Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus

Scripture For The Day  

October 20, 2022

 "The Things of Earth Will Grow Strangely Dim" 

Helen Lemmell was born in 1863 in England and moved to the US by the age of 12. Helen loved music and was gifted with a beautiful singing voice.  Her parents encouraged her to sing in many ways. Then at the age of 43, she went to Germany for four years of intensive vocal training. That is where she met and married her wealthy European husband. Not long after they moved back to the United States in 1911, tragedy struck her life. She developed some sort of sickness that resulted in her becoming blind. Apparently, it was too much for her husband and he left her.  But she didn’t turn from her Jesus. She kept Trusting in Him. She had to retire from being a music teacher but continued putting her poems to music with help from friends who would record them for her. She continued writing songs until she died at the age of 97 years old. At the age of 55, she was inspired to write “Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus” from something that she had heard. The words kept playing across her heart continually until she put them to music. By the end of her life, she was nearly destitute and living in a one-room apartment with not much in it. But when people would ask her how she was doing, she would respond with “I’m doing well in the things that count”. Despite her circumstances, despite her infirmities, she was full of life and loved The LORD. She kept a small plastic keyboard by her bed where she would play, sing, and cry. She believed with all her heart that one day, God was going to bless her with a great heavenly keyboard and she would say…” I can hardly wait!!!”

God chooses to use people that are messes. He chooses to use people that have been down and out, that struggle with depression, that struggle with infirmities, that struggle with life. He chooses to use the messy people to spread His Gospel so that the hurting and heartbroken will open their hearts to His Message and to Him. Oh people, Oh How He loves us. If He only used perfect people with perfect lives, I can’t imagine there would be very many people listening to someone that had no clue of just how difficult and messy life can be. 

Turn your eyes upon Jesus-  was written by a lady that became blind but understood that turning your eyes upon Jesus is from the heart and not from the physical. She was abandoned and left destitute. But she still turned her ‘eyes’ to Jesus.

How are you doing today? I pray that you are doing well in the things that count. “Turn your eyes upon Jesus and look full in His wonderful Face, and the things of earth will grow strangely dim, in the Light of His Glory and Grace.” The things of earth will grow strangely dim. When we put our Trust in Jesus, His Light leads us through the darkness of this messy world. 

Turn your eyes upon Jesus.

“Looking unto Jesus the Author and Finished of our Faith; Who for the joy that was set before Him endured the Cross, despising the same, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.” -Hebrews 12:2 Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus



 

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