ANALYSIS/OPINION:
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.
The inspirational words of the song “It is Well With my Soul” were penned by Horatio G. Spafford in 1873 during his darkest hours.
His wife and four little daughters had embarked on a voyage from the U.S. to Europe when another vessel violently collided with their ship. As their boat began to sink, the children were separated from their mother and all four girls were engulfed in a watery grave.
Spafford learned the extent of his tremendous loss nine days later when he received a telegram from his distraught wife saying, “Saved alone, what shall I do?”
En route to Europe to reunite with her, this father experienced anguish that was almost too much for him to bear. Who could endure such sorrow?
Yet Spafford found strength in the mighty power and grace that comes only from God. It was on his voyage of grief that he wrote of the remedy freely available to all of us when we suffer: God’s supernatural peace.
My first grandchild entered the world just days ago, and I have no words to describe how perfectly precious he is. The wonder and deep fulfillment that comes from your grown child having a child of his or her own is overwhelming, and my heart is bursting with gratitude to God for our little miracle.
Baby Russell has been blessed with God-fearing, awesome parents. I pray that God will provide them with wisdom in every decision they make and will protect their hearts when times get rough. Hurt will happen. Calamity will come. This is the reality of our fallen world.
My prayer for my grandson — my little snuggle bunny of a baby — is that he will always find his identity in God, that he will live life to the full, embracing both opportunities and challenges, and that his character will always be marked by generosity and integrity.
Every child is born into uncertainty as far as what might befall them. But I pray that my grandson will always be quite certain on whom he can rely.
As I hold our baby close and sniff his little cheeks, I whisper to him that he was fashioned by the hands of God. I tell our precious child that God loves and understands him so intimately that he even knows how many fine hairs are on his tiny head.
I pray that Russ will understand at the earliest possible moment that the same God who created the universe also became a babe and ultimately paid for our sins with His life so that we might live forever. I pray that Russell will feel God pursuing a personal relationship with him and that he will embrace the vast, unconditional love of Christ.
God desires to bless each of us with his love and abiding peace — but the decision to accept it is ours alone.
Too often we needlessly suffer heartbreak to the point of despair. We were created to feel sadness and disappointment, and it is healthy to experience these emotions when our dreams are dashed or tragedy strikes. But God never intended for us to dwell in our sorrow.
Philippians 4:6-7 provides the method by which we can tap into God’s peace when our pain seems unbearable: “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
If we accept the love of Christ and follow his words, we will experience that blessed, mysterious peace Spafford wrote about. Then his testimony as reflected in the other verses of that beautiful song can be our reality too:
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.
It is well. It is well, with 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!
• Rebecca Hagelin can be reached at rebecca@rebeccahagelin.com.
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