Oasis

"I walked a mile with Pleasure,

She chattered all the way;

But left me none the wiser

For all she had to say.

"I walked a mile with Sorrow,

And ne'er a word said she;

But, oh, the things I learned from her

When sorrow walked with me."

This poem is the ending to the devotional for September 19 in a devotional book of mine by Mrs. Charles E. Cowman. I'll tell you the name of the book shortly. This is my second copy of the book. The first was bought sometime between 1984-1988. I bought the original at a second hand shop. It had a devotional for every day of the year. Little did I know when I bought the book that it would be a lifeline for me for three years.

You see, when I bought the first copy, I was in a desert. I had no church to go to of my faith. Oh, there was one where I was but I had to leave for reasons I won't go into here. Let's just say it was a lot like David's situation with Saul. He ran for his life. I ran for my soul.

What is interesting is that the original copyright of this book is 1925. I didn't know one thing about her. I didn't know where she lived, who her family was, where she came from, if she was still alive, nor what religion she professed. All I knew then was that Mrs. Cowman wrote a book in 1925 that ended up on a table in a second hand book store in a very small town in South Carolina in the late 1980's. It was waiting for me.

For nearly three years Mrs. Cowman's stories and poems contained answers to tormenting questions. Innumerable times I found comfort when I became overwhelmed. I can remember times when I would read the day's devotion and weep because it was exactly what I needed at that moment. It soothed a parched spirit as well as any sermon I have ever heard although each day's reading is only one page.

You see, I was alone in a desert place. I had no church family to call, my spouse was not living for God, my children were small. I had not one single Christian friend in that city or state. Every person dear to me aside from my husband and two children were hundreds of miles away in Georgia, Alabama and Florida. A desert place, oh, you have no idea what a desert place. There came a point in time that I began to hear preaching in my sleep. I actually wrote a couple of the sermons down! Even I was shocked by that.

I can't tell you everything about that time because it is far too painful. I can tell you I came out of that desert a very different woman than the one who went in, partly because of Mrs. Cowman. God used an odd devotional by an unknown author to tell me he heard me and was in the desert, right next to me, every minute of every day. In the midst of the heartache, whether I was lonely, or hungry, or thirsty, in a dry and barren land, he was there.

Oh, the name of the book? "Streams in the Desert"