Article Tools
- Text Size
- Add a comment (
- Print-Friendly
- Email this article
Every year, thousands of mothers with their children climb the steep, stone-paved street in Jerusalem leading to the Spafford Children's Center. The center, which stands along the high point in the wall encircling the Old City, provides medical and other services to children of families with limited financial means.
Mothers and children who step inside the solidly built former residence find cheerful adults, brightly painted rooms adorned with children’s drawings, and up-to-date treatment rooms. Visitors see little that would tell them about the Spaffords, who once lived here—certainly nothing to suggest that this busy clinic is a distant after-effect of a disaster that occurred eight thousand miles away and more than a century ago: the great Chicago Fire.
“It Is Well with My Soul.” Horatio Spafford and Anna Larssen met in Chicago before the Civil War at the Sunday school class he taught at his Presbyterian church. At the beginning of the 1870s, the couple were living with their four young daughters just north of Chicago, where Horatio was a prosperous lawyer. The fire that destroyed almost the entire city of Chicago in October 1871 stopped short of the…
The full article is available to subscribers only
Access all articles, daily meditations and readings, as well as special resources, by becoming a subscriber. View subscription options.
Special Offer: Two week free web-only trial subscription. Sign up now.
Existing Print & Web-Only Subscribers: Login for full access.
