The Song He Wrote on the Water

In 1873, Horatio Spafford put his four daughters on a steamship bound for England. He planned to follow soon after. Nine days later, he received a telegram from his wife Anna — just two words: "Saved alone." The ship had collided with another vessel and sunk in twelve minutes. All four of his daughters drowned.

Spafford booked passage on the next available ship. When the captain notified him they were passing over the spot where his daughters had perished, Spafford went to his cabin and wrote the words that Christians have been singing for over a century: "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."

Notice he did not write, "It is well with my circumstances." He did not write, "It is well because I understand." He wrote that it was well with his soul — the deepest part of him that rested in the hands of the Almighty even when everything on the surface had been shattered.

Trust is not the absence of grief. Trust is the decision to say to God, "You are still good," when nothing around you feels good at all. Spafford stood over the ocean that had taken everything from him and chose to sing. That is what trust looks like when it costs you something.