Making of the Music

Which beloved hymn resulted from a tragic loss at sea? 

The telegram simply read:

“Saved alone.”

Horatio Spafford’s heart broke at the message. His wife and four daughters had been sailing to Europe. Their ship collided with another and sank in mere minutes. His wife was “saved alone.” Spafford immediately set sail to be with her.

His ship neared the area where his daughters had drowned, and sorrows rolled over him like the billows of the sea. But he put his hope in one simple truth:

Christ defeated death.

Using imagery from the sea—the very thing that took his daughters’ lives—he began to pen a hymn.

Even in the depths of tragedy, he could honestly say . . . “It Is Well with My Soul.”