Senior Living - January 9

God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. --Psalm 46:1

In 1873, Horatio G. Spafford, a Christian lawyer from Chicago, sent his wife and four daughters on an ocean liner bound for Le Havre, France. But in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, the steamship collided with another sea vessel and sank within twelve minutes.

Miraculously, Spafford’s wife was rescued and taken to Le Havre with the other handful of survivors. When she arrived, she sent a message to her husband in Chicago: “Saved—alone.”

Immediately, Stafford sailed for Europe to be with his grief-stricken wife. As his ship passed the approximate location where his daughters drowned, he penned these words in the midst of his sorrow: “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.’”

Scripture says our Lord is “the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God” (2 Corinthians 1:3-4). If you are struggling through a difficult time in life, you can find comfort in the arms of God. Or, if there is a person in your life who is going through a tough time, seek to encourage them as the Lord has encouraged you.

PRAYER CHALLENGE: Pray that the Lord would use the difficulties in your life to help you encourage others who may be going through hard times.  

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