A Song I listened to.
It is well with my soul – David Phelps (Click the title of the song to listen)
This coming Sunday is Hymn Sunday at our church. This old hymn is one that our worship team will be singing. It’s long been a favorite of mine. Here is the back story to the song.
Horatio Spafford knew something about life’s unexpected challenges. He was a successful attorney and real estate investor who lost a fortune in the great Chicago fire of 1871. Around the same time, his beloved four-year-old son died of scarlet fever.
Thinking a vacation would do his family some good, he sent his wife and four daughters on a ship to England, planning to join them after finishing some pressing business at home. However, while crossing the Atlantic Ocean, the ship was involved in a terrible collision and sunk. More than 200 people lost their lives, including all four of Horatio Spafford’s precious daughters. His wife, Anna, survived the tragedy. Upon arriving in England, she sent a telegram to her husband that began: “Saved alone. What shall I do?”
Horatio immediately set sail for England. At one point during his voyage, the captain of the ship, aware of the tragedy that had struck the Spafford family, summoned Horatio to tell him that they were now passing over the spot where the shipwreck had occurred.
As Horatio thought about his daughters, words of comfort and hope filled his heart and mind. So he wrote them down, and they have become this well-beloved hymn:
When peace like a river, attendeth my way,
When sorrows like sea billows roll—
Whatever my lot, thou hast taught me to know
It is well; it is well with my soul.
My prayer is that each time you pass by the places of your trouble, tumult, trial, or tribulations, you’ll remember the words of this song. It is well with my soul!
A few Verses to remind you.
This week, I wanted to give you scripture that backs up the great truth: when trouble comes our way, we can say; It is Well.
“When Peace Like A River…”
Isaiah 66:12 (NKJV): Behold, I will extend peace to her like a river, And the glory of the Gentiles like a flowing stream.Then you shall feed; On her sides shall you be carried, And be dandled on her knees
“It is Well with My Soul”
1 Thessalonians 5:23–25 (NLT): 23 Now may the God of peace make you holy in every way, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless until our Lord Jesus Christ comes again. 24 God will make this happen, for he who calls you is faithful.
“And Lord, haste the day when my faith shall be sight,”
2 Corinthians 5:6–8 (NKJV): So we are always confident, knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord. 7 For we walk by faith, not by sight. 8 We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord.
1 Corinthians 13:12 (NKJV): 2 For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known
Mark 14:62 And Jesus said, “I am ; and you shall see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of power, and coming with the clouds of heaven.”
‘The trump shall resound, and the Lord shall descend,”
1 Thessalonians 4:16 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.
“Even so, it is well with my soul.”
1 Thessalonians 4:17-18 Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words.
1 Peter 1:6-7 In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials, so that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ;
A quote that challenged me.
It can be one day or day one; the choice is yours. (Unknown)
Hesitation and procrastination are the great enemies of accomplishment. We can say that we will do that one day, or we can make today the day we start taking the steps necessary to realize our dream. Then tomorrow, you can say, I may not be where I want to be, but I am not where I was yesterday.