God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. (Psalm 46:1)
Horatio Spafford was a wealthy Chicago lawyer with a thriving legal practice, a beautiful home, a wife, four daughters and a son. He was also a devout Christian and faithful student of the Scriptures. At the very height of his financial and professional success, Horatio and his wife Anna suffered the tragic loss of their young son from pneumonia. Shortly thereafter on October 8, 1871, the Great Chicago Fire destroyed almost every real estate investment that Spafford had.
In 1873, Spafford scheduled a boat trip to Europe in order to give his wife and daughters a much needed vacation and time to recover from the tragedy. Spafford sent his wife and daughters ahead of him while he remained in Chicago to take care of some unexpected last-minute business. His plan was to take another ship, and to join them in Europe a few days later.
About four days into the crossing of the Atlantic, the ship that Spafford’s wife and daughters were on collided with a powerful, iron-hulled Scottish ship. Suddenly, all of those on board were in grave danger. Anna hurriedly brought her four children to the deck. She knelt there with them and prayed that God would spare them if that could be His will, or to make them willing to endure whatever awaited them. Within approximately 12 minutes, their ship slipped beneath the dark waters of the Atlantic, carrying with it 226 of the passengers, including the four Spafford children.
A sailor, rowing a small boat over the spot where the ship went down, spotted a woman floating on a piece of the wreckage. It was Anna, still alive. He pulled her into the boat and they were picked up by another large vessel that, nine days later, landed them in Cardiff, Wales. From there she wired her husband a message that began, “Saved alone, what shall I do?” Mr. Spafford later framed the telegram and placed it in his office.
With a heavy heart, Spafford boarded a boat that would take him to his grieving Anna. It was on this trip—and as his boat was sailing over the very place where his daughters had drowned—that he penned the words to this now cherished hymn:
When peace with the Father attendeth my way,
Though sorrows like sea billow roll;
My heart in the joy of the Spirit doth sing:
“It is well, it is well with my soul.”
It is well with my soul,
It is well, it is well with my soul.
My sins and my sorrows are borne by the Lamb;
Not part He forgave, but the whole.
How often my heart doth His mercy behold;
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!
It is well with my soul,
It is well, it is well with my soul.
Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come,
This knowledge points me to the goal:
My Jesus for me gave His life on the cross
And hath shed His own blood for my soul.
It is well with my soul,
It is well, it is well with my soul.
I live now in Jesus, for Jesus alone,
His Spirit my life doth control.
In Him I have peace and redemption from sin;
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!
It is well with my soul,
It is well, it is well with my soul.