"It is Well With My Soul" genre: Christian Easy Listening
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	A light piano lights the way towards hope eternal. . .filled with a message of assurance a flute joins with a confident and encouraging melody. . .a cello joins to declare the faith of a thousand generations who have learned to trust in God.
	MP3.com CD: Praise Hymns: Vol 2 - buy it! MP3.com CD: The Piano - Vol 2 - buy it! Credits: Instruments: Don Wigton. Arrangement Copyright © 2000 Don Wigton
	Story Behind the Song There is not a hymn that expresses the provision of God in times of overwhelming distress as this emotional song does. It came from a period of personal despair that few of us could even imagine. In 1871 Horatio G. Spafford, a forty-three year old businessman, suffered complete financial disaster in the Great Chicago fire. Right before the fire he and his wife lost their son. Yet this was only the beginning of Horatios problems. Filled with grief they decided to go away on vacation in England to visit with their friend, Dwight Moody, as he conducted evangelistic campaigns. He sent his wife an four daughters ahead on the SS Ville du Havre. In the mean time, Horatio would follow in just a few days. On its way to England, the ship that carried his family was struck by an iron sailing vessel and sank within twelve minutes. Two hundred and twenty-six lives were lost in the tragedy, including Horatios four daughters. When the survivors were brought to shore at Cardif, Wales, Horatio was met by his wife alone who declared, Saved alone. He booked passage on the next ship and asked the captain to notify him when they had reached the point where the Ville du Havre went down. He stood out on the deck looking at that mighty ocean that claimed the life of his daughters, then returned to his cabin that night to pen those great lyrics: When sorrows like sea billows roll. . .it is well, it is well with my soul. The evening when I laid down the instrumental to this song was a time of personal tragedy. Just days before I had heard that an x-ray had revealed a growth on my mothers lung. That night I received the news that a cat scan had demonstrated inflammation on the lymph nodes, which, if is was to be cancer, could mean that it had already spread. The doctor would be doing minor surgery within a few days to take a biopsy, so I indicated that I would drive down for support. It is with this on my heart that I read the words, Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say, It is well, it is well with my soul. That night God gave me the answer that I needed. Sometimes His responses to our dilemmas are not exactly what we want to hear, but in this case I well understood and received the message. I explained to Vanessa that I knew that our hope for the future was to trust in the sovereignty of God. It is God and God alone who gives and takes life, and whatever the outcome of this tragic time, I knew and understood fully that He was in control and that I must trust Him for the outcome. Days later the doctor came out of the operating room explaining that my mom indeed had cancer. Yet this instrumental is filled with hope. It was written by a man deep in despair, now performed by one who was filled with the agony of the possible loss of his mother. I sincerely pray that you will be blessed by this offering and moved to put your trust in God regardless of the circumstances that surround you. Also, please pray for my mother. Lyrics 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. It is well with my soul, It is well, it is well with my soul. Though Satan should buffet, tho trials should come, Let this blest assurance control, That Christ has regarded my helpless estate, And hath shed His own blood for my soul. It is well with my soul, It is well, it is well with my soul. My sin -- O, the bliss of the 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! It is well with my soul, It is well, it is well with my soul. And, Lord, haste the day when the faith shall be sight, The clouds be rolled back as a scroll, The trumph shall resound and the Lord shall descend, Even so -- it is well with my soul. Arrangement Copyright © 2000 Don Wigton A free chord chart to this song is available at the Wigtune Home Page @ http://userzweb.lightspeed.net/wigton/wigtune.htm

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