It was a cold evening in the small English village of Epworth in the early 1700s. Inside a humble parsonage, the faint light of a candle flickered against the stone walls. The smell of wood smoke filled the room as a woman knelt by her bedside, her long apron pulled over her head like a curtain. This was Susanna Wesley, mother of nineteen children — though only ten had survived infancy.
Life had not been easy for her. Her husband, Samuel, was a preacher with little income. The family often lived in debt, and several times their house had even burned down. But through every trial, Susanna carried herself with unshakable faith, calm wisdom, and quiet strength.
Her home was small, noisy, and filled with children — yet she treated it like a miniature church. Each morning, she rose before dawn to pray and read Scripture. Every child had their own daily time with her — ten to fifteen minutes alone, where she would teach them the Bible, ask about their hearts, and pray for them by name.
When she prayed, she would often cover her head with her apron — a sign to her children that “Mother is meeting with God.” Even in the chaos of home life, they learned to walk quietly when her apron was over her head.
Susanna believed that raising children was holy work. She once wrote:
“I am content to do the will of God, to be a mother and a teacher to these little souls whom He has entrusted to my care.”
Her husband was often away preaching, and sometimes imprisoned for debt. During one of those times, Susanna began holding Bible meetings in her kitchen. At first, only her children attended. But word spread about her heartfelt prayers and clear teaching, and soon over 200 people gathered weekly in her home — men and women from the entire village — listening as she read Scripture and explained God’s Word.
Her sons, John and Charles Wesley, grew up watching their mother’s devotion. Years later, John would travel thousands of miles preaching the Gospel, and Charles would write more than 6,000 hymns, including “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing.”
When people asked John what shaped his ministry, he said simply:
“I learned more about Christianity from my mother than from all the theologians in England.”