It is well with my soul.
Posted by Jimmy | | Posted on 7:40 PM
One of my goals recently has been to try to be a little more transparent person. Not necessarily show more emotion even though, if you know me, I pretty much wear my emotions on my sleeve. Basically I'm try not to be a jerk and to be more friendly. I am a conservative christian and was raised as such by my parents but recently haven't made much effort to go to church on Sunday mornings as the golf course would always find it's way between the church and myself.
Today was a rainy day and I actually found myself at Oak Park Christian Center for the morning service. I had no illusions on how the day would go having grown up in a church setting for quite a while I am used to church services and their format. I was greeted with a surprise today. Of all the songs that were and could have been sung, there was one verse and chorus that caught my ear. A hymn by Horatio G Spafford. I could help but feel a few tears form under my eye.
It is well, It is well, with my soul
It was my mother's favorite hymn and I found myself being very nostalgic 11 years after she passed away.
Here is the backdrop of the hymn taken from Wikipedia:
This hymn was written after several traumatic events in Spafford’s life. The first
was the death of his only son in 1871 at the age of four, shortly followed by
the great Chicago Fire which ruined him financially (he had been a successful
lawyer). Then in 1873, he had planned to travel to Europe with his family on
the SS Ville du Havre, but sent the family ahead while he was delayed on
business concerning zoning problems following the Great Chicago Fire. While
crossing the Atlantic, the ship sank rapidly after a collision with a sailing ship,
the Loch Earn, and all four of Spafford's daughters died. His wife Anna survived
and sent him the now famous telegram "Saved alone." Shortly afterwards, as
Spafford traveled to meet his grieving wife, he was inspired to write these
words as his ship passed near where his daughters had died.
How many people this song has touched? How many lives has this song changed? It reminds me of how God can create something beautiful out of what we perceive as great tragedy. I can't begin to imagine how Spafford felt then. What he went through dwarfs anything that I've ever gone through but it only took one verse and one chorus to remind me of it.
Today was a rainy day and I actually found myself at Oak Park Christian Center for the morning service. I had no illusions on how the day would go having grown up in a church setting for quite a while I am used to church services and their format. I was greeted with a surprise today. Of all the songs that were and could have been sung, there was one verse and chorus that caught my ear. A hymn by Horatio G Spafford. I could help but feel a few tears form under my eye.
- My sin, oh, the bliss 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!
It is well, It is well, with my soul
It was my mother's favorite hymn and I found myself being very nostalgic 11 years after she passed away.
Here is the backdrop of the hymn taken from Wikipedia:
This hymn was written after several traumatic events in Spafford’s life. The first
was the death of his only son in 1871 at the age of four, shortly followed by
the great Chicago Fire which ruined him financially (he had been a successful
lawyer). Then in 1873, he had planned to travel to Europe with his family on
the SS Ville du Havre, but sent the family ahead while he was delayed on
business concerning zoning problems following the Great Chicago Fire. While
crossing the Atlantic, the ship sank rapidly after a collision with a sailing ship,
the Loch Earn, and all four of Spafford's daughters died. His wife Anna survived
and sent him the now famous telegram "Saved alone." Shortly afterwards, as
Spafford traveled to meet his grieving wife, he was inspired to write these
words as his ship passed near where his daughters had died.
How many people this song has touched? How many lives has this song changed? It reminds me of how God can create something beautiful out of what we perceive as great tragedy. I can't begin to imagine how Spafford felt then. What he went through dwarfs anything that I've ever gone through but it only took one verse and one chorus to remind me of it.
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