Popular devotional ‘Jesus Calling’ tops 40 million sold

Originally published in Premier Christian News

Jesus Calling, the popular 365-day devotional written by American author Sarah Young has now sold more than 40 million copies across all formats and editions, according to Publishers Weekly, an influential trade magazine.

Young began writing the book in the 1990s and, after a difficult case counselling a woman who claimed to be a victim of a satanic child abuse, she started writing down what came to mind during her quiet times with God. Those writing eventually became ‘Jesus Calling’. 

Released by Thomas Nelson, a leading publisher of Christian content, in 2004 the book has spawned a TV series, a podcast and a magazine.  

It has also had other follow-up books such as ‘Jesus Listens’, ‘Jesus Always’ and ‘Jesus Lives’, among others. 

In 2013 it was reported ‘Jesus Calling’ outsold pop-culture phenomenon 50 Shades of Grey’.

Speaking to Publishers Weekly, Michael Aulisio, responsible for the ‘Jesus Calling’ brand at Thomas Nelson said he believed the pandemic and a need for peace have likely contributed to sales in the last three years.
 
“Not every book impacts people this profoundly, but when you have something that helps people use drugs less, and when you have stories like one where a lady was going to kill herself, but the book was on the nightstand where the gun was…we’re so serious about continuing to get this message out,” Aulisio said.

Young has been put of the public eye for a while due to health issues. But in an email interview with Religion News Service in 2021, she said: “When I sit down to write, I always ask God to connect His infinite sufficiency with my utter insufficiency,” she said in an email. “So, my health struggles help me rely on Jesus and work collaboratively with him.”

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