Women in the Bible are quite often forgotten about, but Marina Hofman is shining a spotlight on them in her new book, Women in the Bible: Small Group Bible Study.

Marina has a powerful story of God rescuing her life after a serious car crash and delivering her from anxiety. She says it's the women in the Bible that helped her overcome the challenges she faced following that incident.

In each chapter of her book, Hofman examines one woman's story from a fresh and positive perspective and addresses faithfulness, redemption, justice, friendship, and triumph through adversity.

"Before the accident, I was studying women in the Bible in an academic sense, in scholarship. I was publishing articles," Hofman explains. "But then after the accident when I revisited these stories, I saw other dynamics."

"I realized these women were in situations so much like my own. They were desperate and faced major limitations. In a sense, many of them are broken. I found such incredible inspiration, and in time when I got much better and was able to write again, I thought, I want to share these stories with other women because they so encouraged and inspired me."

Now in the Christmas season, Marina is shining a spotlight on Mary.

"We are all familiar with the story of Mary. She is part of Christmas culture, even in secular society," said Hofman.

Hofman says the angel calling Mary is a phenomenal event in the gospels, and even though it may be hard to believe, she says, we can relate to Mary's encounter with the angel.

Today on Connections, Dr. Hofman shares with us how we can relate to Mary in more ways than we think.