It Is Well With My Soul | Songs and Everlasting Joy

It Is Well With My Soul

Is it really possible for it to be "well with my soul" when things happen that ruin plans, shorten life, hurt and upset me? Is it possible to be at peace during times like that? Perhaps an accident has taken away life as you know it. Perhaps unexpected illness has struck you or someone you love. How do we see the hand of God working together for good in our lives when these things happen?

Horatio Gates Spafford planned a trip to Europe for his wife and family, but at the last minute he had to remain at home on business so he sent them on ahead. His wife and their four daughters, aged from 18 months to 12 years, were travelling by ship when, unfortunately, their ship collided with a sailing ship and sank. Mrs Spafford was rescued but all of her children were drowned, the baby being washed from her mother's grasp. Ten days later, when the survivors were landed in Wales, she sent a cable to her anxious husband. It said, "Saved alone." Spafford sailed across the Atlantic to meet his wife. They both met with Dwight L. Moody while in England. He comforted them after their tragic loss and noted their trust and confidence in God in spite of what had happened. "It is well," they said. "The will of God be done." Two years after the tragedy, he wrote the poem.

It Is Well With My Soul

It Is Well With My Soul

Is it really possible for it to be "well with my soul" when things happen that ruin plans, shorten life, hurt and upset me? Is it possible to be at peace during times like that? Perhaps an accident has taken away life as you know it. Perhaps unexpected illness has struck you or someone you love. How do we see the hand of God working together for good in our lives when these things happen?

Horatio Gates Spafford planned a trip to Europe for his wife and family, but at the last minute he had to remain at home on business so he sent them on ahead. His wife and their four daughters, aged from 18 months to 12 years, were travelling by ship when, unfortunately, their ship collided with a sailing ship and sank. Mrs Spafford was rescued but all of her children were drowned, the baby being washed from her mother's grasp. Ten days later, when the survivors were landed in Wales, she sent a cable to her anxious husband. It said, "Saved alone." Spafford sailed across the Atlantic to meet his wife. They both met with Dwight L. Moody while in England. He comforted them after their tragic loss and noted their trust and confidence in God in spite of what had happened. "It is well," they said. "The will of God be done." Two years after the tragedy, he wrote the poem.

It Is Well With My Soul

Verse 1
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.

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

Verse 2
My sin, O the joy of this glorious thought,
My sin, not in part, but the whole.
Is nailed to the cross and I bear it no more,
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!

Verse 3
And Lord, haste that day, when my faith shall be sight,
The clouds be rolled back as a scroll,
The trump shall resound and the Lord shall descend,
Even so, it is well with my soul.