A New Tool to Help You Say “It Is Well With My Soul”
To take advantage of the 20% off sale to celebrate the release of the “It is Well With My Soul” Gratitude Journal, CLICK HERE.
Perhaps many of you are already familiar with the moving story behind the composition of the beloved hymn “It Is Well With My Soul”. I became acquainted with the story while watching the dramatic reenactment that was done as part of the Tabernacle Choir Christmas Concert with Hugh Bonneville and Sutton Foster several years ago.
It is truly and deeply moving, I am including the full video here. I encourage you to watch:
The Spaffords’ harrowing story stuck with me because of this depiction, which always leaves me weepy. I know I am not one who suffers with much grace and I wanted to know how I could be armed with the kind of spiritual fortitude that allows someone to find in themselves the words. “it is well with my soul” under such devastating circumstances.
This question of how to become that kind of person was paired with another dilemma in my life; the seismic shift that happened in my journal keeping once I had children.
I used to journal constantly. I always kept my journal in my purse, and any time I had a spare moment, I would write about every little facet of what was going on. The person I was in those journals, was well rounded and had emotions and insights all over the spectrum of human experience. My posterity will probably find her charming, funny, and a little naively romantic.
Now, I have two rambunctious toddler sons, a house that is always out of control, several small businesses, and a husband that I high five now and then as we switch off who is taking care of what. The time I used to spend journaling is gone. Now, I really only crack open the cover of my journal when my thoughts are so desperately tangled that if I don’t drag a pen through and untangle them, my brain will burst. My posterity will likely believe that the girl in my current journals was deeply depressed.
It began to irk me that my journal is getting such a woefully one-sided view of my heart. But on days that are glorious and joyful; where a hike that started with pelting rain opens up into a breath-taking vista; or where a project I’ve worked on comes to heartening fruition; or where my boys argue over who gets to snuggle me first and most—I’m too busy living those moments to have time to record them. My brain doesn’t need the unburdening and so I stay present, soak it in, and leave no record.
But I need a record of my joy.
And as I considered how to develop that Spafford kind of grace under extremely difficult circumstances, I thought that having some kind of gratitude journal, one that invited me to stop and consider my joys and give them a place to be recorded, would be just the thing. I wanted it to have the phrase “It is Well With My Soul” scrawled across the cover, as through Horatio Spafford had only just written it. I wanted that phrase to shine against a vibrantly starry sky, the kind you see when you cross the Atlantic, as he did, when he was considering his loss and anxious to be reunited with his wife.
With the help of a painter friend of mine, Ryann Bailey, I was able to see that vision come to life. I was able to fill the inside with a few other inspiring stories of gratitude and perspective amidst tribulation, like the Spaffords’, as well as finding quotes from thinkers throughout history on the power of gratitude to inspire those that turn these pages. It amazed me how much there are people from every culture and time who have had something to say about gratitude, such is its impact.
In addition, I carefully crafted 100 gratitude prompts to add to the journal. Though I decided to list them altogether in the front, because journals with prompts built in throughout have always become cumbersome for me, when there is a prompt I didn’t particularly want to answer, or one that only provided a line or two for something about which I had pages to say. Instead, they are all there, at the beginning, for you to use at your leisure.
Turn to the list if you ever feel stuck and don’t know what else to share. Or pick a number at random, and then go find out what question you got, to make it a game of gratitude. Or go down the list in order and write about one question each Sunday so you are accountable to continue to preserve good things.
I hope, as you and I cultivate a regular practice of recording the things we are grateful for, and the ways the Lord is actively trying to bless us, we will realize just how truthfully we can declare:
As we enter the month of Thanksgiving, I’m more certain than ever that gratitude is the key to becoming the things I hope to become and developing the strength I wish that I had. I am excited to share this new tool with you and go on the journey together.
The journal is available for pre-order beginning today. It will not come in time for Thanksgiving, but it will be shipped out in time for Christmas gift giving. But somehow, that seems fitting. I would love to have been able to give you a place to write for your November month of gratitude, but I’d much rather invest in you living a whole life of gratitude, even once November ends.
The lateness of the release comes as a result of my having taken quite a bit of extra time to find the manufacturer that could make this something lasting. Not a passing, throwaway item, but a foil printed, hardback, silver edged place for your great granddaughter to read about what mattered to you. I’m so excited to share it.
In celebration of the release, the journal is 20% off for the first week, so don’t wait.