Horatio was living a ch armed life! Success and blessing surrounded him! As an accomplished lawyer, businessman and faithful follower of Christ, he and his wife Anna, with their five young children, were living their best life!
Horatio’s long season of loss began with the Great Chicago Fire of 1871 when his fortune literally went up in flames. In the same year, when just four years old, their only son died of scarlet fever. Miraculously, Horatio turned not to despair, but to his faith in Christ. This alone saved and restored his broken heart.
In 1873, with his business affairs recovering, a grand vacation was planned to Europe. However, delayed by business matters, Horacio sent his family ahead, promising to join them as soon as he could.
On November 22, the ocean liner S.S. Ville du Havre collided with an iron sailing vessel on the dark Atlantic Ocean; and of the 313 passengers, 226 perished in the 12 minutes it took for their ship to sink. All four of their precious little girls drowned, leaving Anna the lone survivor.
After receiving the telegram from Anna, Horatio boarded the first ocean liner headed to Europe. The captain of that ship, sympathetic of his great loss, informed Horatio when they were over the spot where his four little girls died.
It was later reported that Horatio wrote a poem as he stood at the rail and looked out over the dark and rolling sea. You may recognize his words…
“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.”
It was Horatio Gates Spafford’s great faith in Christ that bore him through this long season of loss. His faith gave him the strength to live on, turn to God and find peace.
When Horatio Spafford wrote “It Is Well with My Soul,” he spoke to the hearts of all of us who have lost. Whether it be financial ruin, loss of relationships, threatening illness, or the death of a loved one, God can save us in the most terrible of times if we can hold tight to faith.
If you have experienced the crushing weight of a loss, you might think Horatio’s faith is the exception, not the rule. How did he do it? What did Horatio and Anna have in them that made this possible?
First, they had grown a trust in Jesus. They had nurtured it for years, long before their season of loss began. I image they started with small things, turning them over to God, finally seeing that God’s faithfulness is endless.
Then, when that little bit of faith was fortified, their trust in God had grown enough for the bigger things too. Perhaps with lots of prayer, surrender, and then humble gratitude, they learned to trust even before the pain of loss was lifted.
Secondly, I believe they discovered that leaning INTO God’s arms instead of leaning away from Him is a choice. For them, it became a well-practiced choice.
Anna had made this choice even in the moment tragedy happened.
A fellow survivor reported Anna saying, "God gave me four daughters. Now they have been taken from me. Someday I will understand why."
Even in her despair and grief, Anna leaned into the arms of Christ. It would be easy to rage and run from God, but she had tested these Holy Arms many times before and knew God could be trusted to know the “why,” even when she did not.
There is a saying…
“I may not know what the future holds,
but I do know the One that hold the future.”
I, myself, have been in a long season of loss. Loss of my father and then the loss of a sibling’s love and family connection. At times, I found myself stumbling around, or even worse, just sitting in the darkness of the loss. There is a light to be shined, but I don’t even reach for it sometimes. I just sit there in the dark.
And then the light goes on! God turns it on for me! In the light, I remember all the times I have trusted Him to carry me and He was faithful. In the light, I turn to all the promising words in the Bible that assure and confirm that God can be trusted, not just to sustain me, but to bring goodness from it!
“The Lord is my shepherd; I have all that I need.
He lets me rest in green meadows;
he leads me beside peaceful streams.
He renews my strength.
He guides me along right paths, bringing honor to His name.
Even when I walk through the darkest valley,
I will not be afraid, for you are close beside me.
Your rod and your staff protect and comfort me.
…Surely your goodness and unfailing love
Will pursue me all the days of my life,
and I will live in the house of the Lord forever.”
Psalm 23:1-4, 6 (NCV)
Horatio’s story is one that many respect but few would envy. His is a story of a very long season of loss and how God worked Horatio’s faith into a masterpiece.
Below, click on the link and hear the lyrics to this hymn he wrote 150 years ago, now sung all over the world.
Listen. Sing. Pray. Start building the kind of faith and trust that God can use when your season of loss comes. Let Him turn the long season of loss into a masterpiece.
Shalom,
Namra
“It s Well With My Soul”
Lyrics by Horatio Spafford, music by Philip Bliss, performed by Audrey Assad
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