It Is Well

I love singing to God. It is one of the times I feel closest to him. I really like some of the old hyms, which I have grown up in church singing. 

One of the ones I love the most is "it is well with my soul", which is written by Horatio Spafford.

This hymn was written after traumatic events in Spafford’s life. The first was the 1871 Great Chicago Fire which ruined him financially. His business interests were further hit by the economic downturn of 1873 at which time he had planned to travel to Europe with his family. In a late change of plan, he sent the family ahead with out him. While crossing the Atlantic, the ship sank rapidly after a collision with a sea vessel, and all four of Spafford's daughters died. Shortly afterwards, as Spafford traveled to meet his grieving wife, he wrote this song as his ship passed near where his daughters had died.

He writes, 

"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."

Can I translate this into what I think it means in todays English? That life will be hard, things will hurt and there will be great suffering, but we should be assured that Jesus, knowing full well all our flaws and helplessness, has made us right with our creator God by dying on the cross. 

It is this that I will be holding onto while I am in Africa. Especially when times are hard. 

That it is well with my soul.