After years of drought we found ourselves threatened by fires.

That ended only for us to rush into a global health pandemic which has brought everything to a grinding halt.

As if this were not enough we now face an uncertain future. How long will the virus last? What will the economic impact be long term? Will I have a job? Will my super allow me to retire?

As I contemplate the uncertainty which I personally face at this time, I have found comfort in the words of one of my favourite songs, It Is Well.

The author of the song was Horatio Spafford. An American man, he was a successful attorney and real estate investor with a beautiful family. He had a life which many of would love to live.

Of course, Horatio could not have predicted the future any more than we can, and his life would not prove to be an easy one. Tragedy struck first when he lost a fortune in the great Chicago fire of 1871. Around the same time, his beloved four-year-old son died of scarlet fever.

Thinking a vacation would do his family some good, he sent his wife and four daughters on a ship to England, planning to join them after he finished some pressing business at home. However, while crossing the Atlantic Ocean, the ship was involved in a terrible collision and sunk.

More than 200 people lost their lives, including all four of Horatio Spafford's precious daughters. His wife, Anna, survived the tragedy. Upon arriving in England, she sent a telegram to her husband that began: "Saved alone. What shall I do?"

Horatio immediately set sail for England. At one point during his voyage, the captain of the ship, aware of the tragedy that had struck the Spafford family, summoned Horatio to tell him that they were now passing over the spot where the shipwreck had occurred.

It was at this moment, as Horatio thought about his daughters, words of comfort and hope filled his heart and mind. He wrote them down:

When peace like a river, attendeth my way,

When sorrows like sea billows roll,

Whatever my lot, thou hast taught me to know,

It is well, it is well with my soul

Of course, Horatio Spafford was drawing in that moment on his Christian faith.

Not a faith which imagined that life would always be easy, Horatio's God was not the genie of the lamp who existed only to keep him from trouble and make life pleasant.

But a God who was still good and trustworthy even in the midst of life's pain and uncertainty.

For his was the God of Jesus Christ. The God who joined us in our world of pain and suffering, experiencing even death, in order to secure our eternity.

Little has changed in the almost 150 years since Horatio Spafford experienced the tragedies which inspired his great song.

For us, life can be so unpredictable - joys and sorrows, beautiful blessings and distressing difficulties can come unexpectedly. Our life's dreams and plans can change in an instant.

Yet what is equally true is that the same nail scarred hands which Spafford trusted to hold his life in hand, both now and into eternity, are still held out to us.

Like Spafford, we can know the joy that Jesus offers.

A joy which transcends our circumstance.

A joy which can not be shaken by life's hardships.

The joy of knowing that Jesus has made it eternally well for our souls.