It Is Well With My 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

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

Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come,
let this blest assurance control:
that Christ has regarded my helpless estate,
and has 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!

O 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.

— Horatio Gates Spafford (1873)

The story behind the hymn It Is Well with My Soul begins not in peace, but in a season of deep and relentless sorrow.

Horatio Spafford, a successful Chicago lawyer and a man of steadfast faith, had already endured more than most. In 1871, he buried his young son, just four years old. Not long after, the Great Chicago Fire swept through the city, reducing much of his real estate investments to ash and leaving him financially broken. Grief and loss had become familiar companions.

Hoping to find rest and renewal, Spafford planned a journey to Europe in 1873. His intention was to join his friends—evangelist Dwight L. Moody and gospel singer Ira Sankey—for a time of ministry. Delayed by business matters, he sent his wife Anna and their four daughters—Annie, Maggie, Bessie, and Tanetta—ahead of him aboard the French ship Ville du Havre. He promised to follow soon.

But somewhere in the cold expanse of the Atlantic Ocean, tragedy struck again.

On November 22, 1873, the Ville du Havre collided with another vessel. The damage was catastrophic. Within just twelve minutes, the ship slipped beneath the waves. Amid the chaos, Anna Spafford managed to survive, clinging to floating wreckage. Their four daughters were lost to the sea.

Days later, a telegram reached Horatio. It contained only two words: “Saved alone.”

With a shattered heart, he boarded the next ship to cross the Atlantic and join his grieving wife. During the voyage, the captain called him to the deck and quietly informed him when they were passing over the very waters where his daughters had perished.

It was there, in that solemn and sacred moment, that Spafford returned to his cabin and began to write. Out of unimaginable grief came words of profound surrender and faith:

“When peace, like a river, attendeth my way,
When sorrows like sea billows roll…”

The poem would later be set to music in 1876 by composer Philip Bliss, who named the melody Ville du Havre, forever tying the hymn to the tragedy that gave it birth.

What emerged was not just a song, but a testimony—one that continues to echo across generations: even in the deepest sorrow, it is possible to say, “It is well with my soul.”