God’s happiness in himself gives great comfort to Susanna and to us. Our broken world and our wayward hearts make it far too easy for us to conceive of God as less than happy. But if God is happy in himself, without reference to us or even the universe, then his happiness is forever constant, however inconstant we may be.

If we drew our walk with Jesus topographically, the shape of the land would look more like the Appalachian Mountains than the Central Plains. We all experience highs and lows, vistas and valleys, uphill climbs and downhill drifts. The predictable unpredictability of our spiritual journey raises a pressing question: When (not if) I am in a spiritual valley, what paths will lead me back to higher ground? Susanna Wesley (1669–1742), mother of John and Charles Wesley, regularly found her way out of spiritual valleys in a way that might surprise us. She meditated on the Trinity.

Many of us have thought of the Trinity as a puzzle to be solved or a mathematical equation to ponder. We might pull out our Trinitarian knowledge when taking a theology exam, but it stays on the shelf when we encounter doubts, trials, or spiritual drought. Susanna’s practice prompts us to consider how well we know the Trinity. Her deep understanding of the triune God changed her life, and we would do well to follow in her footsteps.

Susanna’s Surprising Comfort

The Wesley family’s life was not lacking in hardship. At least seven of their children died at a young age. Susanna suffered ill health most of her adult life. Finances were a constant concern for their large family, and in 1709, they lost everything when a fire destroyed their home. In spite of many earthly trials, however, Susanna’s greatest concern was for her own soul and the souls of those she loved. One of her journal entries records a conversation she has with herself in a season of personal spiritual distress:

You still fear that your repentance is partial. . . . ’Tis the grief and exceeding trouble of your soul that you have not, nor cannot (as you apprehend) serve God any better. . . . Discouraged by the experience of daily renewed failings . . . you seem to stagger at the promise of God through unbelief.

In the grip of fear, grief, discouragement, and unbelief, how does Susanna respond? She rehearses what she knows about the Trinity:

Consider the infinite boundless goodness of the ever blessed Trinity, adore the stupendous mystery of divine love! That God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost should all concur in the work of man’s redemption! What but pure goodness could move or excite God, who is perfect essential blessedness! That cannot possibly receive any accession of perfection or happiness from his creatures. What, I say, but love, but goodness, but infinite incomprehensible love and goodness could move him to provide such a remedy for the fatal lapse of his sinful unworthy creatures? (Susanna Wesley: The Complete Writings, 224–25)

In one small paragraph, Susanna confesses at least three things all of us should know about the Trinity.

The Trinity Is Ever Blessed

First, the Trinity is “ever blessed.” In himself, without reference to anything else, the triune God is “perfect essential blessedness” (or happiness). He is complete and sufficient; he has no needs, and he serves no other purposes than his own (Acts 17:25).

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