Author Sarah Young, known for ‘Jesus Calling’, experiences significant decline in health

Sarah Young, author of the devotional Jesus Calling, is in “rapidly failing” health, her publisher, Thomas Nelson, revealed in a statement asking her supporters for prayers.

“We received the hard news that Sarah’s health is rapidly failing,” Thomas Nelson Publishers wrote in a social media post last week. 

“We know that Sarah really believes in the power of prayer and prays for her readers every morning. Now, we have the precious privilege to lift up Sarah and her family. Please join us in prayer.”

Originally published in 2004, Young’s 365-day devotional has sold over 35 million books worldwide and was named “Christian Book of the Year” in 2013 and 2018. Today, the Jesus Calling brand includes children’s devotionals, Bible storybooks, journals, seasonal books and the prayer devotional Jesus Listens, published in October 2021. 

“Publishing Jesus Calling was a long, prayer-filled journey,” Young said in a recent statement. “Ever since its publication, I’ve prayed daily for people who are reading Jesus Calling or any of my subsequent books. I consider it an amazing privilege and a God-given responsibility to pray for readers.” 

Young, who graduated from Wellesley College in 1968 and earned a master’s degree in biblical studies and counseling from Covenant Theological Seminary in St. Louis, is described in her official bio as “biblically conservative in her faith and reformed in her doctrine.”

She is married to Stephen Young, a Presbyterian missionary, and has two children and two grandchildren. The Youngs formerly served as missionaries in Japan and Australia and continue to be missionaries with Mission to the World, the PCA mission board.

According to a 2013 New York Times profile, Young has made few public appearances despite her commercial success due to “Lyme disease and other health problems.”

“There are almost no public photographs of her, and she will not talk by telephone,” the outlet noted. 

Jesus Calling has been endorsed by celebrities, including Justin Bieber, who in 2016 shared a quote from the book on his social media. But Young’s work has also faced criticism in some Evangelical circles for being written in Jesus’ first-person voice.

In 2015, pastor and blogger Tim Challies called Jesus Calling “troubling,” while author Randy Alcorn dubbed it “an entire book built on falsehood.” 

“The biggest problem with Jesus Calling is very simple: Jesus did not speak these words. If these were His words, then Jesus Calling would be Scripture, which is by definition the words of God,” the author explained in 2018.

“So if it’s not (and it isn’t) on an inspired and trustworthy level like Scripture itself, then it’s making a false claim.”

In a rare interview with Gloria Gaither and Phil Newman, Young said that before she writes, she spends time in prayer, “including prayers for protection of my mind from distractions, distortions and deception.”

“I ask God to guide my mind as I focus on Him and His Word. Then I simply pray, “Help me, Holy Spirit,” and I wait. I have been strongly influenced by the Bible verse, ‘Be still, and know that I am God,’” she said.

“I want to make it clear that I do not have audible conversation with Jesus. Rather, it’s a quiet and personal time of praying, pondering Scripture, and seeking the guidance of the Holy Spirit.”

In the introduction to Jesus Calling, Young also stressed that “The Bible is, of course, the only inerrant Word of God; my writings must be consistent with that unchanging standard.”

“I have written from Jesus’ point of view; that is, the first person singular (‘I,’ ‘Me,’ ‘Mine’) always refers to Christ. ‘You’ refers to you, the reader, so the perspective is that of Jesus speaking to you,” she wrote. 

The Jesus Calling brand has also inspired the television show “Jesus Calling: Stories of Faith,” which has featured guests including Amy Grant, Rev. Run & Justine Simmons, Tim Tebow, Tabitha Brown and Walker Hayes. The “Jesus Calling Podcast” has been downloaded nearly 15 million times since its 2016 launch. 

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