Susanna Wesley's Kitchen Table Dynasty

Susanna Wesley never stood behind a pulpit. In early eighteenth-century Epworth, England, she stood behind an ironing board, a kitchen table, and a houseful of nineteen children — ten of whom survived infancy. Her husband Samuel was a struggling rector who landed in debtor's prison more than once. Susanna's quiet ambition was simply to raise godly children in a chaotic parsonage.

She set aside one hour each week with each child for individual spiritual instruction. She held Sunday evening services in her kitchen when Samuel was away, drawing crowds of over two hundred neighbors. She was not trying to launch a movement. She was trying to keep a household together.

But God had a dynasty in mind. Through her sons John and Charles, the Almighty built something Susanna never blueprinted: the Methodist revival that swept two continents, planted thousands of churches, and reshaped the spiritual landscape of the English-speaking world. Charles alone wrote over six thousand hymns that Christians still sing three centuries later.

When David told God he wanted to build a temple, the Lord reversed the blueprint entirely: "I will establish your house... your throne shall be established forever." David offered God a building project. God gave David an eternal legacy.

Susanna Wesley offered God a kitchen table. The Most High built a movement that outlasted empires. God's plans for us always dwarf our plans for Him.