It Is Well With My Soul

This has long been one of my favoritie hymns:

It Is Well With My Soul

by Horatio G. Spafford

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.

Refrain:

It is well, with my soul,

It is well, it is well, with my soul.

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.

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!

For me, be it Christ, be it Christ hence to live:

If Jordan above me shall roll,

No pang shall be mine, for in death as in life

Thou wilt whisper Thy peace to my soul.

But, Lord, ’tis for Thee, for Thy coming we wait,

The sky, not the grave, is our goal;

Oh, trump of the angel! Oh, voice of the Lord!

Blessed hope, blessed rest of my soul!

And Lord, haste the day when my 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 a beautiful hymn. And the story behind it is so touching.

This hymn was written by a Chicago lawyer named Horatio G. Spafford. The words were not written during the happiest period of his life. On the contrary, they came from a man who had suffered almost unimaginable personal tragedy.


Horatio G. Spafford and his wife, Anna, were pretty well-known in Chicago in the 1860’s, not just because of Horatio's legal career and business endeavors, but also because they were prominent supporters and close friends of D.L. Moody, the famous preacher. In 1870 the Spaffords faced great sadness. Their only son was killed by scarlet fever at the age of four and a year later, the infamous Chicago fire struck, completely wiping out all of the Spaffords’ real estate investments on the shores of Lake Michigan.

Aware of the toll that these disasters had taken on the family, Horatio decided to take his wife and four daughters on a holiday to England. Not only did they need the rest; their good friend DL Moody needed the help. He was traveling around Britain on one of his great evangelistic campaigns. Horatio and Anna planned to join Moody in

late 1873. As they prepared for their trip, a last-minute business development forced Horatio to delay. Not wanting to ruin the family holiday, he persuaded his family to go as planned, promising them that he would join them later. With this decided, Anna and their four daughters set sail for Europe. Just nine days later, Horatio received a telegram from his wife in Wales. It read: "Saved alone."

On November 2nd 1873, their ship had collided with an English vessel. It sank in only 12 minutes, claiming the lives of 226 people, including Horatio and Anna’s four daughters. Anna was only saved from the fate of their daughters by a plank which floated beneath her unconscious body and propped her up.

Upon hearing the terrible news, Horatio Spafford boarded the next ship out of New York to join his bereaved wife. The ship’s captain kindly told Horatio when they reached the place where the earlier ship had wrecked. Horatio returned to his cabin and penned the lyrics to “It Is Well With My Soul”.


Our Daily Bread is a stamp company that specializes in Christian images, quotes, and scripture verses. I was so excited to find their stamp with the words/music to It Is Well With My Soul at the Stamp Show I went to this weekend. I purchased it and the Anchor stamp set from them and created the card for this week's Twisted Tuesday Challenge, using these stamps.

Twisted Tuesday Challenge

August 21 - 27

The Challenge: Sketch (see above)

The Twist: Don't use any ribbon or trims

Here's my card:

I used a Scripture stamp on the inside:

        Images/Scripture: Our Daily Bread (It Is Well With My Soul and Anchors)
Ink: Memento Rich Cocoa (for stamping the stamps) and A Muse Latte (for distressing the edges)
Cardstock: Stampin' UP! Kraft and Very Vanilla and scraps from my scrap file
Embellishments: Michael's Rhinestones