It is Well....

There are days that I feel like I have to peel myself out of bed or off the couch in the morning. Sometimes I wake up the next morning still in my blue scrubs because I fell asleep the night before sitting on the couch. Maybe it was a long co-op day. The familiar smell of famadihyde from the dissected frogs, pigs and sharks is now embedded in my sheets because I promised I would “only lay here for a minute.” I feel disoriented and sluggish yet my brain races with the many things I have to do. This ranges from the domestic responsibilities of running a home, to the educational responsibilities of the seven children I gave birth to and the ones whose parents entrust me to help them in their educational endeavors, to getting costumes together for a play that I am helping in, to being a wife, to…. Well, you get the idea.
This morning was one of those mornings. Feelings of inadequacy set in. Failure speaks in a condescending voice to my heart. Fatigue overwhelms me. I sit down to do devotions with my children with anything but a desire to do so. They bicker and poke at each other. This only makes me want to knock them out and blame someone else. Those feelings of sadness over a lost relationship due to lies of a teenage boy grip me in a vice like way. It does not matter that it has been 8 months ago and I thought I was getting better. I feel like I am being swept away by negative emotions.

As I struggle not to close the book and blow it off for the day, a song starts to play through my head. The old hymn “It is Well With My Soul.” I stop and grab my computer to Google the words because I can’t seem to remember them. You see, I have learned in the past that when a song of worship comes to my heart to listen. What is the Holy Spirit trying to say?

I want to share with you what I found. The word to this old hymn were written by Horatio G. Spafford after two major traumas in his life. The first was the great Chicago Fire of October 1871, which ruined him financially (he had been a wealthy businessman). Shortly after, while crossing the Atlantic, all four of Spafford’s daughters died in a collision with another ship. Only Spafford’s wife Anna survived. Several weeks later, as Spafford’s own ship passed near the spot where his daughters died, the Holy Spirit inspired these words. They speak to the eternal hope that all believers have, no matter what pain and grief befall them on earth.

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, 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.
Refrain
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!
Refrain
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.
Refrain
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!
Blessèd hope, blessèd rest of my soul!
Refrain
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.

Wow… The peace that is described in Philippians 4 as the peace that passes all understanding is present. Feelings of failure, hurt, and inadequacy seem to have left, and an unexplainable strength that comes only from the one who loved me enough to die for me is present. I am reminded of the cross. Yes… the cross. You see, the answer to all of life’s problems and obstacles is the cross. It is at the cross we find our strength. It is at the cross we lay our hurts and can find forgiveness for those who hurt us. It is at the cross that we realize that without Christ we are inadequate. Yes, all is well because of what Christ did for me.

John 3:16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

1 John 3:16 This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters.