I was saddened this morning to hear of the interstate bridge in Minnesota, filled with rush hour traffic, that collapsed into the Mississippi River, plunging dozens of cars into the deep and killing at least seven.
About twenty families gathered at a near-by information center, anxious to hear if their loved-ones were injured or killed.
Contentment should not be mentioned in the same breath as this fatal incident.
But I did think of contentment when I read the story. How does one emerge from something like this with a sense of well being, peace, or inner contentment? How do you rectify something so sudden and unexplained?
Haratio G. Spafford, a wealthy businessman, endured two catastrophic events in his lifetime: The great Chicago Fire of 1871 ruined him financially. He was just getting his bearings after this incident when he received a telegram from Anna, his wife, that read, “Saved Alone.”
Anna and their four daughters were crossing the Atlantic Ocean. Two ships collided and the four girls died.
Several months later, Spafford sailed over the very spot where his daughters had died and wrote these words:
“When peace like a river attendeth my soul, when sorrows as sea billows roll, whatever my lot, Thou has taught me to say, it is well, it is well with my soul.”
These words have become the famous hymn “It is Well with My Soul,” which has comforted thousands and thousands of grieving and hurting people.
Imagine saying, “It is well with my soul” in the very spot where your four children drowned.
Spafford experienced a deep sense of well being amid “sea billows” that overwhelm.
There is something concrete about that kind of contentment in the wake of catastrophy; it transcends circumstance.
Bonnie Saul Wilks 
Very well said.
Bonnie – this is so insightful and encouraging. May this true contentment increase and deepen in all of serving the Lord.
With the deep angush over recent events with the falling of the bridge, only the Lord can give any of us the strength to get through these hard times. It is beyond our understanding how one can ever come out of it with their sanity, however, I tasted just a bit of this angush when Charles was so desperately ill 4 years ago. Jesus was there!!! God’s grace was there. He held me close. I pray this for all those who are suffering so much right now. Her are some very comforting scriptures.
Nah. 1:7 “The LORD is good,A stronghold in the day of trouble.”
Ps 55:22 “Cast your burden on the LORD, And He shall sustain you”
Ps 9:9 “The LORD also will be a refuge for the oppressed, A refuge in times of trouble.”
Ps 27:14 “Wait on the LORD; Be of good courage, And He shall strengthen your heart; Wait, I say, on the LORD!”
Ps 34:18 “The LORD is close to the brokenhearted; he rescues those who are crushed in spirit.”
i grew up in Greenville, MS, a small town on the mississippi river, and had to often cross a huge, old and shaky and very scary bridge over the mighty mississippi to get to the tiny town of lake village, arkansas, where my dad grew up and where some of our relatives live.so that story hit home, since i just drove across it a few times in the past month. a new one is in the process of being built , but it is a very long process. i always wondered if that severnty year old bridge would hold up, after being hit by many barges and taking so many beatings over the years. i love that story of the author of It is Well with my Soul. It really ties in with your thoughts on gratitude and contentment. seeing that glass as half full and not half empty. although the bridges over the miss. are shaky and scary, it is so wonderful to be anchored in an unshakeable kingdom and no matter the outcome, we can enjoy true rest and peace and contentment in our weary souls.