Restless The Podcast

This is Steve and welcome back to another segment of Press On. This is called Is it Well With Your Soul?

Have you ever faced trouble, heart break and tragedy that you thought there was no coming back from? From time to time you hear stories that stop you in your tracks. They leave a mark and make your own personal struggles seem small.

So it is with the the story of Horatio Spafford a successful lawyer living in Chicago during the 1870’s. Horatio was a prosperous man, a devoted husband and father, and a devout Christian. But in 1870, a series of events would turn his life inside out. It began with Horatio and Anna’s only son, Horatio Jr., died of Scarlet Fever at the tender age of four. The following year, while still mourning the loss of their son, every single one of Horatio’s investments were lost in the Great Chicago fire.

In1873 conscious of the hardship his family had suffered in the last three years he decided to take his family on a holiday to England where they would accompany his friend D.L. Moody on his next crusade. Shortly before they were to set sail, a last minute business development threatened to derail the trip. Horatio sent his wife and four children ahead and he would follow along shortly.

 Anna (his wife) and his 4 children...boarded a French ship. Four days into their trans-Atlantic journey, Horatio received the terrible news that the ship his family was on had sunk after colliding with another vessel. 

Several days later he received a message from his wife that she alone had survived and all the children were lost.   

  As soon as possible, Horatio boarded a ship to join his grieving wife. En route to England, the captain called him to the bridge and said “a careful reckoning has been made, and I believe we are now passing the very area where the Ville du Havre sunk.” According to Bertha Spafford Vester, a daughter born after the tragedy, her father penned the words to the hymn “It Is Well With My Soul” while on this journey.

When peace, like 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

 It would have seemed so easy for the Spafford’s to blame God for the tragedy’s that had besieged them but instead of running from Him they sought comfort in God.  

Horatio and Anna’s faith in God never faltered. He later wrote to Anna’s half-sister, "On Thursday last we passed over the spot where she went down in mid-ocean, the water three miles deep. But I do not think of our dear ones there. They are safe, folded, the dear lambs, and there, before very long, shall we be too. In the meantime, thanks to God, we have an opportunity to serve and praise Him for His love and mercy to us and ours. I will praise Him while I have my being. May we each one arise, leave all, and follow Him."

The tragedy’s of this world are not by the hand of God but because of the darkness of a world that has rejected Him. Yet, even in that he calls to return to Him that He may comfort our souls.

Is it well with your soul? As we close this segment listen to this beautiful hymn and if your heart is so inclined call out to the one who can comfort your soul.

It Is Well With My Soul

Song By David Baroni

A Quiet Place: Instrumental

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