Is It Really Well With Our 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.

The song above is one of my favourite songs from the Seventh-Day Adventist Hymnal. It was written by Horatio Spafford. His story is quite tragic. His four year old son died of scarlet fever. Then two years later the family decided to go to Europe for a holiday. Horatio sent his wife and and their four children ahead of him. The ship was hit by another vessel on the way to England. All four children died. Yet after all of this Horatio Spafford was still able to say "it is well with my soul". How would you react in such a situation?

Overthinking is a killer.

You know - when you're just lying in bed at night. It's dark and there's no noise... that's when the thoughts start to creep in. You begin to think of everything that's going wrong. You begin to dwell on your actions throughout the day and how you could've handled a certain situation. You just get worked up and all emotional over a bunch of problems. I've been there. We all have.

However, sometimes it's good to take a step back and just breathe. Literally as simple as that, breathe. Getting worked up really is not going to solve any problems. Overthinking really just leads to stress and stress makes things worse. People deal with pain in numerous ways; drinking and drugs to name a few. For me it was self-harm. The self inflicted pain weirdly helped me so much in a way that, unless you go through it you cannot understand (and no I am not romanticising self harm). These practices however, are not good. They only relieve pain on a short term basis and leave you feeling worst afterwards and just results in a downward spiral.

There are times that we need to just accept our situations for what they are and know that we can't fight against them. We can only take them to the Lord in prayer. I believe Horatio knew this. He knew he couldn't bring back his children. Obviously, he was devastated. I mean anybody would be but he kept on striving. He didn't give up. Do you know what the last verse of the song says?

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.

Those words are just beautiful. He knew that God has a greater plan regardless of all the pain. Faith has been a key theme throughout many of my blog posts and I will continue to make it so because faith can really take you far. So rather than overthinking do you know what you ought to do? Praise God through the pain. Praise Him through the bad. Praise Him before he even works His miracle. When you're lying there at night consumed by darkness, pray and praise. I pray that one day even whilst we're hurting we can stand and say "it is well with my soul".

I know many people are hurting. Just looking around the world, it is so disastrous. From natural disasters to numerous terror attacks to heartbreaking shootings and stabbings. I actually hate reading the news now. It makes me sick to the pit of my stomach and really brings tears to my eyes. Although, Jesus says, do not be dismayed. He said these things would happen (just read Matthew 24). Everything does happen for a reason.

Another thing I would like to draw from the story of Horatio Spafford is that our time on this earth is short. The only thing that is promised to us is death. So firstly, make the most of life. Do what makes you happy (within reason). Be the best you possibly can. Secondly, let those around you know you love and care for them each day so you can never say "I wish"! You never know these days. Life is so fragile.

I suggest you go and listen to the song.  It's really so beautiful. As usual if you ever need an ear I am right here x