Friendship Fridays: A Devotional Friendship by Michelle Ule

Sharing a love for Biddy and Oswald Chambers, Michelle and I feel a sense of camaraderie – our friendship exemplifies what Michelle writes about as she details the friendship of two women who have shaped the devotional experience of so many. I recommend both devotional classics highly. Which kindred spirit of yours could you encourage today?

Friendships take many forms and shapes but they usually are based on a shared experience.

Lettie Cowman and Biddy Chambers’ long-distance friendship was two-fold: devotion to their late husbands and also to their glorious Lord—about whom they wanted everyone to know. Their friendship began at an American camp meeting—but grew closer when they became widows.

After accompanying her husband to Japan and founding a mission, Lettie sought encouraging readings to soothe Charles’ long dying years. In 1924, she turned those words into the devotional, Streams in the Desert.

That same year (perhaps because Lettie sent a copy of Streams), Biddy began compiling My Utmost for His Highest to honor Jesus. She wanted her husband’s insights available, believing Oswald to be “one to whose teaching men will return.”

The two women corresponded over the years but left no letters. Twelve copies of Oswald Chambers’ books—all personally signed—sat in Lettie Cowman’s library. Her address book included not only Biddy’s address but also that of missionaries trained by Oswald and Biddy Chambers.

Don’t all friends like to share fellow kindred spirits?

In addition, Lettie liked to visit friends while traveling in foreign lands. She sailed to England a dozen times during her lifetime, and a stop for tea and conversation in north London with Biddy would be pure pleasure.

Their devotionals, of course, are very different—reflecting themes specific to them both. Biddy used her years of short-handing Oswald’s messages to craft a devotional focused on Christ in many forms: through an individual’s discipleship, surrender, guidance, prayer, intersessions, and faithfulness.

Lettie, in contrast, compiled messages of encouragement, grief, prayer, and consolation, turning to the Bible and Christ for answers.

They both wrote from personal wisdom based on their long years of Bible study and sacrifice to the God they loved.

Who better could understand the publishing and personal pressures of decision-making without a husband, but with the Master of the Universe as their guide?

They may not have visited often, but through letters and books, Lettie and Biddy’s friendship suited and blessed them both.

Michelle Ule is the biographer of both Lettie Cowman and Biddy Chambers, as well as an author of historical fiction, and a long-time blogger. Learn more at www.michelleule.com.

Explore friendship with Jesus in Transforming Love. Find it – including a free copy of the introduction and first chapter – here.