It Is Well
I have some of those oh so familiar virus risk factors we hear continually about: asthma, chronic bronchitis, and other respiratory issues. Then there’s my age. It seems I am a perfect storm for the virus just waiting for that last component to drop into place.
I haven’t thought much about it until now, I guess. Not because I am a denier. I can assure you I am quite the opposite. Quite. Most of the time I am a realist. Living life for any amount of time on this earth can do that to you.
Life experience has taught me that there are good times in life but there are also not so good (downright horrific) times that threaten to pull you under life’s cursedly crashing waves before you can catch even one breath. There can be seasons— sometimes months and years long — when you have to concentrate just to keep breathing.
But I have also learned that how you get through these times says who you are to the core of your being. And in the still of the night when you are alone thinking those thoughts you don’t dare think in the daylight, what you truly believe is undeniable.
My favorite hymn has always been, “It Is Well With My Soul”. Long before I knew the story of why the author, Horatio Spafford, wrote it, his words spoke deeply to my young soul.
Mr. Spafford was a businessman who lost a young son (to illness) and much of his financial investments in the Chicago Fire of 1871. That, in itself, would bury most people. At the very least, it wouldn’t leave them hopeful for their future.
In 1873 Mr. Spafford sent his wife and 4 daughters to England, staying behind for business reasons to meet up with them later. But their ship collided with another ship and all 4 daughters were lost. His wife’s telegraph to him: “Saved Alone”.
It is reported that this man wrote, “It Is Well With My Soul” as he crossed the ocean to bring his wife, Anna, home — more specifically as he reached the point where the ship taking the lives of his 4 daughters, went down.
I can’t begin to imagine the depths of despair. To lose all. At once. I don’t want to imagine.
What Mr. Spafford believed to the core was displayed in those moments he wrote the song that has encouraged and given hope to millions of people for so many years. He did not have to stop and think about how he should react, he simply reacted from his soul. And, his soul was well.
That did not mean he did not grieve deeply, that he did not shed many tears — that he did not question. It meant that in the still of the night he knew without a doubt what he believed. He knew his soul was safe in the hands of the One Who created he and his family. He knew that though he was separated physically from his family, they were safe.
I look at my life and wonder what my soul reaction truly is to life’s difficulties, to life in general. Do I mirror a worldly reflection of fear and panic — even negativity especially in times like these? Or do I reflect God’s image of love and hope and a wellness of my soul that can only be had by a close walk with our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ?
This crucial time of our lives will pass. Things never stay the same. Will our precious time left on earth be spent in fear and panic, of focusing on self? Or will we truly be able to say, in the still of the night, and undeniably so — “It Is Well With My Soul”?
Jackie Deems copyright 2020