It is Well with My Soul

I was chatting with a friend yesterday about this hymn:

When peace, like a river, attendeth my way,
When sorrows like sea billows roll;
Whatever my lot, Thou has taught me to say,
It is well, it is well, with my soul.

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 blessed assurance control,
That Christ has regarded my helpless estate,
And hath shed His own blood for my soul.

My sin, oh, 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!

And Lord, haste the day when my 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's an amazing hymn of confidence in God when times are hard. When writing this hymn Horatio Spafford was dealing with the loss of four of his daughters from a boat collision. His wife Anna and survived and sent him a telegram reading 'SAVED ALONE'. In 1881 Spafford and his wife founded the 'American Colony' an outreach mission in Jerusalem to benefit the poor.

My favourite verse is verse three: 'My sin, not in part but the whole, is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more, Praise the Lord'. Spafford's joy was found in God. For Him happiness derived itself from what Jesus had already done- being condemned by the Father for Spafford's sin.