Horatio Spafford, on the 22nd of November 1873, his wife and daughters were crossing the Atlantic, when their ship collided with another vessel and sank, with the loss of 226 lives, including all four of his young daughters, Annie, Maggie, Bessie, and Tanetta. Only his wife survived. While traveling to meet the heartbroken Anna, as the ship passed the point where his children had drowned, Spafford penned the words to a now-famous 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.

I wrote the following poem today, 2nd poem I have ever written, first was yesterday……

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

It is well with my soul
Is it well with yours
What does well look like
Such loss but yet it’s still well

Not the journey dreamed of
But the journey I am on
Accept it or not
It changes nothing

No longer wearing shoes out
But rather push rims
Do we push or pull through life
Are we stuck pulling on a door that needs to be pushed
Are we pulling thing towards us that we should be pushing away

Pushing is hard
Pushing is refusing status quo
Against the flow
Pushing is not accepting the way things are
And believing for better days

Granted a life of pushing
Hard luck is still luck
Accepting what is and moving forward
That is up to you
Moving forward in a greater strength
Forward in a peace that makes no sense
Knowing that there is a greater One in control
Knowing you don’t see the full puzzle
Knowing you are a piece of the puzzle
A piece that cannot be forced to fit anywhere
There is a time and place

They say you control how you respond
Is control really a thing
Or is it who we look to for help in surviving
What we look to for help
Isn’t that what will impact response
We control nothing

Control is so desired
But so elusive and false
We can determine what and where our hope lies
Where and what we look to when all has collapsed
That dictates the rest
Accidents happen
And so do the choices we make
They are not two in the same

Choose wisely
Like the old adage
Our choices affect our habits,
Which intern,
Shape our character,
And determine our destiny

2 responses to “It is well with my soul”

  1. Christopher Lott Avatar
    Christopher Lott

    Hello Mark,
    Seeing that picture of you in the neck brace with one of your sons sleeping beside you brought me back to the day my family met yours in Hawaii.
    We did what we could to provide your family with a safe place for them to do whatever they needed to do.
    We did a lot of praying for you folks, but I felt helpless at that time as I wanted to do more, but didnt want to get in their way as things unfolded daily and we just reacted to their needs.
    So fast forward to 31 Dec 2017, New Years Eve. We got notified our oldest 21 year old son Anthony had taken his life. It was as if a bomb exploded in our faces. Or, as in your case we’d all been pounded into the bottom by a deadly wave and held there to suffocate. Then we became Guardians of our granddaughter for a number of reasons. Man, I felt like God was blown out of my life for 2 years. I waited for Him to reach out to me as I didn’t ask for any of this and was so hurt and heartbroken.
    It’s been 6 years now and I’m back on my feet now as God has healed in many unexpected ways.
    Reading your words brought all that flooding back to me. In certain ways I can relate to your struggles. I was left with the question, ok, now what? Choices were there for me to choose selfish or destructive solutions.
    But, though it’s been hard, I watched you remain involved in life going on around you instead of isolting from it. At least on the outside anyways.
    I know your work here is cathartic and am better for having read it.
    Chris Lott.

    1. Thank you Chris I will never forget your families kindness.

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