God delights in transforming lives. In Broken Into Beautiful, singer and songwriter Gwen Smith's first book, she tells the real-life stories of women with shattered dreams, shameful secrets, and damaged souls, and the God who makes them beautiful again. Each chapter features a compelling personal story coupled with relevant biblical teaching and application. Readers will meet women wounded by infidelity, abortion, widowhood, abuse, and other tragic events, only to discover the joy of being restored by a loving heavenly Father. The book will remind women of all ages of God's willingness to eternally forgive and forget and of His heart to transform broken lives. Readers will be empowered to believe truth, to remember grace, and to live for God's greater purposes. Broken into Beautiful is ultimately about a beautiful Savior who became broken for us so that all who are broken can be transformed to reflect His beauty.

Turning Tragedy into Triumph Do you ever feel stuck? Overwhelmed by fear? Do you worry that if people really knew the secrets you hide, they wouldn't want you? Do you wonder why you're even here? The things you hate about your life are the very things that excite God most. Your past doesn't repel Him and your present doesn't intimidate Him--because He knows what He can do with them! The places where you feel hopeless are exactly what He wants to redeem and fill with beauty, dignity, and strength. He has a plan for your pain. A wonderful intention for your failures. A purpose for your hardest, darkest stories. In Broken and Beautiful, Christine Soule shares the message of hope as she tells how God took the pieces of her own broken life--childhood abuse, poverty, human trafficking, and more--and turned them all into breathtaking joy and purpose. Told with honesty and humor, this is the story of a drug-addicted stripper's transformation into an exuberant Jesus lover with a passion for meeting others in their journey and watching God's love mend them together.

God delights in transforming lives. In Broken Into Beautiful, singer and songwriter Gwen Smith's first book, she tells the real-life stories of women with shattered dreams, shameful secrets, and damaged souls, and the God who makes them beautiful again. Each chapter features a compelling personal story coupled with relevant biblical teaching and application. Readers will meet women wounded by infidelity, abortion, widowhood, abuse, and other tragic events, only to discover the joy of being restored by a loving heavenly Father. The book will remind women of all ages of God's willingness to eternally forgive and forget and of His heart to transform broken lives. Readers will be empowered to believe truth, to remember grace, and to live for God's greater purposes. Broken into Beautiful is ultimately about a beautiful Savior who became broken for us so that all who are broken can be transformed to reflect His beauty.

Broken. Shattered. Beaten. Crushed. Have you been there? Are you still there? Pieces, fragments of who you are demand expla- nation. What happened to me? Why did this happen? Will I ever recover? Will peace and joy ever return to me? Is this you? You have walked through the flood of devastation in your life that broke you, shattered you, beat and crushed you. It is time for the rescue you've been crying out for to arrive. It is time to be free of what distresses you. Your Father in heaven will help you navigate through the troubled waters; you will find Him in the pages of this book. He is bending over the balcony of heaven and extending His hand of mercy and grace toward you. Look up, let go of the tethers that bind you to this earth; take His hand and allow Him to bring healing to your spirit, mind, and soul. He comes swiftly to answer your heart's cry. He is waiting for you.

Laura Sisney is a wife, mother of two and grandmother of six. Her passion is her Lord and her family, both biological and spiritual. She and her husband travel a great deal in their business, but when she is home, she loves to spend her spare time reading and writing. She says her identity is in Christ because He is the one who inspires her to be who He says she can be. A Christian since 1982, it was after a revival in her heart a few years ago that she was moved to delve deeper into God's word to learn more about Him. She felt a call to write devotionals and, as a result of prayer and the encouragement of other, to publish her work.

God created you for exceptional impact. Exceptional power. And exceptional blessings. Gwen Smith knows how easy it is to dismiss God’s plans with the thoughts, I can’t make a big difference for God because I’m just an ordinary woman with an ordinary life. Yet God created us to join Him in doing amazing work in the world. He created us to live with abundant joy, courage, and influence. But not the joy, courage, and influence of the world. He offers His grace for each failure, His love that shatters hate, His peace that soothes the turmoil, His comfort, guidance, wisdom, rest, power, and significance. Every blessing He has for us is ours for the taking. I Want It All will ignite a fire in your heart to experience more faith, more power, and more impact. More of Jesus. All of Jesus. Everything that God has for you.

Although most evangelical traditions bar women from ordained ministry, many women have carved out unofficial positions of power in their husbands' spiritual empires or their own ministries. The biggest stars write bestselling books, grab high ratings on Christian television, and even preach. Bowler offers a sympathetic and revealing portrait of megachurch women celebrities, showing how they must balance the demands of celebrity culture and conservative, male-dominated faiths. And black celebrity preachers' wives carry a special burden of respectability. A compelling account of women's search for spiritual authority in the age of celebrity. -- adapted from jacket