She settled in Seattle where she remained active with Christian activities, as a member of the Ballard Baptist Church of that city.
In 1918, a missionary friend handed her a gospel tract titled “Focused” written by Lilias Trotter. The tract said, “If you focus on Jesus, if you look full into His face, you will find that the things of earth will acquire a strange new dimness.”
Those words had an impact on Helen. “Suddenly,” she said later, “as if commanded to stop and listen, I stood still, and singing in my soul and spirit was the chorus, with not one conscious moment of putting word to word to make rhyme or note to note to make melody. The verses were written the same week, after the usual manner of composition, but none the less dictated by the Holy Spirit.”
Helen began to go blind, but she continued to write music, picking out notes on a keyboard and asking friends to record them for her. When asked “How are you?” her frequent reply was, “I am fine in the things that count.”
She remained active for God until her home-going at the age of 97.
Lilias Trotter wrote: "Focused: A Story and a Song" two decades earlier. Following are words from her poem: "Turn full your soul's vision to Jesus, and look at Him, and a strange dimness will come over all that is apart from Him, and the Divine attraction by which God's saints are made . . . will lay hold of you. For He is worthy to have all there is to be had in the heart that He has died to win."
In her biography of Lilias Trotter, Patricia St. John describes the home life into which Lilias was born in 1853 as, " . . . The happy disciplined life of the Victorian upper classes; godly, serious, kind to the poor . . . sheltered . . . a stable home surrounded by beauty and culture." Lilias wanted for nothing. She had a good education and travelled widely. She had a bright and inquisitive mind and loved the beauty of plants, flowers and nature. Her father was a wealthy banker and they lived in high society in the very best part of London.
Sadly, when Lilias was only 12 years old, her father died, and she was devastated at this great loss. However, it was through this time of sadness that she was cast upon God for comfort and consolation and came to know Jesus Christ as her Savior and friend. One biographer said: "Through the very hardest thing in her life God brought her soul into blossom." The change in her life through her conversion to Christ saw her develop a great gift of love and sympathy that was boundless in its expression.
She founded and maintained the Algiers Mission Band. Her ability in drawing and painting became an integral part in the communication of the gospel, illustrating tracts and booklets specifically designed to reach the Arab culture. Her incredible ability to learn languages, breakdown cultural barriers, organize, write and travel long distances across difficult terrain put her into the same category as other "unique" female missionary names such as Amy Carmichael and Gladys Aylward.
She knew that true success and happiness can be found inside the will of God. We can be easily distracted and attracted to the things this world offers, but we should be focused on Jesus and on His will for us. Let us turn our eyes on Him and, just like what the song says, the things of earth will grow strangely dim, in the light of His glory and grace.
Verse One
“O soul, are you weary and troubled?
No light in the darkness you see?
There’s light for a look at the Savior,
And life more abundant and free!”
Hebrews 12:2
“. . .
looking unto Jesus the author and perfecter of our faith.”
Biblehub.com, Matthew Poole's Commentary: As if all the former witnesses were not enough, [Paul] adds a more excellent one than them all, even our Lord Jesus Christ, who is not only a pattern to them in their race and running of it, but a help, and for which end they were looking to Him.
Studylight.org: Not only does encouragement come from the witnesses of the Old Testament but also from the life of Jesus Christ. In Jesus' faith we see absolute dependence on God. The term "looking" denotes the action of turning "the eyes away from other things and fix them on something." Paul uses the term "looking" as an artist who looks at his model, not just a glance but at every detail. The total focus must be on Jesus; therefore, one must always look away from everything that distrazts. Paul's point is that we all have problems from the past that we must lay aside and then press our attention toward the Messiah.
“Let us therefore draw near with boldness unto
the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy, and may find grace to
help us in time of need.”
Biblehub.com, Barnes' Notes on the Bible" God is seated on a throne of mercy . . . To a God willing to show mercy He comes with the merits of a sacrifice sufficient for all and pleased for their salvation. We may, therefore, come with boldness and look for pardon. We come not depending on our own merits, but we come where a sufficient sacrifice has been offered for human guilt; and where we are assured that God is merciful. We may, therefore, come without hesitancy, or trembling, and ask for all the mercy that we need.
"We are ambassadors therefore on behalf of Christ, as though God were entreating by us: we beseech you on behalf of Christ, be ye reconciled to God."
Studylight.org, Clarke's Commentary: We execute the function of ambassadors in Christ's stead. He came from the Father to mankind on this important embassy. He has left the world and appointed us in his place . . . Ambassador is a person sent from one sovereign power to another; and is supposed to represent the person of the sovereign by whom he is deputed. Christ while on earth represented the person of the Sovereign of the world; his apostles and their successors represent the person of Christ.
How great is our need to turn our eyes fully upon Jesus. As mentioned earlier from the poem “Focused” by Lilias Trotter: “Turn full 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.”
Sing Refrain
