About The New Version Of "It Is Well"

This has been an unforgettable few days in Australia. I guess along with the rest of our nation, my family on holidays, watched horrified at the flood scenes on our TV screens, never imagining we would see this kind of devastation in our own country.

It was an amazing thing to see that our own feelings of wanting to do something, anything to help, were echoed in our church and then right across Australia. Everyone is doing what they can.

As we gathered together as a church last Sunday morning, we began to sing a version of the old hymn “It is Well with My Soul”. This song was originally written by a man after his own family had died in a shipwreck. It’s a song that says - "I will trust in God who is greater than any trial or circumstance".

In that service last weekend at our Brisbane campus the response was overwhelming, people who themselves and their families have suffered incredible loss, standing together and framing those events with faith and hope.

So it’s been out of that incredible meeting that we began talking about making this song of great hope available to everyone, and also to help friends and family who have been affected by the flood. And so came the idea to record the song and have the proceeds go to the flood relief effort in Queensland.

This has been a miracle week in seeing the song come together. The dream was to make it available for this weekend! So we began the journey of seeing if what would normally be a process that can take weeks and weeks could even be possible in a few days. What we were amazed to find is that people all over the world were willing to drop everything and donate their time and resources to help.

From here in Aussie with our own senior Pastor Brian Houston’s support, the song was:

Recorded in Sydney in one day, mixed in England overnight by Sam Gibson, and finally mastered in LA by Stephen Marcussen. (Sam and Stephen are both highly respected in their field and everyone involved in this process donated studio resources, as well as their time)

The track was made available on iTunes and Hillsong Music Australia's website early Friday evening. This all took place in only three days, between 19th January and 21st January 2011.

We are believing this recording will be a blessing to many many people.

Ultimately, worship is a response to God. This song is powerful because the confession is, that though everything around me may fail, our God never fails.

It is well with my soul

•R



For more information on how you can help please visit myhillsong.com/ausfloods