Reference

Proverbs 10:7
Gone But Still a Blessing!

  All Saints Sunday is a day we take time to remember those we love who have gone from our sight but never from our hearts. On this day, we rejoice in the promise of God that death no longer has its sting or victory because Jesus has given us more than hope of eternal life, He has give us the reality of life forever!

  Pause for a moment with us, remember those you still love but whom you can no longer hug, and rejoice that if they rested their life in Jesus, they are resting in HIs eternal peace, awaiting the final resurrection and eternal reward.

  As I mentioned during the sermon on Sunday about the tremendous hymn we lifted, "It is Well," here is the more complete story:

  "Horatio Spafford knew something about life’s unexpected challenges. He was a successful attorney and real estate investor who lost a fortune in the great Chicago fire of 1871. Around the same time, his beloved four-year-old son died of scarlet fever.

  "Thinking a vacation would do his family some good, he sent his wife and four daughters on a ship to England, planning to join them after he finished some pressing business at home. However, while crossing the Atlantic Ocean, the ship was involved in a terrible collision and sunk. More than 200 people lost their lives, including all four of Horatio Spafford’s precious daughters. His wife, Anna, survived the tragedy. Upon arriving in England, she sent a telegram to her husband that began: “Saved alone. What shall I do?”

  "Horatio immediately set sail for England. At one point during his voyage, the captain of the ship, aware of the tragedy that had struck the Spafford family, summoned Horatio to tell him that they were now passing over the spot where the shipwreck had occurred.1

  "As Horatio thought about his daughters, words of comfort and hope filled his heart and mind. He wrote them down, and they have since become a well-beloved hymn:

When peace like a river, attendeth my way,
When sorrows like sea billows roll—
Whatever my lot, thou hast taught me to know
It is well, it is well with my soul.2

  God will carry you through anything and everything, including the death of someone you dearly love.  He will never leave you or forsake!

1. See Randy Petersen, Be Still My Soul: The Inspiring Stories behind 175 of the Most-Loved Hymns (1973), 153.

2. “It Is Well with My Soul,” reproduction of original manuscript, spaffordhymn.com