“When peace live 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.”
The author of the hymn. Horatio Spafford penned these words following tragic events in his life. His son died in the Chicago fires in 1871. He sent his wife and four daughters ahead of him by ship to England and enroute, the ship collided with another and sank. His daughters drowned and his wife survived. She sent him a telegram with the news “Saved alone….” Horatio followed soon after and the Captain of the ship told him they were passing the spot where the collision had occurred. Here he was inspired to write the words of the hymn. They were put to music composed by Phillip Bliss with the tune being called, “Ville du Havre,” the name of the stricken vessel.
What a wonderful hymn, this is one of my favourites! Whenever I hear this hymn, sing it in Church or squawk it out loudly to myself in the car, it always has a deep meaning about having faith in God. Here this man had untold tragedy in his life yet his faith and trust in God inspired him to write his feelings in the words of the hymn.
There are two occasions in my life I would like to share here. The first is when I was going through a rather tough time having separated from my family. One wonders what is around the corner, what has happened, why, who is affected, where are my friends, how is my faith in God? I was driving from Kerang back to Maldon with my Mother and coming through Myer’s Flat. I had a tape on with Christian music and up came, “It is well with my soul.” Immediately Mum and I joined in, Mum with her beautiful alto and me with my voice sounding like an old crow calling its young. It didn’t matter, our hearts were in that moment with God and singing this as a prayer. I cannot recall the number of times I go back to this time and smile with a tear in my eye.
A few years ago I was volunteering at Gospel Radio and my time slot was 10pm to midnight on Fridays. Over the years on the program I invited Christian business people to come and be interviewed on their life and play their music. I later changed to a music format and played a wide range of Christian music. Of course “It is well…” was in the program. Every time I played the track only a few words of the first line would have been sung and the light would flash indicating a phone call. On the phone was a dear lady, Enid I will call her, would be on the other end and say how much this hymn meant to her. I began to play a little game with myself, play as many different versions I could find and vary the times, from 10pm up to midnight. Always the phone rang and there was Enid. The next week I was there I would look in the phone log for 6am Breakfast the next day and if the hymn was played there was Enid’s name listed. This hymn had deep meaning for her too and she was sharing her faith in God. I got the feeling she lived alone and Gospel Radio meant a lot to her and kept her company and I felt blessed she shared with me.
Over these past weeks we have been told to “hibernate,” “don’t go near others,” “no handshakes or hugs,” and so on. We have all wondered how long and what will be the eventual outcome. I believe there are moments when the words of this hymn, ” It is well…” will help us through, give us inspiration to hold strong our faith in God and know he is always there, in the good and in the not so good times.
Blessings. Pete