it is well.
This week we lost a woman who was part of the foundation of our church to a battle of pancreatic cancer. I didn’t know Norma at all, but many of my friends were very close with her so I had heard so much about her and she sounded like an absolutely wonderful woman. We play videos at church called “180s” and it is someone telling the story about how coming to the Lord or coming back to the Lord made a total change in their life. Norma made a 180 video a few months ago and they played it for us today and something she said really struck a chord. She said when she was diagnosed that she wasn’t saying “Why God? Why me?” but rather leaning on the Lord to get them through the battle and resting in the fact that He had His hand over her life. What a powerful peace in life.
After the video we went in to singing “It is Well” and these few verses really spoke to my heart:
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!And 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.
This really hit me when I thought about the meaning of this. The Lord takes me for ALL of me, not just the good parts, all of me and all of my nasty sins. Then He sent His {only} son to die on a cross – the most gruesome death there is – so that I wouldn’t have to carry those sins with me and has totally redeemed me – Praise the Lord, O my soul!!
Then we started singing a new refrain written for that song that said:
It is well, it is well, through the storms I am held
It is well, it is well, with my soul.
It is well, it is well, God has won, Christ prevailed
It is well, it is well, with my soul.
This was so powerful to me thinking about that even when things SUCK, like, really suck, God is still there holding me, fighting for me. Just because things are hard does NOT mean God loves me any less or is trying to punish me for my sins. My sins have already been forgiven, I am redeemed…I am held. He has won my soul, I am living for Him. Yes, I totally make mistakes and screw up {a lot} but God is so much bigger than that and I can’t imagine not having that hope.
My prayer for you is that if you don’t have that hope and you haven’t realized what it means to be fully surrendered that you will, because God is longing for your heart – to hold you in those storms.
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