When Peace Like a River
Whenever my mother is about to lose her cool, whether it’s from trouble at work or when I and my siblings are dumb, she always sings the song “It Is Well with My Soul”, written by Horatio Spafford. The story behind this song is quite a sad one. Horatio sent his wife and his four daughters to England for vacation, and after finishing some business, would follow suit. Before he could leave America, however, he received a telegram from his wife saying that all their daughters died in a shipwreck and that she was lucky to survive.
Horatio immediately left for England. During the trip, the captain, after hearing what happened to his daughters, told him that they were approaching the spot where his beloved daughters died. Instead of feeling sorrow or losing hope in the lord, he felt a peace come over him, and the lyrics for the song were put on his heart. He wrote them down and eventually wrote: “It Is Well with My Soul.”
What am I getting at? Most people in that situation would be angry with God. They would feel as if he had abandoned them, and was no longer with them. Horatio, however, was different. He knew that in all the sorrow and loss he experienced, he should still hope and trust in God because he knew God was still in control. Maybe, we should be more like Horatio. Yes, it’s hard to lose a loved one, it’s hard to keep going when nothing is working out, and it’s hard to keep doing good when they keep having terrible outcomes. But even when it’s hard and we want to be angry with God, remember that “It is always well with thy soul.”
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