14/12/2025
🗣️ People sing “IT IS WELL WITH MY SOUL”… But only few knows it was written from a graveyard of the sea.
We sing it softly.
We close our eyes and lift our hands...
But one cannot sing “It is well with my soul” casually when you understand where it came from. This hymn wasn’t born in peace. It was born in the middle of burial waters.
Horatio Spafford did not write this from a prayer room.
He wrote it from a broken heart.
This was a man who buried his children without a grave.
He was a successful man. A respected lawyer. A church man. A family man. Not perfect, but grounded. The kind of man who built a future with his hands and believed God had a plan.
Then life broke him.
First, the Great Chicago Fire. Everything he worked for turned to ashes. Properties gone. Investments gone. Years of labour swallowed by flames.
Still, he didn’t curse God.
Then came the second blow.
He sent his wife and four daughters ahead of him to England. A simple family trip. A journey of rest. Of healing. Of new beginnings.
Seven days later, the ship went down.
Twelve minutes. That was all it took to erase his joy.
The SS Ville du Havre sank in the Atlantic after collision. Over 200 people died. Among them, Annie, Maggie, Bessie, and little Tanetta.
Four daughters. Gone.
Only his wife survived.
And then the message came.
Two words that'll broke a man completely:
“Saved alone.”
Not “we survived.”
Not “God helped us.”
Not “they’re okay.”
Saved… alone.
That means… you are still a father, but your house is silent.
Your beds are empty.
Your laughter is buried under waves.
Days Later, Horatio boarded a ship to meet his wife. And as the ship passed over the very place his daughters died, the captain called him.
“This is the spot.”
No grave.
No coffin.
No closure.
Just endless water.
And in that broken moment, something rose from the deepest part of his spirit.
Not anger.
Not rebellion.
But a surrender...
“It is well… the will of God be done.”
Not because life was well.
But because God was still God.
Three years later, I meant, it took him — THREE YEARS — to put those words into a hymn.
Not in the storm.
Not in the chaos.
But after living with the pain.
Because real healing doesn’t come fast. Real faith is built slowly.
Real peace is not a feeling, it is a decision.
And he wrote:
When peace like a river attendeth my way,
When sorrows like sea billows roll…
That wasn't a poetry.
That was memory.
Waves rolled over his daughters.
Billows buried his joy.
But he wrote:
“Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say… It is well with my soul.”
This was not a man in denial.
This was a man who refused to allow pain to make him bitter.
Later, he lost another child, a son.
Still… he didn’t break.
He and his wife moved to Jerusalem and spent their lives feeding the hungry, housing the poor, serving Muslims, Jews, and Christians without noise or pride.
No stage.
No fame.
No drama.
Just purpose, a life which he lived for 60years.
Because when you survive that kind of pain, you no longer live for yourself.
That song was never about pretending everything is okay.
It was about declaring:
Even if my heart is bleeding… I will still trust God.
Even if my world falls apart… I will still worship.
Even if nothing makes sense… my soul is safe in Him.
Let me speak to someone now.
Some of you reading this…
You’ve lost things that can’t be replaced.
You’ve buried dreams without funerals.
You’ve smiled in public and cried in secret.
People tell you to be strong...
People say “it will be fine.”
But they don’t know the depth of your pain.
Yet - you’re still here.
You’re still breathing.
You’re still holding on...
That hymn wasn’t written for perfect people. It was written for survivors.
So when you sing “It is well with my soul,” you’re not claiming that life is easy.
You’re declaring that pain did not win.
Hell did not triumph.
And that suffering did not steal your faith...
And I pray for you and for myself, that we will not be fair-weather believers. That we will not follow God only when things are good. That we will learn to say “It is well” even when tears are on our pillow and questions are in our heart... In the name of Jesus...🙇♂️
NOTE: Sometimes… God doesn’t calm the storm. Sometimes He strengthens the sailor...
