It Is Well With My Soul!

My thoughts today dwell on the hymn, It Is Well With My Soul. It’s my 62nd birthday. A great day to celebrate my life and all the wonderful things God has done for me. I recently completed a scripture garden in my backyard. It’s filled with plants, stones, an angel statue and a welcome garden flag. The majority of the stones in this garden have scripture printed on them. Some single scriptures like Mark 11:23-24, others are combined in groups to create the basic theme of the scripture, Galatians 5:22-23 (Fruits of the Spirit).

One of the stones I created for the garden has the title of this hymn, It Is Well With My Soul. I have been thinking about this hymn a lot lately. I can say without a doubt it is well with my soul, but can you?  Do you know the story behind the hymn? The story goes like this. This gentleman, Horatio Spafford, was a rather wealthy businessman that lived in Chicago in the mid-1800’s. He was a married man with 5 children.  In 1871, his youngest son became ill and died. Shortly after this, the great Chicago fire broke out and he was ruined financially.  Horatio and his wife, Anna, planned a trip to London with their 4 remaining children; however, at the last minute, he was unable to go with them so he sent them on ahead. Tragedy struck once again, their ship was hit by another boat and the 4 children drowned leaving only their mother alive. She sent word to Horation telling him that she alone survived.

It was during this time when on his way to meet his wife that he was informed that they were crossing the area in the ocean where the children had drowned. He penned this hymn, It Is Well With My Soul, out of an abundance of grief and a deep trust in God. The music score was by Philip Bliss and was named after the ship (Ville du Havre) on which Anna and the children were traveling when the children perished. I recently heard other versions of this story, but I will not dwell on that here.

I want you to take a moment to think about your life, your tragedies, your battles (those won and lost), and your goals. Where is your trust, your faith? Is it well with your soul?  I’ve been through the fire a time or two. I’ve fought battles which should have finished me, but I prevailed. Paul, in 2 Corinthians 11:22-27 spoke of all he went through, yet he remained strong in faith. It was well with his soul. Take time today to consider all that you’ve gone through and come out on the other side. Put your trust in the one that guarantees it will always be well with your soul no matter what the enemy throws your way. Trust me,  I speak from experience; 62 years worth of it. God bless.