It Is Well With My Soul
Horatio Spafford · 1873 · tune VILLE DU HAVRE
Key of C · public domain
Words
When sorrows like sea billows roll
Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say
It is well, it is well with my soul
It is well, it is well with my soul
Let this blest assurance control
That Christ hath regarded my helpless estate
And hath shed His own blood for my soul
My sin, not in part but the whole
Is nailed to the cross and I bear it no more
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul
The clouds be rolled back as a scroll
The trump shall resound and the Lord shall descend
Even so, it is well with my soul
The story
In 1873 Horatio Spafford put his wife and four daughters on the steamship Ville du Havre, meaning to follow a few days later. The ship was struck by an iron sailing vessel and went down in twelve minutes. All four girls drowned. His wife survived and sent him a telegram of two words: saved alone. Sailing out to meet her, the captain called him up to say they were passing over the place where the ship went down, and he wrote these words there. The phrase itself is not his. It belongs to the Shunammite woman in 2 Kings 4, who says it is well when asked about the son lying dead upstairs. The tune is named for the ship.
Chords in C
In the app you can move this to any key and it works out the capo for you.
Themes
Comfort · Grief · Trust