And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. _{Philippians 4:7}

“It Is Well With My Soul.” It is a deceptive song, in part because is sounds like a message that that is comes from some place of comfort…It is well with my soul. The trouble is that sometimes we are not well. We are broken, and the words might come as a prescriptive proclamation that might not seem so helpful in the depths of despair…

 Horatio Spafford was a lawyer and successful businessman.  In 1871 he and his wife lost their young son to pneumonia. In that same year, much of his business was burned in the great Chicago fire. In 1873 his wife Anna and his 4 daughters were crossing the Atlantic when the vessel they were on collided with another ship. All 4 daughters were lost at sea but Anna survived. When she arrived in Wales, she wired her husband the sort of short message that the recently invented telegraph made possible: “Saved alone, what shall I do?” He took the next available passage to join his wife. It is said that he wrote the song “It Is Well With My Soul” onboard the ship.

One would imagine that he was saying it was well with his soul, when it was not well with much of anything else. It is meant to be a little haunting I think.  It is sometimes a matter of putting one foot in front of the other even when things are dark and turbulent. It is a matter of understanding that no matter how bad things are, God is there with you.

God did not promise that following him would lead to an easy, successful life. Instead God promised a redemptive life!  One that offers hope when there is no apparent hope. No matter how bad it gets, it is well with your soul…