This book is an invaluable key to self-understanding. Using examples from her own life and the lives of her clients, as well as from dreams, fairy tales, myths, films, and literature, Linda Schierse Leonard, a Jungian analyst, exposes the wound of the spirit that both men and women of our culture bear—a wound that is grounded in a poor relationship between masculine and feminine principles. Leonard speculates that when a father is wounded in his own psychological development, he is not able to give his daughter the care and guidance she needs. Inheriting this wound, she may find that her ability to express herself professionally, intellectually, sexually, and socially is impaired. On a broader scale, Leonard discusses how women compensate for cultural devaluation, resorting to passive submission (“the Eternal Girl”), or a defensive imitation of the masculine (“the Armored Amazon”). The Wounded Woman shows that by understanding the father-daughter wound and working to transform it psychologically, it is possible to achieve a fruitful, caring relationship between men and women, between fathers and daughters, a relationship that honors both the mutuality and the uniqueness of the sexes.

In the spirit of Haruki Murakami and Amelia Gray, Catherine Lacey's Nobody Is Ever Missing is full of mordant humor and uncanny insights, as Elyria waffles between obsession and numbness in the face of love, loss, danger, and self-knowledge. Without telling her family, Elyria takes a one-way flight to New Zealand, abruptly leaving her stable but unfulfilling life in Manhattan. As her husband scrambles to figure out what happened to her, Elyria hurtles into the unknown, testing fate by hitchhiking, tacitly being swept into the lives of strangers, and sleeping in fields, forests, and public parks. Her risky and often surreal encounters with the people and wildlife of New Zealand propel Elyria deeper into her deteriorating mind. Haunted by her sister's death and consumed by an inner violence, her growing rage remains so expertly concealed that those who meet her sense nothing unwell. This discord between her inner and outer reality leads her to another obsession: If her truest self is invisible and unknowable to others, is she even alive? The risks Elyria takes on her journey are paralleled by the risks Catherine Lacey takes on the page. In urgent, spiraling prose she whittles away at the rage within Elyria and exposes the very real, very knowable anxiety of the human condition. And yet somehow Lacey manages to poke fun at her unrelenting self-consciousness, her high-stakes search for the dark heart of the self.

Hope and Healing Are at Hand Extraordinary emotional pain cries out for something more than a Band-Aid, a pat on the shoulder, or a greeting card cliché. When the wounds go deep, real help, honest encouragement, and tangible healing may be hard to locate. But it is there to find, and the search is worth the effort. Compassionate and experienced counselors Dr. Steve Stephens and Pam Vredevelt, LPC, have walked alongside women in pain for years—they’ve heard the stories, seen the tears, felt the pain, and entered into the devastation. They’ve also seen how wounded women can step out of darkness into hope, regain their feet, restart their lives, recover their energy, and even reclaim their joy. Real-life stories and proven, practical counsel serve as powerful tools to help you recover from past and present wounds, moving you into a new season of productive living. Hope Is Here “My pain is too deep for a Band-Aid.” “Will this heartache ever end?” “Why me?” Today is your day…a fresh season of living has arrived. Coming alongside as faithful friends, Dr. Steve Stephens and Pam Vredevelt meet you in the depths of your circumstances and uncover the pathway to healing. They offer an opportunity to regain your feet, restart your life, recover your energy, and reclaim your joy. These real-life testimonies and proven, practical counsel will guide you toward complete recovery and inspire you to press forward in newfound strength—not in spite of your wounds, but because of them. “I believe this is one of the most important books ever written for women. Every page is filled with nurturing wisdom and refreshing hope. At last, for every wounded woman, there is a pathway out of the hurt and pain.” -Alice Gray, author of Treasures for Women Who Hope, coauthor of The Worn Out Woman and The Walk Out Woman Story Behind the Book The authors are licensed therapists who see an enormous number of women struggling with the same basic issue: wounds that result from living in an imperfect world with imperfect people. “Some are great at hiding their wounds,” they say. “Others are so overwhelmed by them that they are unable to recover and bounce back. We consistently meet women with incredible potential who are stuck in emotional pain. Unable to move forward, their wounds block them from becoming all they can be. We want to help them work through the process of letting go of this pain and progress in healing. The abundant life Jesus promises will be theirs!”

Dena Dyer is an accomplished and acclaimed author of several books, including Mothers of the Bible, The Groovy Chicks' Road Trip to Love, and The Groovy Chicks' Road Trip to Peace. She has been a member of the Fellowship of Christian Writers, the Christian Authors Network, Advanced Writers and Speakers Association, and the Amarillo Chamber of Commerce Women's Council. Her resume includes professional author and speaker, professional entertainer, music instructor, missionary, and children's theater instructor. Dena and her husband are parents to Jordan and Jackson and live in Granbury, Texas.

Imploding relationships, incapacitating losses, injurious personal mistakes, or spiritual failures—whatever the issue, the wounds are the same. Whether it’s a lapse in judgment by Bathsheba or the moral failure of the women’s ministry leader in your local church; the spiritual insensitivity of Martha or the compulsive obsessions of your church’s care circle chairwoman; the terror of an abandoned single mother like Hagar or the struggling single mother in your prayer group—the time and circumstances are different, but the wounds are equally deep and spiritually devastating. Dena Dyer and Tina Samples get it. They have their own stories of pain before healing—along with similar experiences of their families and friends. Offering more than pat affirmations or vicarious shoulders to cry on, Dena and Tina delve deep into the shared emotions and injuries that women of all ages have in common—and move readers toward the recovery and healing that only God can provide. No matter what hurts you’ve experienced, Wounded Women of the Bible proves that God understands and that healing is not only His intention but His delight! This is a book not to be missed!

Sarah, Samantha, Audrey, and Nathalie—four women with closely related destinies. Some suffer the torments of a tortuous marriage while the others dream of having a ring put on their finger. They hope to find happiness and their values in the man who shares their lives. Society, presenting marriage as a woman’s greatest achievement, and divorce as her greatest failure. So they delude themselves, cry and die in toxic relationships when the charming man who was supposed to protect their lives turns into an executioner, from one day to the next and sometimes just after the honeymoon—a choice that gradually turns into a way of the cross. A diamond ring rusted away from the beatings. A queen’s crown very quickly became a crown of thorns.