Today I want to introduce you to someone. This person is acquainted with grief. He knows what it is like to experience loss. He has been through it. Now I know what you’re thinking, you’re thinking I am going to talk about Jesus and will relate it back to having a Savior who is intimately familiar with pain, and gets what you are going through. Nope, although that is true and would be a good article.
Today I want to introduce you to Horatio Spafford. Horatio was a successful attorney and real estate investor who lost a fortune in the Chicago fire of 1871. Around the same time, his four year old son died of scarlet fever.
Horatio thought it would be good for his family to get away for a while, so he sent his wife and four daughters on a ship to England, where he planned on joining them later. As his family was traveling, the ship was involved in a collision and sunk. Horatio’s daughters perished in the accident.
As Horatio travelled to meet his wife, he penned the words to the 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 hast taught me to say
It is well, it is well with my soul.
If you didn’t know the back story, this is one of those hymns that you would think was written by someone who had an easy life and never experienced loss or hard times.
Source: Special Needs Parenting- Key Ministry
