Jennie A. McLaurin - Designed to Heal: What the Body Shows Us about Healing Wounds, Repairing Relationships, and Restoring Community

When I began reading Designed to Heal, I felt the same flush of excitement that I had when I first encountered Dr. Paul Brand, my collaborator on three books. These two authors, a researcher and a physician, have woven together a rare combination of vivid science, compassionate storytelling, and lasting spiritual lessons. A delight to read.

PHILIP YANCEY , bestselling author

To work in prison ministry is to see, day in and day out, the damage that unhealed wounds can create in a life and a community. This book paints a vivid picture of the hope we share that Gods love can bring healing to even the most profound of wounds, and the mechanisms through which that healing may come to pass.

JED BREWER , director of productions at Mission:USA

I have tried to come up with just the right word to describe this book, and the best I can do is marvelous. Medical doctor Jennie McLaurin, with the help of her friend, molecular geneticist Cymbeline Culiat, has written a marvelous book. They open up for us the wonders of the human body, in particular the marvel of the bodys inherent capacity for healing. I was stunned by what they show us: the ability of the body to repair, restore, and even regenerate. Drs. McLaurin and Culiat take us through the remarkable stages by which such wound healing takes place and apply them to the healing of corporate bodies, especially the church, the body of Christ. Through their stories of healing, clear and easily grasped biological explanations, and solid theological insights, I find myself lifted into hope that all wounds can be healed, and one day will be. Marvelous in every sense of the word!

DARRELL JOHNSON , retired pastor and professor, teaching fellow at Regent College, and theological mentor

This is a book of hope hope in the grace that courses through our healing physical bodies and for the communal bodies that we live among. The wonders of science, illuminated by a physician and a molecular geneticist, shed light on possibilities for families, neighborhoods, churches, and the body politic. Drs. McLaurin and Culiat are close friends who share deep commitments to science, motherhood, and living out their Christian faith in our complicated world. Acknowledging the reality of woundedness, physical and social, they offer ways of seeing and living that will bless the world.

SUSAN S. PHILLIPS, PHD , executive director of New College Berkeley, sociologist, and author of The Crisis of Care (with Patricia Benner) and The Cultivated Life

This unique and very interesting book examines the processes by which our bodies heal, and applies that learning to the healing of relationships. The authors share current brain science research relating to the damaging effects of trauma and the protective effects of positive emotions and experiences. Overall a very valuable and useful new perspective.

BRIAN ALLAIN , founder of Writing for Your Life and How to Heal Our Divides

The prevalence and intensity of current conflicts in personal and communal lives have reached critical levels globally. This book presents a refreshing and intriguing new perspective on how the injuries in our lives can heal by applying the principles of how the physical body naturally heals wounds. Combining scientific and medical knowledge with engaging stories from the clinic, the laboratory, and their personal lives, the authors have crafted a unique work that has great potential to bring healing to the injured spaces of any readers life.

LISA GOKONGWEI-CHENG , president of Summit Media, Manila, Philippines

On this fascinating journey, two medical friends invite readers into the human bodys capacity to heal its physical wounds and provide a spiritual blueprint for healing our broken communities. Kind, savvy, and encouraging, pediatrician Jennie McLaurin and scientist Cymbeline Tancongco Culiat apply the balm of insight, story, and encouragement to inspire fresh ways of exploring how Gods people and our connections can be healed and also transformed. Its a restorative adventure worth taking.

PATRICIA RAYBON , author of My First White Friend: Confessions on Race, Love, and Forgiveness and I Told the Mountain to Move: Learning to Pray So Things Change

In this engaging book, a physician and a scientist share their stories of injury and healing. As they describe the amazing biological processes at work in our physical bodies, we gain new insights into ways to promote healing in our relationships, churches, and communities. A timely book, excellent for preachers, small groups, and our wounded world.

DEBORAH HAARSMA , president of BioLogos

We are indeed spiritual beings in physical bodies that God created with amazing healing capabilities. God in his glory and majesty created our bodies magnificently, and Designed to Heal gives us a glimpse of what we can learn from the wondrous design of physical healing and what it teaches us about how to experience relational and emotional healing as well. It marries scientific and spiritual understanding to give a visual presentation of the work needed for us to be completely restored and transformed not only from our physical wounds but also from our emotional, relational, and spiritual wounds as individuals and as one body of Christ. I recommend that you read this book and hope that it blesses you!

DR. PETER TAN-CHI , senior pastor, Christs Commission Fellowship

McLaurin and Culiat thoughtfully compare the biological processes of wound healing to the steps needed to heal the human soul, what the Greeks called our psyche. Although biological healing appears to be spontaneous and almost miraculous (even to the medical community), healing our hearts requires more intervention. Whether it is our individual psyche or the corporate psyche of our families and communities, the authors provide practical examples (many from their own lives) that can encourage and enable us to seek the healing that leads to wholeness. I wholeheartedly recommend this book as one I will share with friends and family.

ROGER E. STOLLER, PHD , distinguished materials scientist, Oak Ridge National Laboratory (retired)

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Designed to Heal: What the Body Shows Us about Healing Wounds, Repairing Relationships, and Restoring Community

Copyright 2021 by Jennie McLaurin and Cymbeline T. Culiat. All rights reserved.

Cover images are the property of their respective copyright holders, and all rights are reserved. Glitch melt Wizemark/Stocksy; male and female skeletal system LEONELLO CALVETTI/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY/Getty Images; canvas track5/Getty Images.

Designed by Koko Toyama

Published in association with the literary agency of WordServe Literary Group, www.wordserveliterary.com.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright 1946, 1952, and 1971 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Scripture quotations marked MSG are taken from THE MESSAGE, copyright 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson. Used by permission of NavPress. All rights reserved. Represented by Tyndale House Publishers.