Susanna Annesley Wesley

Susanna Annesley was born in 1669 in London, England, the twenty-fifth (yes, 25th!) child of a devout Puritan. As a young girl, she would be accustomed to seeing her dad reading 20 chapters a day of the Bible. A habit he started as young as age five and continued to his death, this would have a lasting impact on young Susanna throughout her life.

At the age of 19, she married Samuel Wesley and began her own ministry within the home. In the following 19 years, Sam and Susanna Wesley had 19 children, two of which grew up to bring millions of souls to Christ, John and Charles.

These two brothers “saved the world” in their day. Charles Wesley is credited with writing thousands of hymns of the church, many which are still sung today. John Wesley preached to nearly a million people in over 42,000 sermons and wrote hundreds of publications. He was the definition of the circuit preacher. During his ministry, John Wesley rode over 250,000 miles on horseback, a distance which would equate to circulating the globe along the equator 10 times! Late in life, at the age of 70, this 5-feet, 3-inch, and 128-pound Englishman preached the message of salvation to 32,000 people with no microphone! He brought the message of sanctification and holiness everywhere he traveled. Where did the sixth Church Age messenger credit his foundation?

I learned more about Christianity from my mother than from all the theologians in England.

- John Wesley

John and Charles Wesley

Like any household, the story isn’t perfect within the Wesley family. It is a story of overcoming.

Her husband, Samuel Wesley, was terrible with money and kept the family in constant debt. Of the 19 children, all but 10 died in infancy. It is said that Sam (her husband) left her to raise the children alone for extended periods of time. This was sometimes over something as simple as an argument. One of her children was disabled. Another couldn’t talk until he was nearly six years old. Mrs. Wesley herself was sick most of her life. There was no money for food, or much of anything, as the family’s debt-plagued the home to the point her husband was thrown into debtor’s prison one time because their debt was so high.

Samuel Wesley

To add to it, her husband (an Anglican minister) wasn’t liked very much by both the law and his congregation. Twice the homes they lived in were burned to the ground, losing everything they owned. The blame was widely known to be that of his church members because they were so mad at what Sam Wesley preached in the pulpit. The enemy is always around, and the Wesley home was no exception. One of her daughters had a baby out of wedlock, and the man never married her. She was devastated but remained steadfast in prayer for her daughter. Yet through all of this, and the many crosses Mrs. Wesley bore in her life, she still put God first.

When Mrs. Wesley was young, she promised the Lord that for every hour she spent in entertainment, she would give an hour to Him in prayer and in the Word. She soon found this to be a very hard promise to keep. Taking care of the house and raising so many kids made this commitment nearly impossible to fulfill. She had gardens to plant, cows to milk, homeschooling of her children to do, and an entire house to manage. So instead, she decided to give the Lord two to three hours a day in prayer! To help with this commitment, she established a visual sign to everyone around. She directed her children that when mother had an apron over her head, that meant she was in prayer and couldn’t be disturbed. This was an unbreakable rule in her home unless there was an absolute emergency; in other words unless someone was at the point of death.

The shepherding of her congregation was always first priority. An opportunity to show a lesson was rarely passed up in the Wesley home. One day, one of her daughters desired to do something which was not altogether bad, but which was not right. When told not to do it, her daughter was not convinced of the explanation. The daughter and her mother were sitting beside a dead fire. Mrs. Wesley said to her, “Pick up that bit of coal.” “I don’t want to,” said the girl. “Go on,” said her mother. “The fire is out; it won’t burn you.” “I know that,” said the girl. “I know it won’t burn me, but it will blacken my hands.” “Exactly,” said Susanna Wesley. “That thing which you wish to do won’t burn, but it will blacken. Leave it alone.”

There are hundreds of untold testimonies of this saint of God. Sure, she was a saint; she must have been to raise two boys like John and Charles and to have been mentioned in such high regard by the prophet of God. Like all of us, she must have had many unsuccessful lessons with her children. Many times she thought of giving up, but what never failed was Susanna Wesley’s resolve to hold herself as a Godly, praying mother. She is an inspiration to mothers everywhere, in what can happen when giving one’s whole self to the calling God places in a life.