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Due to the fact that the deal fell through on the sale of his property, Horatio Spafford put his wife (Anna) and his four daughters (Maggie, Tanetta, Annie and Bessie) on a luxury steamer named the Ville du Havre. While in the middle of the Atlantic, the ship was rammed by a British iron sailing ship, the Lockhearn. In just 12 minutes the steamer sank; 226 people lost their lives.
Being kept afloat by a piece of debris, an unconcious Anna was one of the passengers that were rescued. Spafford lost his four daughters. Meanwhile, Horatio was planning to join his family in Europe where he would join Dwight Lyman Moody and Ira Sankey on one of their evangelistic crusades. While wrapping up his affairs, Spafford received a horrible telegram from his wife stating: "Saved alone."
Crossing the Atlantic Ocean to be with his wife, he penned the words to the beloved hymn "It Is Well With My Soul" giving an expression of his faith in Christ. An acquaintance of Dwight L. Moody, Spafford told him, "The will of God be done."
Sources:
http://students.etsu.edu/zamt15/spafordbio.htm
http://www.geocities.com/cott1388/spaford.html
http://www.backtothebible.org/gateway/today/17467
Pictures: http://www.gracelivingstonhill.com/spafford.htm
http://www.gospelcom.net/chi/GLIMPSEF/glimpses/glms064.shtml
http://www.aquarelles.com/spafford/
K. W. Osbeck, 101 Hymn Stories, Grand Rapids, Michigan, Kregel Publications, 1982
K. W. Osbeck, Amazing Grace: 366 Inspiring Hymn Stories, Grand Rapids, Michigan, Kregel Publications, 1990
http://www.sermonillustrator.org/illustrator/horation.htm
http://www.angelfire.com/ms/spiritual/page16.html
