Have you ever been to something or were doing something and in the end said, “well that was a disaster!” I know what we mean by that, it did not go as planned or did not work or didn’t turn out very good. I guess that is a disaster of sorts, but in truth, is it really a disaster?
On the wall of my study hangs a wall hanging of the hymn, “It is well with my soul”, written by Horatio Spafford in the 1800s. The story of this hymn is well known but I think only in part. He wrote the hymn after the death of his four daughters in a tragedy at sea, one in which only his wife survived. That is disaster enough but what is not so well known is that he had lost a 4 year old son to scarlet fever before this and would lose another 3 year old son to scarlet fever after this disaster.
Even more, he was a prominent lawyer in Chicago and had large land holdings across the city, most of which were lost in the great Chicago fire. Now, that can easily be called a disastrous life and you would not be wrong. What is more, he died at age 60 himself. Through it all, he never gave up, never quit, never gave in to tragedy, to disaster.
I love this hymn all the more knowing the whole history of this man’s life. I am not sure I could survive so many broken heart experiences, one after the other
I believe that Wesley understood this when he encouraged his “methodist” church members to meet in small groups and to have as their soul topic this question: “how is it with your spirit [soul]?” How is it with your spirit today?
TMM