It Is Well With My Soul

I have heard this hymn so many times and also the story behind it.  I can't imagine the pain and sorrow both of them must have gone through but it is encouraging to see the level of faith that they had despite the enormous suffering they experienced.

I felt that this hymn and story articulates what I am going through - along with the rest of my family. There is pain, there is anguish but there is also hope... sometimes the journey towards hope is not always straightforward, and many times, faith itself doesn't work like a formula.

We learn through great difficulty that the journey of a believing person is not paved with flowers but sometimes there are rocky paths that make it hard to move forward. In such circumstances our comfort is in knowing that the God we worship calls himself "Immanuel" (or God with us) and has promised never to leave us nor forsake us.

I guess, it also means that God has not promised to give us a life of ease but has assured us that no matter what we go through he is there with us.