TURN YOUR EYES UPON JESUS
O soul, are you weary and troubled?
No light in the darkness you see?
There’s a light for a look at the Savior,
And life more abundant and free!
Refrain
Turn your eyes upon Jesus,
Look full in His wonderful face,
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim,
In the light of His glory and grace.
Through death into life everlasting
He passed, and we follow Him there;
Over us sin no more hath dominion—
For more than conquerors we are!
Refrain
His Word shall not fail you—He promised;
Believe Him, and all will be well:
Then go to a world that is dying,
His perfect salvation to tell!
Refrain
Helen Howarth Lemmel
1863-1961
Lyrics and music
Born: November 14, 1863, Wardle, England.
Died: November 1, 1961, at her home in Seattle, Washington.
Daughter of a Methodist minister, Helen emigrated from England with her family to America when she was 12 years old. They first settled in Mississippi, then relocated to Wisconsin. She moved to Seattle in 1904, and for three years was music critic for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. While interviewing German singer Ernestine Schumann-Hein, Helen was persuaded to go to Europe. A gifted singer, she studied music in Germany for four years. Upon her return to America, she began giving concerts and traveling on the Chautauqua circuit. Eventually, she became a vocal music teacher at the Moody Bible Institute in Chicago, Illinois. After retirement, she moved to Seattle, Washington, where she was a member of the Ballard Baptist Church. Among her works are a hymnal used by evangelist Billy Sunday for over a decade. Lemmel and a women’s choral group she directed were part of Sunday’s group at the peak of his career.
This hymn was inspired by a tract Helen Lemmel read – written by brilliant artist – turned missionary Lilias Trotter, who wrote:
“Never has it been so easy to live in half a dozen harmless worlds at once — art, music, social science, games, motoring, the following of some profession, and so on. And between them we run the risk of drifting about, the good hiding the best.” It is easy to find out whether our lives are focused, and if so, where the focus lies. Where do our thoughts settle when consciousness comes back in the morning? Where do they swing back when the pressure is off during the day? Dare to have it out with God, and ask Him to show you whether or not all is focused on Christ and His Glory. Turn your soul’s vision to Jesus, and look and look at Him, and a strange dimness will come over all that is apart from Him.”
– Lilias Trotter , “Which Passion Will Prevail”
But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.
2 Corinthians 3: 16
The Vine Vigil 