Saved Alone

Life had been good to this family.  No, really I guess I should say ... God had been good to them.  A loving Christian husband and wife together raising five children in a north side suburb of Chicago in the late 1860's ... all is well.  They were active in their church, and evangelical leaders like Dwight L. Moody were often guests in their home.  But their faith would soon be tested.

Tragedy came ... in 1870 their four year old son, Horatio, Jr. died of scarlet fever.  The following year the Great Chicago Fire destroyed most of the city including all the real estate holdings the family had invested in.  Horatio G. Spafford was considered a wealthy man ... but no longer.

Their home had been spared, but 90,000 others were homeless in the city.  For the next two years the Spafford family used what resources they had left to feed the hungry and care for their neighbors.  That's what Jesus would have done.

In 1873, with Horatio's wife Anna's health failing, they decided to take their four daughters on a trip to Europe hoping to put all their pain and tragedy behind them.  Perhaps a new start, after all ... God would go with them.  They would sail across the Atlantic on a French steamer and meet up with their old friend Dwight L. Moody who was conducting revivals in England.  But once again tragedy would test their faith in God.

The day they were to set sail for Europe, Horatio had a business emergency and couldn't leave.  Not wanting to disappoint Anna and his four girls he sent them on ahead planing to take another ship in a few days.

On November 22, 1873 the steamer Anna and the girls were on was struck broadside by a British iron sailing ship and sank within twelve minutes in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.  Only 81 of the 307 souls on board survived.  The ship that struck them picked up those who survived.  Anna was one of them, but her four beautiful daughters weren't with her ... they had drowned.

Anna Spafford was taken to Cardiff, Wales where she telegraphed her husband Horatio.  Anna's cable was brief and heartbreaking ...

"Saved alone.  What shall I do?"

Without delay Horatio headed across the Atlantic to his wife.  He asked the captain of the ship to please let him know when they were at the spot where his girls were lost.  Horatio's faith never faltered ... that night, alone in his cabin Horatio G. Spafford penned the words to his famous hymn ... "It Is Well With My Soul."

I don't believe I could have brought myself to write anything as I sailed over the watery grave of my children ... but this man of God found the strength to put into words one of the most beloved songs of all time.

The first two words of Anna's telegraph message caught my attention ... Saved Alone.

These words are so very true.  We are alone.  I am so thankful that God gave me my faithful loving wife Peggy.  She is my companion, my friend, my lover, and my partner in this life.  And I emphasize ... this life.

I will someday stand before God ... alone ... Peggy won't be there to stand beside me as she has done in this life.  I will be on my own.  Thank God for Jesus ... He will be there as my Savior and Lord.

When Peggy accepted Jesus as her Lord and Savior at the age of fourteen, she was ... "Saved Alone."  The Holy Spirit dealt with her heart ... by itself.  It's a one on one deal.  Just you and Jesus.

You don't get "saved" as a group.  You may be in a group setting like in a revival, but you get ... saved alone. 

There's something else you are required to do alone ... die.  If I die before Peggy, I would hope we can say good-bye before I take my last breath and shut my eyes.  Even though she most likely would be at my bedside holding my hand ... when God calls me home ... she will be left behind.  I will go alone.

These four girls that were lost at sea in that shipwreck may have plunged into the cold icy north Atlantic water together ... but I assure you ... each of them died alone.  They each died their own death even though it seemed premature.  God only knows when.

I often quote  Nicholas Herman, the seventeenth century Carmelite monk from French Lorraine, known as Brother Lawrence.  Concerning his own death he said ... "I know not how God will dispose of me.  So I abandon myself in His hands that He may do with me what He pleases."

We should all do the same.

"Saved alone. What shall I do?" ... was the message Anna sent to her husband.  I'm not sure what she did, but Horatio G. Spafford looked to God and wrote the following ...


"When peace, like a river, attendeth my way,

When sorrows like sea billows roll;

Whatever my lot, Thou has taught me to say,

It is well, it is well, with my soul.



Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come,

Let this blest assurance control,

That Christ has regarded my helpless estate,

And hath shed His own blood for my soul.


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, praise the Lord, O my soul!

For me, be it Christ, be it Christ hence to live:
If Jordan above me shall roll,
No pang shall be mine, for in death as in life
Thou wilt whisper Thy peace to my soul.


And Lord, haste the day when my faith shall be sight,

The clouds be rolled back as a scroll;

The trump shall resound, and the Lord shall descend,

Even so, it is well with my soul.

It is well, with my soul,

It is well, with my soul,

It is well, it is well, with my soul."


Praise the Lord ...