It Is Well With My Soul

On November 21, 1873, the French steamer Ville Du Havre was struck in the middle of the North Atlantic by a British iron sailing ship and sank within twelve minutes. Two hundred and twenty six people died, including the four daughters of Chicago businessman Horatio Spafford. His wife Anna was plucked unconscious from a floating mast and taken to England. Nine days later she sent her husband a telegraph saying, “Saved alone. What shall I do?”

Spafford was a successful businessman and devout Christian. He had played a significant role in the Abolitionist Movement, and his Chicago home was often the site of revival and reform meetings. He had planned a European trip for his wife’s health, but at the last minute he was detained by business and sent his family on ahead.

When he received Anna’s telegraph he quickly boarded the next ship for England.
During the passage, the captain informed him they were crossing the spot were his daughters had drowned. He recorded the event in a letter to Anna’s half-sister,

“On Thursday last we passed over the spot where she went down, in mid-ocean, the waters three miles deep. But I do not think of our dear ones there. They are safe, the dear lambs."

At that moment, Spafford began writing the well-known hymn, It Is Well With My Soul.

When peace, like a river, attendeth my way,
When sorrows like sea billows roll;
Whatever my lot, Thou has taught me to say,
It is well, it is well, with my soul.

Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come,
Let this blest assurance control,
That Christ has regarded my helpless estate,
And hath shed His own blood for my soul.

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