Suzanna and Samuel were married 46 years. They did not have an easy time of it. They possessed strong personalities and definite opinions. Case in point: politics. Suzanna supported King James II while Samuel preferred his successor, King William. One day at family prayers, Samuel prayed for King William, but Suzanna refused to “Amen” his prayer. Samuel regarded her slight as unforgivable and pressed for an apology. Suzanna agreed to ask for a pardon if she was proven wrong but would do so only for the sake of expediency. She said to do otherwise would be a lie and therefore a sin. Samuel left the house upset, “You and I must part for if we have two kings, we must have two beds.” Samuel was gone six months! They reconciled only after King William died. Suzanna Wesley (1669-1742) was a remarkable woman of faith and prayer was central to her. Not that everything was smooth sailing. Nine of their nineteen children died in infancy. Their home burned to the ground twice, and Samuel spent time in debtor’s prison. Suzanna homeschooled their ten children. Her daughters received the same rigorous education as her sons, a practice unheard of in those days. Two sons became influential Christians: John Wesley was a leader of the Evangelical Awakening in England whose followers became known as “Methodists” and brother Charles became one of the church’s great hymn writers. Suzanna’s children remember their mom with a towel over her head, as a means of finding solitude for prayer. I love her candor and passion in prayer:
Suzanna Wesley
Enable me, O God, to collect and compose my thoughts before an immediate approach to you in prayer. May I be careful to have my mind in order when I take up the honor to speak to the sovereign Lord of the universe…You are infinitely too great to be trifled with, too wise to be imposed upon by mock devotion and abhor a sacrifice without a heart. Help me to entertain a habitual sense of your perfection as an admirable help against cold and formal performances. Save me from engaging in rash and precipitate prayers and abrupt breaking away to follow business and pleasure as though I had never prayed. Amen.
Rev. Dr. Peter James served 42 years as the senior of Vienna Presbyterian Church in Vienna, VA — 21 years in the 20th century and 21 years in the 21st century. He retired in 2021 and now serves as Pastor-in-Residence at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary.
Even as a pastor, prayer came slowly to Pete. Read Pete’s story.