We have all been wounded and scarred by battles. That is life. As a Christian, we don’t want others to see us as weak or lacking in faith, so we cover those scars and hide that pain. This Bible study offers the readers a detailed plan on how to heal from life’s scars and use them to further God’s kingdom. It is focused on 2 Corinthians 12:9 and shows the reader step-by-step how to deal with weaknesses and scars, how to heal from those scars, and how to let God’s power rest on you through your own weakness.

We have all been wounded and scarred by battles. That is life. As a Christian, we don't want others to see us as weak or lacking in faith, so we cover those scars and hide that pain. This Bible study offers the readers a detailed plan on how to heal from life's scars and use them to further God's kingdom. It is focused on 2 Corinthians 12:9 and shows the reader step-by-step how to deal with weaknesses and scars, how to heal from those scars, and how to let God's power rest on you through your own weakness.

The early modern period opened a new era in the history of dermal marking. Intensifying global travel and trade, especially the slave trade, bought diverse skin-marking practices into contact as never before. Stigma examines the distinctive skin cultures and marking methods of Asia, Europe, Africa, and the Americas as they began to circulate and reshape one another in the early modern world. By highlighting the interwoven histories of tattooing, branding, stigmata, baptismal and beauty marks, wounds and scars, this volume shows that early modern markers of skin and readers of marked skin did not think about different kinds of cutaneous signs as separate from each other. On the contrary, Europeans described Indigenous tattooing in North America, Thailand, and the Philippines by referring their readers to the tattoos Christian pilgrims received in Jerusalem or Bethlehem. When explaining the devil’s mark on witches, theologians claimed it was an inversion of holy marks such as those of baptism or divine stigmata. Stigma investigates how early modern people used permanent marks on skin to affirm traditional roles and beliefs, and how they hybridized and transformed skin marking to meet new economic and political demands. In addition to the editors, the contributors to this volume are Xiao Chen, Ana Fonseca Conboy, Peter Erickson, Claire Goldstein, Matthew S. Hopper, Katrina H. B. Keefer, Mordechay Lewy, Nicole Nyffenegger, Mairin Odle, and Allison Stedman.

Every year in October, we celebrate National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Celebrities, athletes, and politicians don the tiny pink ribbon as a reminder and means of support. However, often, the disease becomes the focus of all that pink instead of the women suffering. Cancer is a very human condition, and we should not forget. Photographer and poet Wendy Deneise has fought sickle cell anemia her whole life, and she has known women who battled breast cancer. By channeling her own pain and the pain of cancer sufferers she has known, Wendy put together a collection of photographs and poems intended to life up and inspire, even in the direst of physical circumstance. Every woman has strength, no matter what diseases steal away. The words and images of Wendys collection strive to act as a reminder of this strength and inspire women to keep fighting whatever ails them, whether physical or mental. Inner strength can bring light to the darkest days, if only we hold on to hope and the beauty of the world around us.

Hair Power – Skin Revolution is a collection of poetry and personal essays from a diverse group of black and mixed-race women – everyday women expressing themselves in their own unique style. The collection includes contributions from forty-eight authors, that explore the issues, interests, cultural and historical influences that have shaped their times and their imaginations. The writers offer empowering and creative ways of understanding and relating to the themes of hair and skin. They tell their narratives, presenting their views in passionate, intelligent, humorous, strong and reflective voices, some unheard; some previously published in the former two Shangwe anthologies.This third Shangwe anthology, by nature of its cultural diversity components successfully contributes towards representing and promoting the writing of women from African and African-Caribbean backgrounds. As well as being a contribution towards Black British literature, this anthology celebrates, reflects upon and embraces our diverse female identities and the common-thread that unites us living the UK experience.

In this powerful healing journey, Linda Barrick applies the words Jesus spoke during His time of greatest pain to help readers transform their deepest wounds into their highest purpose. In one second, Linda Barrick’s life changed when a drunk driver slammed into her family’s van, nearly killing her daughter and leaving Linda, her husband, and their son critically injured. Barrick draws on her remarkable story of loss and hope to lead readers toward emotional, physical, and spiritual restoration. Everyone experiences shattered dreams and emotional pain. Some scars are visible, and some are hidden deep in the heart. Whether the pain happened yesterday or fifteen years ago, Beauty Marks shows readers that they don’t have to keep covering up their wounds. As Barrick leads readers through Jesus’s words of abandonment, forgiveness, and release, she shows how pain has purpose—and that God can transform scars into beautiful marks of victory.

In a powerful novel in verse, an award-winning author offers an eye-opening look at the life of Marilyn Monroe. From the day she was born into a troubled home to her reigning days as a Hollywood icon, Marilyn Monroe (née Norma Jeane Mortenson) lived a life that was often defined by others. Here, in a luminous poetic narrative, acclaimed author Carole Boston Weatherford tells Marilyn’s story in a way that restores her voice to its rightful place: center stage. Revisiting Marilyn’s often traumatic early life—foster homes, loneliness, sexual abuse, teen marriage—through a hard-won, meteoric rise to stardom that brought with it exploitation, pill dependency, and depression, the lyrical narrative continues through Marilyn’s famous performance at JFK’s birthday party, three months before her death. In a story at once riveting, moving, and unflinching, Carole Boston Weatherford tells a tale of extraordinary pain and moments of unexpected grace, gumption, and perseverance, as well as the inexorable power of pursuing one’s dreams. A beautifully designed volume.