Ray Rhodes wrote the definitive biography of Susannah Spurgeon, Susie. Yours, till Heaven serves as a kind of supplement to that work, but taking as its entire focus the Spurgeons’ extraordinary, lifelong devotion to one another.
Charles Spurgeon's tender affection for Susannah and hers for him are well known to anyone who has studies Spurgeon's sermons or read his autobiography. What is not as familiar to many readers are the extreme difficulties this couple contended with daily. Both of them had serious chronic health problems. Spurgeon himself was assaulted by endless bouts of depression. Most of all, the relentless demands of such a busy ministry usually kept him preoccupied with matters other than domestic duties.
This fact is a theme that runs through the book. (Indeed, the Spurgeons are reminiscent of Jonathan and Sarah Edwards, whose relationship is described in the aptly titled book: Marriage to a Difficult Man, by Elisabeth Dodds.)
Susie’s health problems, Charles’ chronic melancholy, the burden of such a busy workload, along with the task of raising twin boys may sound like a recipe for a miserable home life. Nevertheless,
the marriage was a gloriously happy one, and the warmth of their love for one another lasted (in Spurgeon’s own words) “till heaven, and then.” Most of the credi for the success and blessedness of the Spurgeons’ romance goes chiefly to Susannah’s gracious, wholehearted embrace of the role providence had thrust her famous husband into. It is a remarkable story, and Ray Rhodes does a superb
job of explaining how Charles and Susie bore all the complexities and inconveniences of his calling and still cultivated a healthy home life, full of deep affection for one another.
— Phil Johnson, GraceLife Fellowship Group