The Divine Yes

"I believe God is saying to me, 'I am handing you back your life for a demonstration period at the very end, so that a viewer looking on may see if there is anything in it.'" On December 7, 1971, at the age of 87, word-renowned author -evangelist, E. Stanley Jones, suffered a paralyzing stroke. For five hours, he lay totally helpless. Physically, Dr. Jones was a broken man. Spiritually, he was experiencing what he had preached so energetically during his ministry -- victory in Jesus! The Divine Yes, written during the introspective fourteen-month period of his illness, is a resounding spiritual "yes" to the human "no" of personal tragedy! In 1928, Jones was elected a bishop in The Methodist Church -- a position he resigned twenty-four hours later! He felt called to continue as a missionary and evangelist, his destination became India. The young missionary established Ashrams -- places of spiritual retreat where Christian content is blended with the Indian spirit of inner quiet, spiritual sensitivity, and simplicity. The Ashram movement has become worldwide, as did the evangelistic journeys of Dr. Jones. He even became a best-selling author with twenty-eight books to his credit, two of which became million-copy sellers. Confronting his sudden illness, Dr. Jones discovered new meanings for his life. "Now I must apply what I have been preaching through the years: that no matter what happens to us, the final result depends on how we take it. Here I was to be called upon to illustrate and apply the Good News, the Divine Yes, in the face of the bad news life often offers." Saying "yes" to life, he learned to walk and talk again to the amazement of his doctors. He even preached again with the tireless zeal characteristic of his entire ministry. The Divine Yes was completed, and Dr. Jones returned to his beloved India where he died peacefully on January 25, 1973.