Heceta Beach, OR
Psalm 46:1-3 NCV
God is our protection and our strength.
He always helps in times of trouble.
So we will not be afraid even if the earth shakes,
or the mountains fall into the sea,
even if the oceans roar and foam,
or the mountains shake at the raging sea.
Last night I had a very hard time falling asleep, because Stars and Stripes Forever was raucously playing on repeat in my head! It reminded me of another time when a song was stuck in my head, but that one stayed for about a year. Boarding a plane to fly back home after learning my mom had unexpectedly passed away, I was fighting to keep it together. A supernatural peace washed over me and the hymn It Is Well with My Soul began “to play” in my mind. Many years earlier I had learned the story behind this hymn. Author Horatio Spafford was a wealthy lawyer and real estate investor when he lost almost everything in the 1871 Chicago fire. Then his four-year-old son died. Thinking his wife and four daughters could use a change of scenery, in 1873 he sent them off to England and planned to join them after wrapping up some business. He received a message from his wife, “Saved alone. What shall I do?”
There had been a shipwreck and now he and his wife were childless. On Mr. Spafford’s trip across the ocean, the captain told him when the ship was crossing near the point where his daughters were lost. In his profound pain, peace washed over him, and the words of the beloved hymn were penned.
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 is well with my soul,
It is well, it is well with my soul.
Two days after my mom’s funeral, her dad, my grandpa passed away. It Is Well was still on repeat. Three months later when her mom, my grandma, passed away, it was still playing. One month later when a dear friend of mine passed away, it was playing. And it stayed two months later when my father’s mother, my other grandma, passed away. Like the Spaffords, my family experienced a lot of rapid fire grief, and fact is, I don’t know why. I can say that it was well with my soul. That doesn’t mean it didn’t hurt, doesn’t mean I liked it, doesn’t mean I don’t miss them all to this day, but it did mean I understand that God had a plan. So last night, the anxiousness I wasn’t initially surrendering to God, when put it into perspective, I could let it be well with my soul and sleep came quickly.
