Because King Solomon wrote in the book of Proverbs that women of virtue ought to hold our gaze and receive our praise, Susanna Wesley deserves our attention.

She was the youngest of 25 children in her family, with no education and no status as a woman in her era. Life looked bleak for the ordinary English girl. Little did London know what would become of this lawyer’s daughter who held such bold Bible-based convictions. 

Susanna Annesley who later became Susanna Wesley was a stay-at-home mom of nine surviving children, though she bore 19. Though a poor pastor’s wife, Susanna lived with ardor. She transformed the means she had into masterful works of love and godliness.

She educated herself for the sake of giving herself daily to the schooling of her sons and daughters—raising two world-changing sons: a revivalist preacher, John, and a masterful hymn-writer, Charles. 

She persevered in prayer and spiritual disciplines for the spiritual prosperity of her children, setting an example that provided the foundation for an entire movement, called Methodism, within Christianity. 

She stoked the faith of her friends and family constantly as she read and taught God’s Word, whatever it cost her. She died to her own desires and lived to serve others. 

Why? Because Susanna believed that the God of the Bible was serious, in all that he said, commanded, and promised, and she served him with a loyalty rooted in true love.