It Is Well

Yesterday morning I watched the girls play peacefully. Happily. (1070)

They're awfully dang cute "doctoring" each other!!

I smile. I love it. Moments like those are sometimes fleeting. I savor them. Nurture them, even. (1071).

Just 18 hours previous, I was holding Hadley, who was crying in pain. Real pain.

I wanted, as every mama does, to take it all away. To bear it for her.

I began to sing It Is Well With My Soul as I rocked her and paced the floor.

Every time I sing that song, my thoughts go to the man who wrote it, Horatio Spafford.

Mr. Spafford lost his only son in the Chicago fire of 1881. Two years later, he lost all four of his daughters as their boat sank, Titanic-style, in the Atlantic, on the voyage to Europe. Only his wife survived.

Five children. Dead.

Can you imagine such sadness? Such loss? I have no words....

As his ship, on the voyage back to America, passed over the spot where his daughters perished, he wrote these words:

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.

And:

...though trials should come...
...Christ has regarded my helpless estate,
And hath shed His own blood for my soul.

I often wonder if I could say that if something happened to our girls or Brad.

Remember when I wrote about Anna, who lost her son, Jack? Anna is blogging about this journey of sorrow. And really? She might be the bravest woman I've ever read. It's all there--this honest mix of anguish, hope, grief, joy, thankfulness, anger and humor. One thing she knows for certain in all this---it is well with her soul.

I want to be like that. No matter what happens, to seek God in everything, and whether my daughter is hurt, or I'm enduring something much worse---I can say, It is well with my soul.

A few more places I found God this past week:

1072. Compliments on the girls' behavior at church.

1073. Opportunities to serve.

1074. Community group.

1075. Drinking wine with Brad.

1076. Good health and quick healing.

1077. A sister who answers her phone when I really need her to.

1078. New recipes to try and ingredients to try them with.

Linking up with Jen, Ann and Heather.