All is Well - With Your 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.

-          Hymnist - Horatio Spafford

Jesus referred to a level of faith that most of us still aspire to achieve, when he referred to those who have not seen and yet believe.  When the "facts" of our lives do not bear witness to an ever present heavenly Reality, we are challenged to discern spiritually what our eyes cannot see. Just as the disciples and all who heard Jesus message in his time failed to understand that the Kingdom is an inner dimension to be discovered and uncovered, we too must look away from life situations to behold the eternal verities within the tumult of our lives.  It is the great purpose and highest calling of our lives to know that despite the dramas unfolding in our life, that all is always well with our soul. 

The man who penned the words for the famous hymn, It Is Well with My Soul had every reason to abandon his faith after a series of great tragedies. Instead, in the midst of sorrow he drew from the depths of his Being, an awareness of the presence of Eternal goodness and well being.

Horatio Spafford endured uncommon grief. 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. While crossing the Atlantic, the ship sank rapidly after a collision with a sailing ship, 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.

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 has been said that a bad day for the ego is a good day for the soul. It takes great discernment to realize that what is Eternal cannot be diminished or lost. It is not just for an enlightened few but every one of us enjoys this immunity by way of the interminable essence of our true nature.  It is the same spiritual groundedness that allowed Jesus to walk through betrayal, torture, and bodily death and neither condemn or judge or resist anyone or anything. He knew that the Life Force could not be extinguished. He knew he could not be separated from God, and that his death would be a transition, and a transformation but not an ending --only one more step on the ever evolving continuum of life.

These stories bear witness to the indomitable Spirit that lies within every man and woman, and our universal ability to realize and demonstrate Life's resurrection principle. What is impossible for humans is possible with God. Let these stories of overcoming remind us of the power which lies latent within each of us as children, and therefore heirs to all that God is. Let us take heart in the midst of the storms, even before they pass, knowing that the Divine is seeking to reveal Itself through us in every situation that pushes our seeming limitations. Let us have the mind in us that was in Christ Jesus. Let us know that what seems to be against us is illusory, and that Life's only motivation is to lead us from glory to even greater glory.