Twenty years ago today our family was together for our 1993 Christmas dinner. In the evening, Steve left the house to go sing in a chorus program in a church and ended up singing in a heavenly choir instead. He was 18. We had no clue that was coming and it was like being hit with a ton of bricks.
As I worked through the grief in the weeks and months to come, I was tortured with wondering where he was. I so badly wanted someone at the viewing or funeral to say, "I know Steve is in heaven." Not one person did. Why not?
As the months went by, I became aware that I was hearing the song "It Is Well With My Soul" every day. I heard it in church, on the radio, in the grocery store. . . everywhere. . . and almost got to resent it. And then one day it finally dawned on me that this song was the answer to the question that was plaguing me.
It took me a long time to get it, but one day the words of the second verse finally registered. "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, oh my soul!" Steve was a teenager and had teenage struggles, but he was a child of God. His sins had been forgiven and it was well with his soul.
After that, I still heard the song every day and came to love it. The assurance that it was well with Steve's soul brought peace to my heart and then it was also well with my soul.
1 comment:
I remember when Steve died. (He was a friend of my brother) Thanks for sharing...it encourages me that God will be faithful should we ever face the "unthinkable".
-Sandra Hoover
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