Among my favorite memories of Silver Dollar City is walking through the park hearing the enchanting sounds of Dulcimers playing. It's a simple but lovely instrument.
I've chosen the hammered dulcimer as the instrument of choice for this week's tune. Given the uncertain times we are living in, I have chosen the melody of "It is well - with my soul" the story behind it shows us that even though life around us is falling apart, we can still have peace. I hope this helps anyone struggling in these times.
A successful lawyer and businessman in Chicago, Horatio G. Spafford, his wife, Anna, and five children were no strangers to tears and tragedy. - in 1871, their young son died of pneumonia, they lost much of their business in the great Chicago fire. But God blessed their business, and it once again flourished.
Planning to help with D. L. Moody's upcoming evangelistic campaigns, the Spaffords had booked passage on the French ocean liner SS Ville du Havre. Departing Nov. 21, 1873, to cross the Atlantic from the U.S. to Europe. Mr. Spafford found it necessary to stay in Chicago to solve an unexpected business matter at the last minute. He planned to join his family in Europe a few days later by booking passage on another liner.
During the early hours of 22 November 1873, with 313 passengers on board, including Mrs. Spafford and her four daughters, the Ville du Havre and the British three-masted iron clipper, Loch Earn collided. The Ville du Havre 12 minutes with the loss of 226 lives.
After the collision, only Mrs. Spafford was rescued by a sailor, rowing a small boat over the spot where the ship went down. She was picked up unconscious and floating upon a plank of wood and then taken aboard Loch Earn.
Nine days later, upon landing in Cardiff, Wales, Mrs. Spafford wired her husband a telegram stating, “Saved alone, what shall I do?” Mrs. Spafford did not quite know how to reconcile her grief and was heard by another survivor, Pastor Nathaniel Weis, to say, "God gave me four daughters, and now they have been taken from me. Someday I will understand why.”
Mr. Spafford booked passage on the next available ship and left to join his grieving wife. During the Atlantic crossing, the Captain called Spafford into his cabin to tell him that they were passing over where his four daughters had drowned. The following week he wrote to Rachel, his wife's half-sister, "On Thursday last we passed over the spot where she went down, in mid-ocean, the waters three miles deep. But I do not think of our dear ones there. They are safe, folded, the dear lambs" According to Bertha Spafford Vester, a daughter born after the tragedy, Spafford wrote, “It Is Well With My Soul” while on this journey.
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.
Chorus:
It is well with my soul,
It is well; it is well with my soul
Anna gave birth to three more children, one of which died at age four with dreaded pneumonia. In August 1881, the Spaffords moved to Jerusalem. Mr. Spafford died and is buried in that city.
And the peace of God which surpasses all understanding shall keep your hearts, your minds through Christ Jesus. - Philippians 4:7.