It Is Well

Today is Election Day in the United States.

It is likely that by tomorrow morning about half of those who voted will be elated.

The other half will be depressed. Those are the people I'd like to reach today. And I can't rule out the possibility that I'm giving myself a preemptive pep talk.

In church Sunday we sang the hymn "It Is Well With My Soul." Its lyrics were written in 1873 by a businessman named Horatio Spafford and were put to music by Philip Bliss in 1876.

Spafford didn't write his poem from a self-satisfied seat atop a mountain. He wrote it in the deepest of valleys, as he mourned the loss of his four daughters. His family had been traveling ahead of him to Europe when their ship was struck by another. His wife survived and sent him a telegram with this devastating news: "Saved alone."

As Spafford crossed the Atlantic to join her his ship's captain informed him when they arrived at the spot where his daughters had perished. He could have shaken his fist at God and launched volleys of bitter anger. And who would have blamed him? Instead, he wrote this:

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.
Refrain:
It is well, (it is well),
With my soul, (with my soul)
It is well, it is well, with my soul.

Whatever happens tonight, I know that I can face tomorrow, thanks to the grace and mercy of Jesus Christ.

It is well.