Hello Everyone
It is well with my soul. As I have pondered the idea of being able to truly exclaim “it is well with my soul” when we face difficulty, the words penned after Horatio Spafford suffered such a swipe of tragedy that deeply gashed his life, it became clear to me that there is only one possible set of shoes we can ever stand in to make such a declaration in all seasons of life and that is to stand in the truth and reality of Jesus; in who He is and what He has done for us. It is easy to say “it is well with my soul” in seasons of flourishing and not so easy in the face of grievances. In life’s more strenuous times, our only hope of declaring “it is well with my soul” is to cling to Jesus and to know with deep assurance that He will faithfully hold us close to His own heart as He identifies with any broken threads in our lives and walks us through to the other side of the troubles we face.
Not only does Jesus identify with the splintering of our lives when we crash against the rocks of hardship, be it minor or major, His own life was offered up for our sake as a sacrificial redemptive act. No one gets the agony of adversity like Jesus does as the scarlet strands of pain have left Him scarred on our behalf. As He invites us to hold fast to Him and enables us to whisper “it is well with my soul” in our distress, we do so knowing that He is our compassionate, faithful, comforting, good and honourable Saviour whose formidable love compelled Him to suffer on our behalf so He could save us in our own times of crisis. Jesus knows our pain firsthand. In that single moment, when we turn to Him and either hasten or hobble towards Him, He is already running to gather us up in His strong and tender arms, to draw us close, to bear with us and to pour out His healing balm on our needy hearts.
Without Jesus, the ability to say “it is well with my soul” in the midst of trials seems like a contradiction in terms. But with Jesus, there is a transcendent peace that He fuses into our souls that eclipses our pain and marks us with His hope, light, and rest. It is not easy to declare “it is well with my soul” when hardship hits, and it doesn’t negate our pain, but it becomes possible because of Jesus. Isn’t He a magnificent Saviour?
So, friends, get your “it is well” on in Jesus today.
Best days to come.
Wen