Trauma, suffering, violence, it all pains our heart. It seems that we hurt each other in this hurtful world without a remedy. Especially about racial trauma, sexual abuse, and other injustices. Through the story of women of all backgrounds, we can find their real voice about their struggle to receive healing and walk toward transformation.

“Could God actually bring about healing from the trauma I’ve experienced?’
My response is simple: Yes, I believe he can. Because I’ve found healing from the trauma I suffered, I know this to be true: There is a God, he is good, he loves us, and his desire is for our flourishing.”

Dieula offers us a cherished dual gift of vulnerable experience and keen expertise within the pages of this book, and also gives us grounded hope. Through the lens of Hagar, an abused Egyptian whose captivity led her to the wilderness and likely death, Dieula teaches us what it is to be seen by God and to name God even after trauma. She bridges the gap between academic counseling concepts and everyday therapeutic practices, offering readers an accessible, embodied ethic of care. Like a true womanist, Dieula writes with the aim of gentle and expansive freedom for all of us, but especially for Black women, who have wrongly been presumed upon as the world’s mules. God sees us as the beloved, and Dieula echoes this by showing us that trauma doesn’t have the last word.