Welcome to 2019! I enjoyed writing about Christmas music in the month of December. (See all of those posts HERE). It really helped stave off my usual holiday anxiety, and even though we were down with the flu, we had an enjoyable Christmas. I wanted to continue writing about inspiring music this year — although not every day. So, I’m going to try most Mondays to share a song, hymn … something to divert you, and me from the insanity that is our social media world. If you have a favorite song, let me know in the comments and I’ll write about it.
I had been waiting for the Hugh Bonneville performance with the Tabernacle Choir from 2017 all of last year. This story about the hymn, “Peace Like a River/It Is Well With My Soul”, is so moving and so heartfelt. This hymn has always been a favorite, but I did not know the story behind, and it’s not in our green hymnbook. Maybe it will make it into the new hymnbook? Probably not, but we can still enjoy singing it, and the story behind it is very moving and heartfelt.
What impresses me most about Anna and Horatio Spafford is that they did not give up hope in the face of so much personal tragedy. They turned their sorrow into good things. I’m sure that took everything they had, but they did it anyway. I think so many of us carry heavy burdens that sometimes feel like they will be our undoing. But with hope in the Savior and His Atonement we can have deep and real peace — in other words, it can be well with our souls.
When Peace, Like a River:
1 When peace like a river attendeth my way,
when sorrows like sea billows roll;
whatever my lot, thou hast taught me to say,
“It is well, it is well with my soul.”
Refrain (may be sung after final stanza only):
It is well with my soul;
it is well, it is well with my soul.
2 Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come,
let this blest assurance control:
that Christ has regarded my helpless estate,
and has shed his own blood for my soul. Refrain
3 My sin oh, the bliss of this glorious thought!
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! Refrain
4 O Lord, haste the day when my faith shall be sight,
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. Refrain
Why are you skeptical about it makings its way into the new hymnbook?
My own opinion is that the new hymnbook is going to be much smaller to help with translating purposes. I think a lot is going to get cut. And not much from the American/British hymn traditions added in.