Speaker: For many of us, our earliest Speaker: connection to music began in Speaker: places like church, at home, Speaker: with family or in community, Speaker: places where sound and spirit Speaker: come together.

Speaker: Allow me to share with you the Speaker: sacred place where I first Speaker: discovered the power of lyrics Speaker: while.

Speaker: Calling.

Speaker: My love for songwriting originated in church.

Speaker: I have a traditional Baptist upbringing and we sang a lot of Speaker: hymns that I fell in love with because lyrically they were Speaker: clever and painted mental portraits with words used to Speaker: tell those melodic stories The hymn It Is Well was written in Speaker: the eighteen hundreds by Horatio Spafford, a wealthy lawyer who Speaker: experienced loss after loss.

Speaker: But he still had the desire to pen the phrase whatever my lot Speaker: thou hast taught me to say, it is well with my soul.

Speaker: Whatever.

Speaker: What.

Speaker: My lord, thou hast taught me to Speaker: Say it is well, it is well with Speaker: my soul.

Speaker: I'm not going to give you all Speaker: the specifics, but this man, um, Speaker: wrote this song as a result of Speaker: tragedy, right?

Speaker: Lost his family.

Speaker: He was overseas.

Speaker: The kids had died.

Speaker: Lost his family in a fire.

Speaker: But this is what he penned as a Speaker: result of that experience, Speaker: right?

Speaker: So what does Paul say?

Speaker: He says I can be content no matter what.

Speaker: Yeah, yeah.

Speaker: So I need y'all to sing it like that.

Speaker: Okay.

Speaker: This man was deep in sorrow after losing his four daughters Speaker: in a shipwreck, and while passing the actual spot of the Speaker: tragedy, he held on to hope that all is well.

Speaker: That right there is Speaker: self-encouragement even while Speaker: hurting.

Speaker: And it's truly a hymn that I live by day after day.

Speaker: It is well.

Speaker: With.

Speaker: My soul.