by Lorrie Boettger

Created on: July 15, 2010

“Wellness”
Based on the hymn “It is well with my soul” by Horatio Spafford

We live in a time when “wellness” is a buzzword.  Wellness of body, wellness of mind, wellness in our emotions, wellness in our finances, relationships, almost any area of life is addressed by whether or not we are “well” in that regard. As Christians, it is the constant daily judgment call as to whether we are walking in each of these areas according to God’s will and direction, whether we are allowing Christ to dwell in us fully so that every one of these areas is under His control and producing the fruit that He desires in us. (Colossians 3:16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom…”) Obviously the best outcome would be that every single area of our lives as Believers are indeed governed by His loving grace and His holy standards of righteousness so that we daily learn to walk with Him more fully and become conformed to the image of Jesus. Under those circumstances, we would say that all of those areas are “well”, that they are just as they should be, and that we can be content with how our lives are progressing.

But if we are honest with ourselves, we will admit that we are seldom in such a state that every area of our lives is indeed in such a state of wellness. Oh, we might be generally at peace, or for the most part functioning without serious turmoil or trauma…but to say that we are completely well in every area would be a reach. Horatio Spafford knew what this was like. Mr. Spafford lost his home and his considerable business holdings during the Chicago fire of 1871, and had set about making plans to rebuild his business and home. In 1873, he sent his wife and four daughters ahead of him on a ship bound for England, with the plan to follow them a short time later. On November 22, 1873, the ship that Mrs. Spafford and the girls traveled on sank at sea, and of the family only Mrs. Spafford survived…all four of the daughters drowned. While traveling to England to meet his bereaved wife, Horatio Spafford penned the words to the well-known hymn, “It is well with my soul”. But let’s back up for a second. This man had just suffered loss on nearly every side. He was, by all standards, NOT in a state of “wellness”! He was in deep grief over losing his only four children, he had lost his home by fire, he was re-building  his business, he

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