Anna’s Story
If ever there were daily habits, Anna’s days must have been filled with them. Being the mother of five children and wife of a successful lawyer and businessman, Anna’s days were filled with the tasks of life. Undoubtedly, she focused on her rituals to get her family through the day. But even the strictest routines could not prevent the death of her youngest and only son.
Grief Never Takes a Holiday
He was four when Scarlett Fever took his life. If you have suffered the loss of a child then you can understand the grief this mother suffered. Yes, she also had four daughters but that is no consolation. One child cannot replace the loss of another.
Was Anna able to get back into her routines? She must have, even if it was only by the necessity of continuing to care for her daughters and husband. Since grief never takes a holiday, Anna certainly carried it with her as she labored to care for her family.
It was a year later when fire broke out in the city. It would be called “The Great Chicago Fire” and it devastated the city. Her friends, Dwight and Emma, lost their home in the fire so Anna gladly took in their children to give her friends time to find a new place to live. Now Anna had six children to care for in addition to coping with the substantial loss of the property she and her husband owned.
Two years passed. Life was settling down. It had been three years since the death of her son and two years since the fire. Dwight and Emma’s kids had gone back with their parents. Now it was time for a holiday.
12 Minutes
Anna’s husband arranged a trip to England for the family. A vacation would do them all good. Their friends, Dwight and Emma, would be there and that just added to the anticipation of getting away.
The trip was set. They would travel by ship and be gone for almost a month. As their departure date approached, everything seemed to be coming together, but at the last minute, problems arose with her husband’s business which forced him to stay behind.
Anna boarded the ship with their four daughters and the promise that her husband would follow as soon as he was able. The daily routines for Anna and her daughters continued although altered by the life of the ship.
On November 22, 1873, all routines were irrevocably altered when the vessel Anna and her daughters occupied was broadsided by another ship. 12 minutes is not much time to get to safety but that was all the time Anna had to save her children. Sadly, it was not enough. When rescue came, Anna was found unconscious on a plank of wood, without her daughters.
Saved for a Purpose
Anna’s message to her husband said, “All is lost. I alone am saved.” Devastated at the loss of her children, Anna could not deny that in her grief she heard the quiet voice of the Lord say, “You were saved for a purpose.”
Dropping everything, Anna’s husband rushed to be with her. There were no airplanes and the journey by ship took days. As the ship passed the spot where his daughters died, he was moved to put the thoughts of his heart on paper.
Once Anna was reunited with her husband, the two grieved the loss of their children. One can only imagine the depth of their pain and the words they shared behind closed doors.
In time, Anna and her husband had three more children. Would you think that tragedy would be behind them? Surely, they had suffered enough. But once again, their only son died at the age of four, like his brother.
In August, 1881, Anna and her husband, moved to Jerusalem where they helped homeless children and all who were in need.
In October, 1888, Anna’s husband died from Malaria. Anna stayed in Jerusalem continuing the work she and her husband started until her own death in 1923.
Journey Through this Life
History doesn’t record much about Anna Spafford. Her husband, Horatio, wrote the beloved hymn “It Is well with my soul” after passing the location of the loss of his daughters. History does record that during the loss of her children in the sinking of the ship, Anna once said, “God gave me four daughters. Now they have been taken from me. Someday I will understand why.”
Anna knew that sometimes life cannot be understood in the moment and often it is not until we look back over our life that we begin to understand the events of our life. Indeed, some of the darkest valleys we may not understand until we reach the green, Son-lit fields of Heaven.
As for the purpose Anna was saved for, who can tell? We know that she served people in all their deep need, even as she carried the weight of her own substantial loss. Perhaps Anna’s purpose was not in great events like writing a beloved hymn, as her husband wrote, or preaching to great audiences like her friend D.L. Moody. Maybe Anna’s purpose was in the quiet and selfless love she expressed daily in a life of service to Jesus Christ as she ministered to her fellow travelers on their journey through this life.
Story from bethelripon.com
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