His wife's experiences, similar to those of Saint Teresa of Ávila, profoundly affected his religious life and the formation of the New Light.

Her experiences of religious ecstasy were documented in Jonathan Edwards's work, Some Thoughts Concerning the Present Revival of Religion in New England.

[7] They say there is a young lady in [New Haven] who is beloved of that almighty Being, who made and rules the world, and that there are certain seasons in which this great Being, in some way or other invisible, comes to her and fills her mind with exceeding sweet delight, and that she hardly cares for anything, except to meditate on him - that she expects after a while to be received up where he is, to be raised out of the world and caught up into heaven; being assured that he loves her too well to let her remain at a distance from him always.Sarah's openness helped Jonathan broaden his perspective of religion from primarily an intellectual study to having a personal relationship with God, for which he had longed.

[3] Their children were Sarah, Jerusha, Esther, Mary, Lucy, Timothy, Susannah, Eunice, Jonathan, Elizabeth, and Pierpont.

Sarah was the hands-on parent who raised the children and ran the household, providing an agreeable and pleasant life for her family.

She seldom punished them, and spoke to them using gentle and pleasant words.Sarah was hospitable, bringing visiting preachers into her home for conversation and meals.

[17] By 1735, Sarah managed to cope during particularly stressful periods by turning herself over and making a personal covenant to God, which resulted in profound spiritual experiences.

[3] Although his books were popular in Britain and the American colonies, Jonathan had a hard time reaching the younger members of his congregation.

[10]: 176  Jonathan was the leader of the movement, more specifically known as New Light, where personal religious experiences are based on one's heart and reason.

[10]: 176  Because New Light is based on one's emotions and reason, "Jonathan Edwards drew on the religious experience of women—his wife included—as models of God's engagement of the affections.

[4]: xvi [b] His stance was rare for the Puritanical times when women were not considered capable of having deep spiritual experiences because of their "inferior biology".

[10]: 176  Beginning in late January 1742, Sarah fell into a depression or what may have been a nervous breakdown when her husband travelled throughout Massachusetts and Connecticut on a preaching tour.

For uninterrupted hours at a time, she felt ...infinite beauty and amiableness of Christ's person, and the heavenly sweetness of his transcendent love; so that the soul remained in a kind of heavenly Elysium, and did as it were swim in the rays of God's love, like a mote swimming in the beams of the sun, or beams of his light that come in at a window; and the heart was swallowed up in a kind of glow.Overcome by these experiences, she had physical reactions including the loss of the ability to speak or stand, fainting, leaping for joy, or other physical reactions.

[3] She became stronger emotionally and spiritually with an innate awareness of assured salvation, rather than a continual need to prove that she was worthy.

[5] Jonathan believed that she was brought to the brink of deep sadness to build a stronger personal connection with God.

[3] He asked her to write down her experiences, which he edited for a work called Some Thoughts Concerning the Present Revival of Religion in New England.

[17] Even so, Sarah developed good relationships and was hospitable to members of the community, including the local Native Americans.

She became very ill with dysentery, and after five days[20][8]: 121  she died at a friend's house in Philadelphia[5] on October 2, 1758, six months after her husband's death.

[20] Her son, Timothy Edwards, raised Sally and Aaron Burr, who in 1800 would become the Vice President of the United States under Thomas Jefferson and kill Alexander Hamilton in a duel.

Timothy also raised Pierpont Edwards, Sarah's youngest son who was born in 1750 and orphaned at his parents' deaths in 1758.

Sarah Edwards' bench is carved with the words "Friend, Neighbor, Mother, Wife, and Christian" from her tombstone.