Jesus Today, with Full Scriptures: Experience Hope Through His Presence (a 150-Day Devotional)

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Her books have met people in their darkest hours, taught children about Jesus, and changed lives for eternity. Knowing Sarah professionally and personally had been a privilege of a lifetime,” she added.

Young treasured the book. It “dovetailed remarkably well with my longing to live in Jesus’ Presence,” she said. It prompted her to start writing in God’s voice in her prayer journal. Jesus Calling was written to help people connect not only with Jesus, the living Word, but also with the Bible-the only infallible, inerrant Word of God. Sarah endeavors to keep her devotional writing consistent with that unchanging standard. Many readers have shared that Sarah’s books have helped them grow to love God’s Word. As Sarah states in the introduction to Jesus Calling, “The devotions . . . are meant to be read slowly, preferably in a quiet place with your Bible open.” The Youngs moved to Melbourne, Australia, in 1991, where Steve helped plant the first Japanese-language church in the city. Sarah started a counseling practice, helping women who had been sexually and spiritually abused find healing in Christ. Young began to meditate on God’s protection, visualizing each member of her family encircled by the Spirit. As she did, she later recalled, she had a mystical experience. She was enveloped by light and overcome by peace. Evangelical blogger Tim Challies wrote that it was a “deeply troubling book” that was both dangerous and “unworthy of our attention.” She need not have worried. In its first three years, Jesus Calling sold an average of 20,000 copies per year, with many people buying them as gifts. Christian bookstores reported customers asking if they could buy the devotional by the case.Christ Christ Christ. Everything must rest on Me,” they women recorded God saying in 1933. “Be channels both of you. My Spirit shall flow through and My Spirit shall, in flowing through, sweep away all the bitter past.” According to HarperCollins, since its publishing, the book has sold over 45 million copies and has been translated into 30 different languages. Young was born Sarah Jane Kelly in Nashville on March 15, 1946. Little is known about her childhood except that her father was a college professor and her family lived in the South. She graduated from E. C. Glass High School in Lynchburg, Virginia, in 1964, and attended Wellesley College, where she majored in philosophy. She went on to earn a master’s in education, focusing on child study, at Tufts University in 1974.

The hope prompted a trip to L’Abri, Schaeffer’s evangelical study center in the Swiss Alps. There, Young had an encounter with Jesus. A counselor asked her if she was a Christian and what she thought she needed to be forgiven for. Messages began to flow … and I bought a special notebook to record these words,” Young later wrote. “I have continued to receive personal messages from God as I meditate on Him.” The pair moved to Australia in 1991, where Stephen helped plant the first Japanese-language church in Melbourne, and Sarah began her counseling practice. She later earned a second master’s degree from Covenant Theological Seminary with the intention of becoming a Christian counselor.My books tend to speak to different people in different ways, meeting them right where they are,” she said. “I think that’s because the books help people connect with Jesus, and He meets us right where we are. The books are designed to help people connect not only with Jesus, the living Word, but also with the Bible, the written Word.” She spent about three years preparing a manuscript but could not secure a publishing contract. She gave up in 2001, when the family moved to Perth, an isolated city in Western Australia, so that Steve could establish a ministry for Japanese people there. Her illnesses, in the following years, got so bad that she could barely leave her room. She focused as much as she could on writing, praying, and meditating on God. Byron Williamson, founder of Integrity, received a sample of Young’s work in 2003. The writing grabbed him. A children’s version of Jesus Calling has also sold more than a million copies, as have two of Young’s follow-up devotionals, Jesus Always and Jesus Today. Two others, Jesus Lives and Jesus Listens, have sold half a million copies each.