It is Well With My Soul - God is our Refuge and Strength, a Very Present Help in Trouble

This song It Is Well With My Soul has struck my attention today. It was sang beautifully at church with the clips showing the devastation of the recent flooding in Queensland, Australia.  This is a song of hope. It gives us the message that amidst trouble, sorrow, or pain, we have our Heavenly Father who is for us.That out of these circumstances, God's goodness still revealed and we can still see hope, peace, and love. Our lives here on Earth is temporal so let us invest more into something that has eternal value.

Reading the history of this hymn, I read that it was penned by a Chicago Lawyer named Horatio Spafford and composed by Philip Bliss. This hymn was written after several traumatic events in Spafford’s life. The first was the death of his only son in 1871 at the age of four, shortly followed by the great Chicago Fire which ruined him financially (he had been a successful lawyer). Then in 1873, he had planned to travel to Europe with his family on the SS Ville du Havre, but sent the family ahead while he was delayed on business concerning zoning problems following the Great Chicago Fire. While crossing the Atlantic, the ship sank rapidly after a collision with a sailing ship, the Loch Earn, and all four of Spafford's daughters died. His wife Anna survived and sent him the now famous telegram, "Saved alone." Shortly afterwards, as Spafford traveled to meet his grieving wife, he was inspired to write these words as his ship passed near where his daughters had died. (Source: Wikipedia)

"God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble." 

(Psalm 46:1) 

Video Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X6yDFn3OAFo&feature=related

This is a copy of the Original Hymn from Wikipedia:

It Is Well With My Soul

Horatio Spafford

 

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.

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.

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!

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.

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!
Blessed hope, blessed rest of 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.