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Sarah Young

Sarah Young (1946–2023) was an American Christian author whose life was shaped by a profound conversion and a deep commitment to contemplative prayer. Raised in Nashville and educated at Wellesley College and Tufts University, she was a lapsed Christian when she encountered the work of evangelical theologian Francis Schaeffer during graduate school. A visit to L'Abri, his evangelical centre in Switzerland, led to her conversion — a turning point that would define the rest of her life.

Young went on to study at Covenant Theological Seminary, where she met her husband Stephen, a third-generation missionary. Together they served as Presbyterian missionaries in Japan for eight years before eventually settling in Australia, where Young ran a Christian counselling practice for women who had experienced abuse. It was there, during a time of quiet meditation, that she began the practice of "listening prayer" — writing down what she felt God was saying to her. Those private journal entries, begun in 1992, became the foundation of Jesus Calling, published in 2004. Jesus Calling has now sold over 50 million copies worldwide.