the story behind "it is well with my soul" / 3 lessons when life doesn't make sense

I didn't grow up singing this hymn but the first time I heard " it is well with my soul" in a quiet hard season, it felt like someone had put my prayer into music.

There is a reason this 150 year old hymn still shows at funeral, hospital bedside, and late night playlist. 

It wasn't written from a mountaintop. 

It was written from a ship deck , over deep water, by a man whose health was broken.

If you you ever wondered " how do you say it is well" when nothing is well - this is for you.

The real story;

His name was Horatio g. Spafford. Chicago, 1870s , he was a lawyer, a business man, a friend of D.L moody , and a man who loved Jesus and his family deeply. From the outside , his life looked "blessed" , on the other side, 1873-1873 would undo him piece by pieces.

First came the great Chicago fire in 1871. Spafford lost nearly everything he owned in real estate. Then in 1873 , his son, 4 Year old Horatio Jr died of fever.

Hoping for healing, he planned a trip to England for his wife, so he sent Anna and the girls on the S.S ville du Havre. He would follow up in a few days.he never saw them again .

Mid- Atlantic, the ship was hit by another and sank in 12 minutes. 226 person were lost. Anna was pulled from the water alive. Thier four daughters - Annie, Maggie, tanetta and Bessie were not.

Days later, Spafford received Annie's telegram with just two words " saved alone ". He booked next ship to meet her. As his vessel passed over the approximately the place where his daughters drown, he took out pen and paper through tears he wrote:

*When peace, like a river attendeth my way 

*When sorrow like sea billow roll

* Whatever my lot ,thou has taught say 

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

He wasn't denying the pain. He was disclosing a deeper truth. Philip bliss later sent those words to music in 1876 , and since then, church has been singing them till this day.

What " it is well" means to me and you;

I have read this story a dozen times and each time it takes the same question: CAn I trust God when I cannot trace him?

Spafford lost money, a son and four daughters in under 3 years,If anyone had the right to be bitter, I was him but instead, he gave the world a song.

Lessons 

1: peace is not the same as having no problem. We often think peace means water and clear skies. Spafford's peace came while the billow rolled.

" When sorrow like sea billow roll" he named the storm first. He doesn't pretend.

For your life: you can be grieving and be grounded. You can be confused and still be held." It is well" isn't toxic positivity. It's soul deep confidence that God is with you in the boat, even when the boat is taking waters.

Scripture to hold: peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you, do not let your heart be troubled. John chapt 14 vs 21 . Jesus doesn't promise the absence of trouble. He promise his presence in it.

Lesson 

2 God can use your broken pieces to confort others:

Spafford didn't keep his pain private. He turn it into hymn. Later he and Anna move to Jerusalem and served the poor and sick, no matter their background. His worst season become a door way to ministry. I have noticed this in my own life: the people who sit with me best in grief are the ones who have been there too. Wounds, when surrendered to God, wells.

For your life: don't rush to get over it so fast that you miss what God might do through it. Your testimony might be the song someone else needs to sing next year.

Scripture to hold:

He confort us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to confort those who are in any affliction 2 Corinthians chapter 1vs 4 .

Lesson 

3 faith is a choice you make before the ending arrived.

Scripture to hold: the steadfast love of the lord never ceases, they are new every morning. Lamentations 3vs 22 - 23.

Share it with someone walking through a storm. Sometimes a hymn from 1873 is exactly the word someone needs in  2026.

 

I hope you learn from this, whether good or bad, let give God thanks , amen.