“It is well with my soul”
Mr Spafford was an attorney living in Chicago in the last century, a very wealthy Christian man with a wife and four daughters. One year it was decided that Mrs Spafford and his daughters would visit Europe. Mr Spafford took them to the seaport and saw them on board and waved his farewell to them.
Unfortunately their ship collided with another ship in mid-Atlantic and sank in a few moments. His four daughters drowned. Mrs Spafford was saved and eventually landed in France. Having done so she sent the following cable to her husband” All lost, I remain alone, what shall I do?”
In the meantime Mr Spafford had become a poor man as the result of a crash in one of the Banks. He had lost all his wealth and his possessions. His reaction to this double tragedy is found in a well known hymn that he wrote
“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!