Barbara Ward Stephens is affectionately known as "Mama Hug." She is a great-grandmother whose life's work has been to help mend broken hearts.

Mama Hug knows the pain of soul wounds herself. Suffering many kinds of abuse, having a learning disability, experiencing emotional abandonment and rejection, she can relate to the pain of others.

The Lord gave Mama Hug a revelation in Luke Chapter 4, verse 18 as His mission statement. This scripture became the foundation of her counseling ministry, and later the course called Solutions, as well as another, Healing the Wounded.

Mama Hug is from Birmingham, Alabama, where she taught the good news of Luke 4:18 in churches of every denomination.

In 1996, she relocated to Pensacola, Florida, to become Pastor of Counseling and Pastoral Care at Liberty Church. From 2000 until 2006, Mama Hug was a professor at Brownsville Revival School of Ministry.

She has authored several books including Psalms for Recovery, Proverbs for Recovery, Love Song, Parable of the Garden, Very Fearfully and Wonderfully Made, and a number of curricula.

Mama Hug currently resides in Pensacola with her puppy Charlie Banjo.