Six Words of Courage--The Horatio Spafford Story

Six Words of Courage-

The Horatio Spafford Story

By Kim Michael  Copyright February 2015



If you have read much of my work you know that a lot of what I write has a spiritual quality to it.  I know many of the people who read my work are religious, and I also know that many are not.  And it really doesn’t matter. Nothing I write has a religious agenda to it.  I do however, believe, that to become greater than one’s self it is important to aspire to something greater than yourself, and there- in is how faith can play an important part in life.

Even so, the topics I write about aren’t really even about faith so much as they are about human strength, and courage, and most of all hope; of which “faith” is often a major part.    

A case in point; there is a touching story that I heard many years ago about one of the most beloved hymns ever written.  

It begins with a man, Horatio Gates Spafford; a senior partner in a prominent law firm in Chicago and real estate developer. He and his wife Anna Larson Spafford and their four daughters were well known in the social circles in Chicago in the mid 1800s.  Then in 1871 disaster struck.  The Great Chicago Fire destroyed much of the Spafford Family’s financial fortune and then the economy downturn of 1873 following the great fire essentially took the rest.  

With only a little money left the Spafford family decided to take a holiday in England to spend time with friends and recover from their losses, but disaster was yet to strike again.

At the last minute Horatio had to stay behind to finish legal issues caused by the fire, sending Anna his wife and his four daughters on a ship a head of him.  While crossing the Atlantic in the dead of night the SS Ville du Havre struck another ship and sank.  Two hundred twenty six people were lost.    

Horatio’s wife survived, and the telegram she sent to her husband was only two words.  

“Saved…alone.” 

All four of Horatio's daughters: eleven-year-old Tanetta, nine-year-old  Elizabeth "Bessie", five-year-old Margret Lee, and two-year-old Anna were lost.   

Shortly after Spafford boarded another ship that would take him to his  grieving wife in England.  Half way through the journey the Captain came to Horatio’s door.  “Sir we are at the place where the Havre went down, I thought you would like to know.”

Horatio Spafford donned his heavy coat and hat and walked out into a raging storm to stand on deck and look at the resting place where all four of his little girls were lost, and as he stood there, wind and rain beating down on him, he slipped a pen and a piece of paper from his pocket and wrote the gentle words—“It is Well with My Soul.”  

Eventually he would finish those words and Philip Bliss would write the music.  

Even now when I hear that hymn, I see Horatio Spafford standing on the deck of that ship in a raging storm, broken hearted, yet writing his six words of strength and hope.  And I am touched by how often in the midst of our greatest tragedies; something beautiful and meaningful can come.  And how something as intangible as faith-- can be the difference.

Angels in the Front Seat by Kim Michael -Copyright February 2015

Some weeks ago I was in Beverly, MA driving back to Manchester to catch the last flight out for the night.  I had been on four flights, drove to Beverly Massachusetts to meet with a friend and back to Manchester to head home to Nashville--all in a single day.  My flight was at 5:35p.  The meeting with my friend went to 3:15 and as I looked outside to the parking lot I could see the rain had not let up like I hoped it would.  Instead it was coming down even harder--in sheets--wind blowing--visibility only about 20%.

I drove back in a rented Hyundai SUV, a vehicle that I had never driven before and really didn't know how all of the features worked.  All I knew was I was going to miss my flight and I had not made arrangements to stay in New Hampshire for the night.   Sometimes in the heat of desperation we all do stupid things and I was so determined to make that flight--that at times, I was driving as much as 80 miles an hour.  

Even with the rain pounding and the wind blowing the rain sideways, I was amazed…I could see the road fine (which is a feat in itself because I am practically blind in the dark—can’t see a thing).  

Oddly people kept flashing their lights at me all the time I was driving and I kept thinking to myself "These people in Massachusetts sure don’t like to be passed".  When I got within five miles of the airport the rain began to let up and as I pulled into the garage, even with the lights in the garage, it was hard for me to see.  

Then I looked down at the dash and saw the true "miracle".  I had driven the entire way with my lights off-and yet in all that rain and wind and dark—I saw the road perfectly.  

I am convinced that angels are with us.  Sometimes as close as the seat next to us.  Guiding us, even when we don’t know they’re there.  And sometimes they help us to find our way home….even when we can’t see it for ourselves.