Shelley Ramsey, It Is Well With My Soul

It Is Well With My Soul

Just before the 1871 Great Chicago Fire burned Horatio Spafford’s business investments, he watched pneumonia claim the life of his four-year-old son. To help this grieving family cope with their tragedies, family friend Dwight L. Moody suggested that Horatio, his wife Anna, and his four daughters, Tanetta (age 11), Elizabeth (9), Margaret Lee (5), and Annie (2) take a trip to England to mourn.

Staying behind to finish some business, Horatio sent his wife and four girls to England, planning to join them later. Shortly after their departure, Horatio received a haunting telegram from his wife.

It simply yet painfully stated, “Saved alone, what shall I do?”

Horatio learned that the ship, Ville Du Havre, which carried his family across the Atlantic, struck an iron sailing vessel and sank. All four of his daughters drowned. He left America and rushed to his wife in England. En route, the Captain informed him that they were nearing the location where his four little girls lost their lives. It was then that Horatio penned these powerful words:

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

Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come,
Let this blest assurance control,
That Christ hath regarded my helpless estate,
And hath shed His own blood for my soul.

These are not the words of the next American Idol hoping to cut the latest contemporary Christian hit. These are the words of an utterly broken man lamenting to his almighty, all-loving God.

I understand Mr. Spafford’s rawness and find hope and comfort there. Sadly, far too many of us know the pain of burying a child or children. This amazing man paved the way for those of us to come.

Will you sing it with me?

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