MSI Press Blog

  Today's back story is about the book, It Only Hurts When I Can't Run  by Gewanda Parker. From the publisher: When Gewanda approached us with her pre-publication manuscript, it was clear that here was a person who had experienced tremendous trauma as a child. That is a story, of course. A sad story. However, what was also clear was her resilience in overcoming that trauma very, very successfully. That was a story worth publishing. An uplifting story. A story that can help others. More important for us as publisher, it fit into a line of such books, the leaders of which were Elizabeth Mahlou's Blest Atheist and Geri Henderson's and Seanne Emerton's Healing from Incest -- and ultimate prompted the commissioned book by Joanna Romer, Recovering from Domestic Abuse, Stalking, and Abuse . When it was released, Gewanda's book quickly flew to the top of Amazon's hot new releases lists: #4 Hot New Releases in the child abuse category #8 Hot New Releases in the fam...

  Gewanda Parker, author of  It Only Hurts When I Can't Run , talks about  The Power of Choice: Creating a Life of Purpose and Fulfillment - YouTube  in a recent video. Short and worth watching! A paperback edition of Gewanda's book is available at the  MSI Press webstore . For more posts about Gewanda and her book, click  HERE . Sign up for the MSI Press LLC newsletter Follow MSI Press on  X ,  Face Book , and  Instagram .   Interested in publishing with MSI Press LLC? Check out information on  how to submit a proposal . Interested in receiving a free copy of this or any MSI Press LLC book  in exchange for  reviewing  a current or forthcoming MSI Press LLC book? Contact editor@msipress.com. Want an  author-signed copy  of this book? Purchase the book at 25% discount (use coupon code FF25) and concurrently send a written request to orders@msipress.com. Want to communicate with one of our authors? You can! Fi...

  excerpt from It Only Hurts When I Can't Run by Gewanda Parker Introduction   I believe in a God who heals, delivers, and sets captives free. Because God in His mercy did this for me, I have to let the world know that if God can do it for me, surely God can do it for the next person. That is why I had to write this book—and I must admit that writing this narrative has been an unexpectedly tedious but healing journey.   I remember the day I began writing about the sexual abuse in my life. I started writing early in the day. I wrote for about four hours. I revisited every encounter I remembered from ages five to sixteen. When I finished, I erupted into tears. This flood of emotions lasted for nearly six hours. Anger, hurt, scarring, shame, betrayals, disbelief and even fear gripped me to the core of my being. When I had finally stopped, the time seemed to have slipped by because it was well past 11p.m.   On this occasion, God and my good friend were there. She sat th...

  Exceprt from It Only Hurts When I Can't Run 23. Belt in te Face By the time I was twelve, in the seventh grade, and still under Miss Taylor’s thumb, our relationship had slowly deteriorated. It wasn’t completely my fault. It began with Miss Taylor being preoccupied with her friendship with one of her church sisters, Mrs. Manor, forcing me into give-and-take with the two Manor girls my age; fortunately, I could ignore the Manor boys.       The Manor family lived in Sebring’s country outskirts. Miss Taylor would take me, Jon, and any other kids in her temporary care to the country. The county scents that changed from sweet to foul, depending on where you stood in the yard, surprised and invigorated me. Dodging snorting pigs and running after chickens (or from them, in my case, because I thought they were crazed beasts) put a lot of glee into the day. Playing in a smelly trailer hidden in the woods made it seem like we had our own personal house. Eating frie...

  Not only is Rev. Gewanda Parker a talented writer ( It Only Hurts When I Can't Run ) and speaker, she is also a talented singer. Treat yourself to her Christmas music this holiday season. For more posts about Gewanda and her book, click HERE .

  MSI Press author, Gewanda Parker ( It Only Hurts When I Can't Run ) recently posted a very helpful and interesting video, " What Do You Want? " on Linked-In.  For more posts about Gewanda and her book, click HERE .

Gewanda is the founder and CEO of Hope and Healing Corporation, serving the needs of the marginalized of society locally and abroad to orphanages in Haiti and Africa. In 2003, she started an organization to help young girls and teens suffering with self-esteem and identity issues. Gewanda is a featured concert soloist, and her natural talent in music and  praise and worship has offered her the opportunity to minister and travel singing throughout the US, Canada and Bahamas. Levitical Praise was birthed out of these true authentic worship experiences. Johnson holds a Master of Divinity degree from Asbury Theological Seminary. Gewanda has worked with multiple multicultural and diversity assemblage of both professionals and laity groups in various settings. Most notable, in 2003, she was asked to speak to the highly Militant Religious Divides between the Protestants and Catholics in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Gewanda hosted a weekly radio show called “Message of Hope,” which ...

People have been asking for -- IT ONLY HURTS WHEN I CAN'T RUN Gewanda Parker vividly describes  a tragic childhood, a triumphant emergence onto the adult stage, a promising future An empowering read for a challenging time, this book is nearly impossible to put down. Many, many favorable reviews, e.g., from MidWest Book Review: Critique: Impressively candid, exceptionally informative, and ultimately inspiring, "It Only Hurts When I Can't Run: One Girl's Story" is a compelling read from beginning to end. Very highly recommended for personal reading lists, as well as community and academic library American Biography collections. Find more reviews HERE . The beautiful cover was painted by the late beloved and vaunted Russian illustrator, Zhenya Yanovich. who has also illustrated other MSI Press books. Gewanda Parker today is a pastor at a church in Florida.  And now, here is a short exceprt: He said...

Excerpt: First Pain Through the years, Binta often told people I was her “first pain.” I assumed it was because I was her first born, but the more I thought about it, I was not her primal pain. She was in pain long before I came along. As a child, I recall her telling me many times that she was the “black sheep” of her family. By my observation, she was a copper-colored, smooth-skinned beauty with dark, inquisitive eyes and long, thick hair. Knowing her siblings as I do, she may have seemed like a prickly-know-it-all in her conversations with them.       Binta also made statements to me, questioning her parentage, saying, “My aunt I got named after is really my birth mother.” She never said why she thought that. Other times, she’d say about her mother, my Nana, Dia Mae Black, “She didn’t love me; in fact, I think she hated me. That’s the reason my family and me seemed like a poor fit.” How awful! What a mindset to have about your own mother and family...

Wonderful, well-deserved review by US Review of Books of Gewanda Parker's great book, It Only Hurts When I Can't Run. Oma (the author’s name for the little girl she once was) wanted to love her mother Binta, a woman who could be generous, creative, and kind at times—but at other times, driven by her addiction, Binta's eyes became "narrowed and watery, displaying a look of meanness." From an early age, Oma tried to hide, then to run away, from the addictive patterns of the one person she should have been able to trust. The enraged, addicted Binta beat her with hands, a belt, even a belt buckle (the same belt used as part of the paraphernalia of her mother's heroin habit). Men in her mother's lives sexually abused Oma, starting when she was only five. Oma was shunted through numerous foster care situations. As she got older she grew better able to resist the negative forces in her life. She experienced a religious conversion that gave her strength. ...

Wonderful book review -- fully merited -- for Parker's book by MidWest Book Review . Synopsis: "It Only Hurts When I Can't Run: One Girl's Story" is the personal story of Gewanda J. Parker. Abandoned, neglected and beaten by a mother who really did care about her but suffered from her own demons and addictions, left with friends and relatives, as well as placed in foster homes, molested and raped on more than one occasion, including by men considered upright, the little girl who grew up to become an educator, minister, and entrepreneur learned to survive by running away again and again. This heartbreaking and heartwarming story, told with courageous frankness, reveals a deep trust in God that, in the long run, promoted an unbelievable resilience, allowing a young girl, turned young woman, to forgive those who hurt her and to reach out to all those who hurt with a message of healing and hope. Critique: Impressively candid, exceptionally informative, and ultim...

A couple of years after the fact, we stumbled across a great book review by The Car's Maw at mypennameonly blog. Very appreciated is the 5-star review and the time taken to write it. I received a copy of this book from a Publisher’s giveaway on  LibraryThing.com  and the following is my honest opinion for the book. Although it’s not directly stated reading this book I got the sense the storyline is actually a poignant fictionalized memoir of the author herself as there too many key points which both Binta, the girl in the story, and the author share. While a purist might say this book needs to be edited to some degree, I feel the writing as is adds to the authenticity of the story being from the girl’s POV. Many other girls in the same position as Binta would have succumb to what the fates had in store for her, however the speck of faith she had in her heart and soul persevered and she survived. And having survived she herself, and like Lazarus rising from the dead,...