Why Write a Biography of Biddy Chambers?
Biddy Chambers 1935 (Wheaton College Special Collections Library)
As I’ve spent the better part of the last two years researching and writing a biography of Biddy Chambers, I’ve often been asked why?
Or, who was she?
People who know of or have read My Utmost for His Highest usually nod when I mention Biddy was Mrs. Oswald Chambers.
Often their eyebrows rise when I explain Biddy compiled and published My Utmost for His Highest ten years after Oswald died.
Indeed, Oswald published only three books before his 1917 death.
The rest of the thirty books published after his death were all compiled, edited and produced by Biddy Chambers.
Her name does not appear anywhere in the books beyond an occasional introduction from “B.C.”
What makes her worthy of a biography?
I believe Biddy’s life has many examples and ideas to offer to modern Christians.
Her faith and willingness to put action behind it.
Biddy Chambers exhibited a solid Christian faith in the face of extreme challenges:
*She sailed alone to America to work at a time when that wasn’t common.
*Biddy married a penniless Oswald when he had no “prospects.” (His description)
*With no prior training, she managed a Bible Training College for four years, freeing her husband to teach.
She gave birth while running a college. (Wheaton College)
*She supported Oswald when he left safe London to serve in Egypt during a war.
*With a two year-old child, Biddy sailed to Egypt in the midst of U-boat attacks to join her husband in ministry.
*With little assistance beyond her friend Mary, Biddy provided hospitality to an entire camp of soldiers on the edge of Cairo’s desert with primitive housekeeping tools.
*She traveled further up the road to Ismailia camp where she and Mary served tea to 400 men the day after they arrived. They continued the tradition for the entire summer.
Her choice not to despair
Oswald’s death left Biddy a penniless widow with a four year-old, living in the middle of an ANZAC camp in Egypt during a World War.
She did not despair; she chose to remain and supervised the YMCA mission camp at Zeitoun. (The YMCA’s leader recognized her abilities and asked her to stay).
Biddy used her time in Egypt to publish her husband’s ideas for the benefit of the soldiers. The YMCA produced 10,000 copies of the pamphlets monthly until the end of the war.
She returned to an England reeling from the war and turned her back when offered a secure position at another Bible Training college.
Knowing her calling was to produce Oswald’s books, she chose to do the work in poverty–without a publisher.
She founded and led a boutique publishing house for 49 years–producing all her husband’s books.
When she needed money, Biddy opened a boarding house for Oxford students while she typed away on what ultimately became My Utmost for His Highest.
Biddy welcomed interruptions, cared for ailing family members, moved to London and survived the blitz of yet another war.
Biddy and Kathleen; circa 1923 (Wheaton College)
Her singleness
As Biddy never remarried, she sets an example for a rich single life.
She worked, raised a child as a single parent, continued ministering to missionaries and cultivated her intellectual life.
Many women, including Christian women, could use an example of how to life an authentic and full life without a husband.
Her spiritual example
Daughter Kathleen said her mother never complained at the twists and turns of her life.
Through all her challenges, she maintained a practical and cheery disposition to follow God’s leading in her life.
Biddy’s faith remained practical and strong. We all could learn from that example.
Evangelical Christianity in 2017 sags under the onslaughts of hypocrisy, weak faith disciplines and disappointments.
Biddy’s life can provide an example of how to continue forward despite circumstances—living out the truths her husband preached and she provided to the reading world.
The world looks as crazy in 2017 as it did in 1917. Christians are faced with different challenges than Biddy, but the need to remain faithful to God remains essential.
Biddy’s life story can provide examples of how to live your life to God’s highest, no matter the circumstances.
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Interested in Oswald and Biddy Chambers? I’ll be telling stories about the amazing ways God led me through the writing of two books about them, starting in my January newsletter–one story a month for 2017, free.
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