"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.
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, oh my soul.
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.
It is well with my soul,
It is well, it is well with my soul."
This hymn, written by businessman Horatio G. Spafford and composed by hymnist and evangelist Phillip P. Bliss, was written in dark times. Spafford had just lost his daughters to a shipwreck while he was at home for work. Before this, he had lost money and property to the Chicago Fire of 1871. Spafford wrote these words while en route to England to join his wife, passing by the place where the Ville du Havre had sunk and his daughters had drowned. While in England, Spafford and his wife met up with their evangelist-friend, Phillip P. Bliss, and his wife, and Bliss came up with a tune to accompany the word that Spafford had written. Dark clouds hadn't cleared, however, for just a few short years after penning the words and music of "It Is Well with My Soul," the Blisses tragically lost their lives in a train wreck, and a few years following that, after beginning another family of their own, the Spaffords lost a young son to scarlet fever.
(For more on the story behind the hymn, click here.)
I was around eight or nine when I first heard the story behind this beautiful hymn, and it surprised me. At that young age, I couldn't imagine going through such devastating loss and yet being able to maintain such a positive attitude.
I am still young, and I have not--thankfully--had to endure any of the losses that Spafford did. However, I--as all of us have--have had to endure difficult times. I have experienced the stormy days as well as sunny days. No life is lived free of trials, but what would life be without the contrast that trials and joys bring to our lives?
"For it must needs be, that there is an opposition in all things. If not so...righteousness could not be brought to pass, neither wickedness, neither holiness nor misery, neither good nor bad. ...And if ye shall say there is no law, ye shall also say there is no sin. If ye shall say there is no sin, ye shall also say there is no righteousness. And if there be no righteousness there be no happiness. And there be no righteousness nor happiness there can be no punishment nor misery. And if these things are not there is no God. ...[but] there is a God, and he hath created all things...both things to act and to be acted upon. Wherefore, the Lord God gave unto man that he should act for himself. Wherefore, an could not act for himself save it should be that he was enticed by the one or the other.
And now, behold, if Adam had not transgressed he would not have fallen, but he would have remained in the garden of Eden. And all things which were created must have remained in the same state in which they were after they were created; and they must have remained forever, and had no end. And they would have had no children; wherefore they would have remained in a state of innocence, having no joy, for they knew no misery; doing no good, for they knew no sin.
"But behold, all things have been done in the wisdom of him who knoweth all things. Adam fell that men might be; and men are, that they might have joy" (2 Nephi 2:11, 13-14, 16, 22-25).* **
We were created to experience joy, but without misery, we wouldn't recognize nor appreciate that joy. Trials definitely aren't fun, but what wonderful opportunities to learn and grow. That's my challenge to you as well as to myself: next time you experience a hiccup in your path, ask the Lord what you can learn from it. And then take notes! :) ***
*For a definition of the Fall of Adam, click here.
**To read the rest of the chapter (Nephi 2), click here.
***Okay, I don't mean literally pull out paper and a pencil. Just pay attention to what you learn.
