Amazing faith
Horatio Spafford and his wife lost their only son in 1871. Later that year they lost much of their wealth in the Chicago fire. Looking for some change and relief, they accepted an invitation from D.L. Moody to go to England with their four daughters where Horatio would help with the business end of Moody's evangelist campaign. The night before their departure, Horation learned that he was needed for some urgent business in Chicago. So he sent his wife and four daughters on ahead with plans to follow them on a later ship. On November 22 he learned that their ship had been involved in a colision and sunk almost immediately. While his wife was rescued, Horatio lost his four remaining children. As he was crossing the Atlantic a few days later he was informed by the ship's crew that they were over the spot where his daughters had perished. It was then that he penned the words to this hymn.