Even So

—Renee Adele Phillips
with Horatio Spafford (“It Is Well”)

When peace, like a river, attendeth my way,
You know me, Lord—I crave peace.
When sorrows like sea billows roll;
But for so much of my life, I’ve felt like I’m drowning in pain.
Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say,
Through the peace and the pain,
It is well, it is well with my soul.
I learned from You to say, “Even so, it is well.”

It is well
For this moment in time, I will say it,
With my soul,
and every fiber of my being will know peace.
It is well,
Tomorrow, I’ll say it again–no matter what–
it is well with my soul.
Until I mean it—even so, over and over again.

Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come,
Even when pain floods me again and again,
Let this blest assurance control,
I believe that I can rest in Your love;
That Christ hath regarded my helpless estate,
I know You see my fear and pain–
And hath shed His own blood for my soul.
In Your pain, You rescued me—You saved my soul.

My sin—oh, the bliss of this glorious thought!—
I think about my past, and I marvel,
My sin, not in part but the whole,
That You took all of its brokenness and left it at the cross;
Is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more,
The guilt and shame that weighed me down are gone,
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!
And in this new freedom, my soul rises with joy.

And Lord, haste the day when the faith shall be sight,
Someday, I will know all of the answers,
The clouds be rolled back as a scroll;
and all of the mysteries that cloud my faith will fall away.
The trump shall resound, and the Lord shall descend,
I will see You face to face and know
Even so, it is well with my soul.
That all along, it had been well, with my soul.