From the time I was a very little girl, I have loved the words to this hymn. Then, at the age of twelve, when my best friend's nineteen-year-old brother passed away from leukemia, our minister told the story of Horatio Spafford's life. The story made the hymn all the more powerful and comforting and through the years, as life's experiences guided by the hand of God have carried me (and many other brothers and sisters in Christ) along, it has become much more so. We sang it at Caleb's memorial service and then (as now) in the midst of the gut-wrenching, heart-breaking grief we have known the peace that passeth all understanding. Praise God for His goodness and faithfulness!

It Is Well with My Soul

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."

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 has shed his own blood for my soul.

It is well with my soul; it is well, it is well with my soul.

My sin--- O 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!

It is well with my soul; it is well, it is well with my soul.

O Lord, haste the day when our 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.

Horatio G. Spafford, 1873