When the Sea Itself Became the Hymn

In 1873, Horatio Spafford put his four daughters on a steamship bound for England. He planned to follow shortly after. Days later, he received a telegram from his wife, Anna, containing just two words: "Saved alone." The ship had collided with another vessel in the Atlantic. All four daughters drowned.

Spafford boarded the next available ship to join his grieving wife. When the captain notified him they were passing over the very spot where his daughters had perished, Spafford went to his cabin and wrote the words that millions have sung since: "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 with my emotions." He wrote, "It is well with my soul." Spafford understood something that faith teaches us in our darkest hours — that the deepest part of who we are can remain anchored to the Almighty even when everything on the surface is torn apart.

Faith is not the absence of grief. Faith is the presence of God in the middle of it. Spafford stood over the ocean that had taken everything from him and chose to worship. That is not denial. That is faith finding its voice when every reason to sing has been swallowed by the waves.

Whatever you are facing today, the God who held Spafford holds you still.