Probably my favorite song of all time was penned under great duress.

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

Horatio Spafford wrote the lyrics to “It is Well” in 1873 after great personal loss. He had prior lost a young son (and his business with it) in a massive fire in Chicago. Years later, while traveling to Europe with his children, his ship was caught in a storm and sank, his children perishing with it. As he traveled back to his grieving wife, his ship again passed the spot where his daughters were lost to the deep waters:


No pang shall be mine, for in death as in life, Thou wilt whisper Thy peace to my soul: It is well; it is well with my soul 🎵


Can you imagine the kind of strength it must take to commit to the belief that God is loving and kind, even while we are faced with such unbearable pain? Yes he was, and he did. And I will, too.


No matter what diagnosis the doctor can throw at me, or how many loved ones succumb to an early death or how dire my financial status may be, I choose to keep my gaze fixed on Christ. 


When Spafford crossed the seas and passed the spot where his own children passed away, at that very spot, is where he penned the words that would comfort generations to come. That comfort me in 2019, as this year full of pain and loss wraps up. 


No matter what comes my way; come hell or high water, even so, I will choose to say, “It is well with my soul.”