It Is Well With My Soul

There is an old hymn called "It is well with my soul".  I think we spend a large portion of our lives looking for that place where we can say "It is well with my soul".  I feel that way today and I was kind of singing this to myself as I showered this morning and wondered what the background to the song was.  It is very interesting, actually.

The song was written by Horatio G Spafford in 1873. (I kid you not, that was his name.)  Here is the synopsis of when and why he wrote it (taken from http://www.cyberhymnal.org/htm/i/t/i/itiswell.htm).

"This hymn was writ­ten af­ter two ma­jor trau­mas in Spaf­ford’s life. The first was the great Chi­ca­go Fire of Oc­to­ber 1871, which ru­ined him fi­nan­cial­ly (he had been a weal­thy bus­i­ness­man). Short­ly af­ter, while cross­ing the At­lan­tic, all four of Spaf­ford’s daugh­ters died in a col­li­sion with an­o­ther ship. Spaf­ford’s wife Anna sur­vived and sent him the now fa­mous tel­e­gram, “Saved alone.” Sev­er­al weeks lat­er, as Spaf­ford’s own ship passed near the spot where his daugh­ters died, the Ho­ly Spir­it in­spired these words. They speak to the eter­nal hope that all be­liev­ers have, no mat­ter what pain and grief be­fall them on earth."

The words to the song and a midi file of the music can also be found at that site.  The part I remembered and was singing though was:

"When peace, like a river, attendeth my way,
When sorrows like sea billows roll;
Whatever my lot, Thou has taught me to say,
It is well, it is well, with my soul.

Refrain

It is well, with my soul,
It is well, with my soul,
It is well, it is well, with my soul."

I found myself wondering as I read the history of the creation of the song, if Horatio could lose four children and all his finances, who am I to not feel that it is well with my soul when these simple trials fall upon me?   I know that is what God has taught me and I should follow His guidance.  It IS well with my soul and I am once again ready for the next chemo treatment in two days.  It feels like my white and red cells have rejuvenated, the nausea is gone, the mouth sores are healing, and my energy is up.  It IS well with my body and soul.

By Grace Alone