“No pang shall be mine
for in death as in life
Thou wilt whisper
Thy peace to my soul”
“It Is Well With My Soul” – Horatio Spafford (linked version performed by Audio Adrenaline)
In 1876, the hymn “It Is Well With My Soul” (also known as “When Peace, Like a River”) was first published by Philip Bliss, who took the lyrics and tune for the hymn penned by Horatio Spafford and composed an entire hymn around the lyrics and melody.
That publication would bring Spafford renown in the songwriting and hymn community, but it was the culmination of a half-decade of tragedy for Spafford. A successful lawyer in the Chicago area, Spafford was heavily invested in property in Chicago and was considered one of the largest landowners in the city. In 1871, Spatford was hit twice by tragedy, with his firstborn son passing and then the Great Chicago Fire, which heavily destroyed much of his property. The economic downturn of 1873 further drained his wealth, and Spafford made plans to join family friend Dwight L. Moody in his evangelical efforts in England, planning to leave via ship.
Spafford had to stay behind to close up some business, so his wife and four daughters got on the boat. While crossing the Atlantic Ocean, the ship collided with another vessel and quickly sank. All four daughters perished, but his wife, Anna, survived. Horatio would travel to England to meet his grieving wife soon after, and as the boat solemnly passed the point where his four daughters had perished, he wrote the lyrics to this hymn. The song was originally titled “Ville du Havre”, the name of the ship his family was traveling on.
Tragedy was not done with Spafford, unfortunately. He and his wife had three more children, two girls and a boy, but his son passed away from scarlet fever at the age of four in 1880. He and his wife then moved to Jerusalem, where he would contract malaria in 1888 and pass at the age of 59.
A tragic life, indeed, but in his greatest time of grief, Spafford expressed that his soul was content because of his Christian belief.
This month is Mental Health Awareness Month, and there have been events in Huron to encourage utilizing professional counseling staff at times of mental health difficulty. We are blessed in this area to have multiple options to utilize those professionals, whether it be Community Counseling Services, True Reflections, Horizon Health, or independent individual providers. Someone could also seek counseling through clergy at their local church. And if in-person meetings trigger anxiety, seekers have the option of using online services such as Better Help, Talkspace, Teladoc, and many others.
I have both worked as a mental health provider and been someone receiving mental health services, and I will say that there are a number of people who attempt to work through their mental health trials who seemingly need permission to “not be okay” – those who provide help and tell the stories of tragedy.
The second church I worked in youth ministry for made it part of my employment to at least connect with a mental health provider, and working with youth who had significant life struggles, it was good to be able to work with someone to help me process the difficulties that I was hearing on a typical basis. I wish I could say that I was as vigilant in utilizing mental health counseling in my life while working as a mental health provider, but I did at least spend some time traveling to Mitchell on a biweekly basis when the stress of the day-to-day of my job with CCS began to eat away at my own health.
Now, I’ve found that in the role of telling the news, I’m often tasked with taking a tragic or emotional story and “flattening” it as much as possible for the reader. There are nights I’ve lain in bed mentally working through stories and obituaries that I’ve read through over the day to put together the articles that end up in the final edition of the next paper. Speaking with friends in law enforcement, this is a common comment in that field as processing moments of tragedy and personal difficulty will affect someone, as much as we may try to push that personal struggle processing someone else’s tragic moments to the side.
No one, no matter their profession, no matter their status in the community/church/school/etc, no matter any outside influence, should feel that mental health treatment is not for them. Anyone who takes a breath has mental health, and, like other health metrics, that health can be good or bad for a host of reasons at any given moment. However, someone who would immediately call their medical doctor due to persistent nausea will hesitate to call a mental health provider if depression or anxiety feelings and/or symptoms persists for a period of time.
Sometimes we can find that peace in times of difficulty on our own; sometimes it requires the assistance of a professional. Regardless, don’t be afraid to make things well in your soul.
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