirst in the dry, desolate days.

Faith and Grace asked that I send a snippet of the theme of the day’s reading to help us easily remember it and keep our bearings on our daily sojourns. I’m going to attempt to collect a few drops from the sparkling clear river of wisdom and encouragement by summarizing it into a concise, simple statement that we can carry along through the desert for sips of nourishment.  As we dialogue, I hope to post periodically along this journey that I will call “Sips from the Desert Stream” as we search for joy in God’s provision and purpose in the trials and sufferings of life.