Horatio Spafford 
(1828-1888)
“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.' "
—Horatio G. Spafford after his four daughters were lost at sea.
More Online Resources
"It Is Well with My Soul" at NetHymnal
In the great Chicago fire of 1871 attorney Horatio G. Spafford and his family lost most of their wealth and personal property. Earlier they had lost their only son.
In 1874 his wife Anna and their four daughters left for England on the French ship Villa de Havre. As they approached the coast of Ireland, the ship collided with another ship and sank and 226 people died, including the Spaffords’ four daughters.
Anna sent a terse cable to her husband, “saved alone.”
Several weeks later, as he traveled to England to comfort his wife, he passed the place where the tragedy had occurred and God gave him a song that still encourages people today.
He remembered Romans 8:28, “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose” and wrote the words to “It Is Well with My Soul.”
Throughout your life you are in the midst of an eternal battle of the soul against the spirit. The devil wants to keep you fleshly and hopeless, focused on your problems and trials. He wants to dash your hopes that God still cares for you regardless of how things look.
Sometimes tragic experiences like what happened to the Spaffords will seem so devastating that your soul—your mind, will, and emotions—fight against your hope.
Take control until your soul is healed and well.
Reality is not remaining hopeless when times get hard. Reality is knowing that all things work together for good for those who love God.
"It Is Well with My Soul" by Horatio Spafford
“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.’
“Though Satan should buffet, tho’ trials should come,
Let this blest assurance control,
That Christ has regarded my helpless estate,
And hath shed His own blood for 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.
“And, Lord haste the day when the faith shall be sight,
The clouds be rolled back as a scroll,
The trump shall resound and the Lord shall descend,
‘Even so’—it is well with my soul.
“It is well with my soul,
It is well, it is well with my soul.”
