Sequel to "Enlarging you soul" - Horatio Spafford

Horatio G. Spafford was a successful businessman in Chicago in the late 1860s. He heavily invested in real estate along the shores of Lake Michigan. The disastrous Chicago fire of 1871 wiped out his holdings. He immediately worked to rebuild the city and assist the many that were left homeless. He had a son who died shortly before this disaster.

He and his family desperately needed a rest from all these. In 1873 he arranged to take his family to Europe. He was close to D.L. Moody and Ira Sankey and planned to attend their evangelistic meetings in England, then take a vacation there. At the last minute, urgent business kept him home, but he sent his wife and four daughters ahead, and they sailed on the S.S. Ville du Havre. He planned to soon follow later.

The night of November 22, 1873, the ship, Ville du Havre, was struck by an English iron sailing vessel. The ship sank in 12 minutes. Of the 273 people on board, only 47 of them survived. Mrs. Spafford was found nearly unconscious, clinging to a piece of the wreckage. Her last memory had been of her baby violently torn from her by the force of the waters. Their four daughters did not survive. Nine days later, Spafford received a telegram from his wife (when she reached Cardiff, Wales). It read: "Saved alone, what shall I do?"

Grief-stricken, Horatio immediately sailed to Europe to join his wife. En route, the captain pointed out the place where he believed the Ville du Havre had gone down. Returning to his cabin, he wrote, "It is well..." He later wrote the hymn "It Is Well with My Soul", based on these words, a hymn that have brought comfort to so many till today.

Spafford in his hymn tells of the comfort that God gives, no matter the circumstance, such unimaginable loss and suffering. In the third stanza he directs our attention on Christ’s redemptive work on the cross, and in stanza four, anticipates His Second Coming. As we through faith understand these things, we too can say, "It is well with my soul."

Scripture: Psalm 22
My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
Why are you so far from saving me,
so far from the words of my groaning?...
In you our fathers put their trust;
They trusted and You delivered them...

Prayer:
Abba Father, I admit that I am often afraid and embarrassed to openly tell you all that is going inside me - even though I know you know it all anyway.
Teach me what boldness in paryer looks like as I draw near your throne of grace. Enlarge my soul.
In Jesus' name, amen.

Click this link to listen to the song:
http://sandi-patti-it-is-well-with-my-soul-mp3-download.kohit.net/_/342805

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.

Chorus
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.

Chorus
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!

Chorus
And Lord, haste the day when the 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.

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