‘Jesus Calling’ — Peace for the Worn-Out Soul
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We’ve spent years in conversation with many hundreds of Christian thought leaders, asking them questions. Among these questions is this: What resources have made the biggest difference in your spiritual life? Their answers have been remarkably consistent. This is one of the ten most recommended.
She was too sick to leave her room most days. Chronic illness — Lyme disease, vertigo, complications that defied diagnosis — had reduced Sarah Young’s world to a bed, a Bible and a journal. In that small, quiet space, she began writing down what she sensed God speaking to her heart.
She never intended for anyone else to read those pages. But those private journals became “Jesus Calling” — a devotional that has now sold more than 45 million copies and become, for countless readers, the companion they reach for when life feels too heavy to carry alone.
A Missionary Who Found God in the Stillness
Young spent decades as a missionary alongside her husband, Stephen, planting churches in Japan and Australia. She earned a master’s degree in biblical studies and counseling from Covenant Theological Seminary. She was, by all accounts, a woman of deep faith and quiet humility — someone who preferred prayer to publicity.
But it was illness, not ministry success, that shaped the devotional she would become known for. Confined by her body, Young turned inward — and upward. She practiced what she called “listening prayer,” sitting with Scripture and writing down the words of comfort and peace she felt stirring in her spirit. The journals filled slowly, year after year, never meant for anyone’s eyes but her own.
When friends read them, they asked for copies. When she finally tried to publish, no one was interested. She gave up in 2001. Two years later, a small publisher saw a sample and recognized something others had missed. “Jesus Calling” released in 2004 and began a slow, steady climb that would eventually make it one of the bestselling Christian books of the century.
“It was so personal and it was the voice of Jesus talking to me, saying things that were true. It was so therapeutic, so life-changing. I’m forever grateful.”
Words That Meet You Where You Are
“Jesus Calling” is a 365-day devotional, with each entry built around Scripture and written as a meditation in Jesus’ voice — intimate, direct, focused on peace and presence. The entries are brief, meant to be read slowly, “preferably in a quiet place with your Bible open,” as Young wrote in the introduction.
The effect, for many readers, is striking. Parents have read it in hospital waiting rooms, finding words for prayers they could not form themselves. Grieving spouses have reached for it in the dark hours before dawn. Public figures — from Tim Tebow to Sarah Huckabee Sanders — have spoken of reading it before high-pressure moments. One reader on Goodreads wrote, “I have read it nearly every day for the past year, but I still find peace from it even now. Beautiful and comforting.”
What draws people back is the consistency of tone: gentle reassurance that God is present, that you are loved, that peace is possible even when circumstances suggest otherwise. For readers walking through anxiety, loss or exhaustion, the devotional offers a few minutes of stillness — a voice that says, in effect, I am with you. You are not alone.
A Quiet Legacy
Young remained humble throughout the book’s extraordinary success. She avoided the spotlight, prayed daily for her readers and continued writing even as her health declined. The proceeds from “Jesus Calling” funded new churches and overseas missions — a continuation of the missionary work that had defined her life.
She died in September 2023 after years of battling the illnesses that had shaped her spirituality. Her family said she would likely have spent little time on any controversy surrounding the book, trusting that God would use it as he saw fit. “She knew that her conscience before God was clear,” they wrote, “and that God would continue to use her book to bring people to Christ.”
The book’s first-person format — written as if Jesus were speaking directly to the reader — has prompted theological discussion in some circles, and readers may wish to engage it with discernment and Bible in hand, as Young herself encouraged. But for the millions who have made it part of their morning routine, the debate matters less than the experience: a daily invitation to sit quietly with God and receive the peace he offers.
An Invitation to Be Still
If your soul is worn thin — by grief, by anxiety, by the relentless pace of life — “Jesus Calling” offers something simple: a few minutes each day to stop, breathe and remember that God is near. It will not replace Scripture or the community of a local church. But it may become the companion that helps you return to both with a quieter heart.
Sarah Young wrote from a place of suffering, and her words have reached millions who suffer too. That may be the truest testament to what she created: a devotional born in pain, offering peace to those who need it most.
“Jesus Calling” is available in print, e-book and audiobook from major retailers. Daily readings and additional resources are available at jesuscalling.com.