A few weeks ago, the choir sang one of my favorite hymns, “It is Well With My Soul”. \u00a0Yes it is possible that my musical interests extend past the pop-music of the 60’s\/70’s. \u00a0This hymn has become a source of comfort in some unlikely ways.<\/p>\n
I will back up a few steps and apologize, because this\u00a0entry ventures a little out of the “husband and kids” theme and is sort of self-centered.\u00a0 It is also a little personal and a bit heavy ….<\/p>\n
Ok, back to the hymn. \u00a0My first concrete memory of this song dates back to my high school years. \u00a0My mom was sitting next to me at church during my sister’s baptism, and I noticed her looking through the hymnal during the church announcements or something like that. \u00a0I noticed her reading the lyrics to “It is Well With My Soul”. \u00a0I thought that was odd. \u00a0She later explained that she heard the story behind the song on Paul Harvery’s “The Rest of the Story” radio program. \u00a0Apparently, the author of the lyrics had been through a lot of tragedy, which\u00a0inspired him to put his feelings\/reflections to music. \u00a0The line “when sorrow like sea billows roll” is thought to be a direct reference to the death of his daughters in a tragic accident at sea.<\/p>\n
Growing up in the\u00a0Baptist tradition, I have heard this song many times and was reminded of the story. Within the past few years the song began to resonate with me in a new way. \u00a0It happened in a most unexpected way. We had moved to Houston and Rachel was struggling, so\u00a0Bryan and I were struggling. \u00a0She had been through surgery for kidney reflux disease just prior to moving down here and when we moved her hyperactivity (which seemed like typical behavior for a curious and bright 3 year old) just exploded. \u00a0In summary, her first daycare experience in Houston was a disaster, and that is putting it gently. \u00a0All of the other kids in our neighborhood were perfect, and Rachel was wild. \u00a0Doctors started\u00a0giving their opinions regarding her behavior.\u00a0\u00a0It was devastating…<\/p>\n
One day, I was in Hobby Lobby shopping for random stuff, and I noticed songs that seemed so familiar.\u00a0 They were instrumental renditions of many standard hymns.\u00a0 At the time, I thought it must be some sort of “Texas thing” to play religious music in stores, because I didn’t know the backstory of the owner of Hobby Lobby.\u00a0 Anyway, it was very nice to hear those songs.\u00a0 Then, I started to feel sad.\u00a0 I started to miss Kentucky, our friends, our family,\u00a0and the\u00a0church that had promised “to take good care of Rachel” at her baby dedication.\u00a0 I felt totally alone.\u00a0 Well, I had a cart full of picture frames and other junk to fill the void, but you get the idea…\u00a0 But, like getting an unexpected\u00a0phone call from an old friend, I heard the opening to “It is Well”.\u00a0 I thought about Mom (and almost started crying), and then I felt totally and completely sorry for myself.\u00a0 In my pity fest, I remembered the story behind the lyrics and then actually gave my complete thought to the song.\u00a0 My pity turned to guilt, because I knew that there was so\u00a0many good (actually great) things that accompanied all of\u00a0my sadness.\u00a0 I always loved good ole hymns, but this experience was transformative.<\/p>\n
Several months\u00a0after the Hobby Lobby sob-fest, I was once again dealing with extreme sadness.\u00a0 Again, Rachel was so hyper that everday was another series of unwanted drama.\u00a0 She was about 3 and 1\/2 and she was going to occupational therapy (which was totally useless – I am sure it helps many kids\/people, but it didn’t help Rachel). \u00a0I had also started taking her to gymnastics as an outlet for her hyperactivity.\u00a0 For whatever reason, I was up late and was so overwhelmed with anxiety about Rachel’s issues that I could not sleep.\u00a0 I cried, watched tv, ate some cookies, cried some more, watched tv, ate some potato chips, then aimlessly changed the tv channels.\u00a0 I happened upon\u00a0\u00a0a Christian tv network, and I watched as soothing pictures from nature went across the screen and instrumental hymns played.\u00a0 It seemed worth a few minutes.\u00a0 I watched and honestly felt very bitter and angry.\u00a0 How could I possibly have peace in my heart when no one else could see how terrific my kid was or how hard we were trying to fit in?\u00a0 In the midst of my pity, once again, you guessed it – “It is Well” started playing.\u00a0 I thought either this is a bad omen, OR maybe I should just let go and find peace.\u00a0 Maybe it was time to let go and realize that I could be well if I gave my troubles to God and stopped carrying the burden on my\u00a0own. I still find peace when I think of this hymn.\u00a0 A few Sunday’s ago, I was reminded of the peace and blessings that such lovely music can bring.\u00a0 Someday, I hope that Rachel and Sarah Amelia will understand\u00a0the\u00a0life sustaining power of those blessings.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A few weeks ago, the choir sang one of my favorite hymns, “It is Well With My Soul”. \u00a0Yes it is possible that my musical interests extend past the pop-music of the 60’s\/70’s. \u00a0This hymn has become a source of comfort in some unlikely ways. I will back up a few steps and apologize, because…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myhusbandandkids.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/731"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myhusbandandkids.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myhusbandandkids.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myhusbandandkids.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myhusbandandkids.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=731"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.myhusbandandkids.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/731\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":746,"href":"https:\/\/www.myhusbandandkids.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/731\/revisions\/746"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myhusbandandkids.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=731"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myhusbandandkids.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=731"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myhusbandandkids.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=731"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}