She was going blind when the hymn about turning your eyes upon Jesus came to her. Her husband left when the blindness became permanent. She lived to 97, writing music until nearly the end.
Helen Howarth Lemmel was born in England in 1864 and came to the United States as a child. She was gifted musically from a young age and became a professional vocalist and music teacher, performing in choirs and giving voice lessons across her adult life. Music was not merely her faith expression — it was her livelihood.
In 1918, her eyesight began failing seriously. The nature of the condition is not fully documented, but its trajectory was clear and devastating for someone whose professional life depended on reading music, teaching students, and moving confidently through the world.
Around this period, she came across a gospel tract written by Lilias Trotter — a remarkable English missionary and artist who had herself turned away from a potentially legendary career in fine art to serve in North Africa. The tract was called "Focused." Inside it, Lemmel read a line that stopped her:
"So then, turn your eyes upon Him, look full into His face and you will find that the things of earth will acquire a strange new dimness."
She went home. The hymn formed in her mind — both words and melody — with a speed and completeness she later described as something given rather than constructed.
"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."
Her husband left her as her blindness became permanent. The accounts of this are sparse but consistent in the broader biographical record — the disability that cost her so much professionally also cost her her marriage.
She kept writing. She produced over 500 hymns and songs across her lifetime, composing and dictating well into old age.
She died in 1961 at 97 years old — having lived nearly a century beyond the moment the words first came to her in a failing eye's half-light.
"We fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen." — 2 Corinthians 4:18
#TurnYourEyesUponJesus #HelenLemmel #ChurchHistory
Helen Howarth Lemmel was born in England in 1864 and came to the United States as a child. She was gifted musically from a young age and became a professional vocalist and music teacher, performing in choirs and giving voice lessons across her adult life. Music was not merely her faith expression — it was her livelihood.
In 1918, her eyesight began failing seriously. The nature of the condition is not fully documented, but its trajectory was clear and devastating for someone whose professional life depended on reading music, teaching students, and moving confidently through the world.
Around this period, she came across a gospel tract written by Lilias Trotter — a remarkable English missionary and artist who had herself turned away from a potentially legendary career in fine art to serve in North Africa. The tract was called "Focused." Inside it, Lemmel read a line that stopped her:
"So then, turn your eyes upon Him, look full into His face and you will find that the things of earth will acquire a strange new dimness."
She went home. The hymn formed in her mind — both words and melody — with a speed and completeness she later described as something given rather than constructed.
"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."
Her husband left her as her blindness became permanent. The accounts of this are sparse but consistent in the broader biographical record — the disability that cost her so much professionally also cost her her marriage.
She kept writing. She produced over 500 hymns and songs across her lifetime, composing and dictating well into old age.
She died in 1961 at 97 years old — having lived nearly a century beyond the moment the words first came to her in a failing eye's half-light.
"We fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen." — 2 Corinthians 4:18
#TurnYourEyesUponJesus #HelenLemmel #ChurchHistory
She was going blind when the hymn about turning your eyes upon Jesus came to her. Her husband left when the blindness became permanent. She lived to 97, writing music until nearly the end.
Helen Howarth Lemmel was born in England in 1864 and came to the United States as a child. She was gifted musically from a young age and became a professional vocalist and music teacher, performing in choirs and giving voice lessons across her adult life. Music was not merely her faith expression — it was her livelihood.
In 1918, her eyesight began failing seriously. The nature of the condition is not fully documented, but its trajectory was clear and devastating for someone whose professional life depended on reading music, teaching students, and moving confidently through the world.
Around this period, she came across a gospel tract written by Lilias Trotter — a remarkable English missionary and artist who had herself turned away from a potentially legendary career in fine art to serve in North Africa. The tract was called "Focused." Inside it, Lemmel read a line that stopped her:
"So then, turn your eyes upon Him, look full into His face and you will find that the things of earth will acquire a strange new dimness."
She went home. The hymn formed in her mind — both words and melody — with a speed and completeness she later described as something given rather than constructed.
"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."
Her husband left her as her blindness became permanent. The accounts of this are sparse but consistent in the broader biographical record — the disability that cost her so much professionally also cost her her marriage.
She kept writing. She produced over 500 hymns and songs across her lifetime, composing and dictating well into old age.
She died in 1961 at 97 years old — having lived nearly a century beyond the moment the words first came to her in a failing eye's half-light.
"We fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen." — 2 Corinthians 4:18
#TurnYourEyesUponJesus #HelenLemmel #ChurchHistory
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