By Michelle Patterson LaMar
You sing them every week at church, but few of us know the background of such hymns as “It Is Well with My Soul,” “Blessed Assurance,” “Amazing Grace,” and others. The stories behind these well-loved hymns show divine guidance. Isn’t it thrilling to think that God gets involved in things as “trivial” as songwriting?
Horatio Spafford knew what it was to experience loss. An infant son died, and the great Chicago fire took most of his business. Through it all, he and his wife insisted that God was in control. Yet Horatio’s faith was to be tested beyond what most people could imagine.
Kept behind by business, Mr. Spafford sent his wife and four children ahead on a vacation, promising to join them shortly. Bound for Europe, their ship, the Ville Du Havre, collided with another ship. Within minutes, the ship was
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Lindsay Terry, Stories Behind 50 Southern Gospel Favorites, pp. 148–150.
Ibid., pp. 161–163.
Ibid., pp. 173–176.
Ibid., pp. 154–156.
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Michelle Patterson LaMar was the production assistant for Last Generation magazine when she wrote this article.