Sarah Young

Sarah Young died.

I didn’t know her.

She authored Jesus Calling, the first devotional I think I ever bought.

She prayed for her readers.  So, she prayed for me. She probably prayed that her readers would experience God because that’s what I did. She probably prayed that God would use her devotional to impact the personal lives of her readers because that’s what it also did.

I knew her not, but she’s had such a personal touch on my life.

I recall a time not wanting nor believing that devotionals were anything but arbitrary and unordinary.  This devotional caught my morning attention.  I would haphazardly read it a day here or a day there and each time it touched me in a personal and what I thought at the time was a coincidental way before later learning there are God-intended ways.

Haphazard turned to daily-deliberate-devotionals.  At some half-way point, I stopped to think; who writes this Jesus Calling anyway?  Flipping to the front, I thought I would find a recognizable Christian author named.  I didn’t.  It was a name I never heard.  Sarah Young.  Who’s Sarah Young?

I took the time to flip back and read the introduction.  I was happy there was one to tell me more.

I was reading this at the same time as my own retirement.  A new routine for myself was being established.  I was at the beginning of where God had me scheduled for what I didn’t yet know.  With that tucked away in the back of my mind, I was eagerly waiting for the big reveal.  As I read her introduction, it mirrored a lot of what I was personally experiencing - so much so that I was afraid to read the next line thinking I would find out too soon.

She shared how experiences were seemingly uncharacteristic of her nature. Experiences with Jesus and her own converted heart.  Experiences that couldn’t be explained in other ways.  The experiences she lived were experiences that I was living.  I was having a spiritual introduction to a Jesus I’d heard about and always believed in, but only knew intellectually - not actually.

Our common life themes continued: adjusting to a very unstructured time of life from fulfilling work as a counselor, embarking on a spiritual quest, delving into a devotional, spending time alone with God with quiet, uninterrupted practices. Seeking God in earnest with time too brief.

Her days were my days.

Who is this that speaks of these uncertainties that are mine and the indefinite stretches of waiting periods, unknown dates, and unsought out experiences?

I was so desperately looking for others who might have encountered what was so new to me that I tried to duplicate what she was reading to try and catch the same breath of air.  Beyond Ourselves.  God Calling.  Is this where I might discover what I don’t yet know?

There was an eternal perspective to this new beginning in the second half of my life.

“He speaks to those who listen,”  I trust.

I came to the end of her introduction.  Her closing.

“May He bless you with His presence and peace in ever-increasing measure.”

Hmmm…

That must be what she prayed.

Because He did.

Because He does.

Enjoy the peace in His Presence, Sarah Young.  I imagine it’s all you longed for.  May your prayers remain present and active in your readers’ lives.

With much gratitude,

A reader

John 10:27