How Personal Tragedy Inspired a Beloved Hymn

Music holds such power. How often have you turned to a cherished hymn or an inspirational Christian worship song to uplift you, to comfort you, to praise God? I have listened to Christ-focused music so frequently, I’m often brought to tears as I feel the power of words as a familiar tune rolls over me.

On our wedding day, my husband and I chose “Beautiful Saviour” as the congregational hymn to reflect our faith and to honor God’s beautiful creation. At Easter, singing “I Know That My Redeemer Lives” reminds me of many childhood Easters and how those lyrics imprinted upon me the meaning of Jesus’ death and resurrection. And in recent years, contemporary Christian artist Matt Redman’s “10,000 Reasons” has carried me through some especially difficult days.

Throughout Scripture, we read of the faithful raising their voices in song. Paul and Silas, while imprisoned, prayed and sang hymns to God (Acts 16:25). The disciples sang a hymn at The Lord’s Supper, before leaving for the Mount of Olives (Matthew 26:30). The Psalms, especially, reference singing praises to the Lord.

Behind every song is a songwriter. But how much, if anything, do we know about these talented artists who craft words into songs? What inspires them to pen lyrics that touch emotions? A few years ago, while visiting Wanamingo, a small southeastern Minnesota community within a half hour drive of my home, I came across a public posting about a songwriter in a public park. It was an unexpected find, but one which left me with a deeper appreciation of the hymn “It Is Well with My Soul.”

On typewritten pages tacked onto a bulletin board and protected by Plexiglas, I read the story of Horatio Spafford who wrote the hymn after losing four children at sea. Anna Spafford and her daughters were sailing from New York to France when their ship collided with an English sailing ship. Only Anna survived, wiring her husband, “Saved Alone.” Can you imagine? To lose one child is grief enough. But to lose four daughters seems unbearable.

Still, Spafford, who at one time taught Sunday school in the Wanamingo area, where he met Anna, then his student, managed to rise above his personal loss to publicly proclaim his faith.  While en route to join his grieving wife, he wrote the hymn, also known as “When Peace Like a River.” His poetic lyrics about sorrows rolling like sea billows balance with words of praise for God seeing him through trials and dark hours, granting peace to his soul. The refrain of “It is well, it is well with my soul” takes on a deeper meaning when understood in the context of the song’s backstory.

But this story doesn’t end with the initial tragedy at sea. In November 1876, noted Christian composer Philip Bliss composed music for Spafford’s verses while visiting the couple. Five weeks later, Bliss and his wife died when a railroad trestle collapsed in Ohio. The visual of sorrows like sea billows rolling seems even stronger. I have no doubt that Horatio Spafford once again sought comfort in his faith as he mourned the loss of his friends.

The words this faithful and gifted man composed nearly 150 years ago remain timeless. No matter what tragedies and difficulties we face in life, we are assured of God’s abiding, peaceful presence. With God carrying us through, we also can sing with conviction, “It is well, it is well with my soul.”

Writer Audrey Kletscher Helbling learned the Horatio Spafford story while on a Sunday afternoon drive with her husband, Randy. They enjoy exploring the small towns and rural areas of southern Minnesota, especially when they discover stories like this.