**Book received for consideration. Post contains affiliate links. All thoughts are 100% my own.
As a girl, Alia Joy came face to face with weakness, poverty, and loss in ways that made her doubt God was good. There were times when it felt as if God had abandoned her. What she didn't realize then was that God was always there, calling her to abandon herself.
In this deeply personal exploration of what it means to be "poor in spirit," Joy challenges our cultural proclivity to "pull ourselves up by our own bootstraps." She calls on readers to embrace true vulnerability and authenticity with God and with one another, showing how weakness does not disqualify us from inclusion in the kingdom of God--instead, it is our very invitation to enter in.
Anyone who has struggled with feeling inadequate, disillusioned, or just too broken will find hope. This message is an antidote to despair, helping readers reclaim the ways God is good, even when life is anything but.
Alia Joy is an author who believes the darkness is illuminated when we grasp each other's hand & walk into the night together. She writes poignantly about her life with bipolar disorder as well as grief, faith, marriage, poverty, race, embodiment, and keeping fluent in the language of hope. Sushi is her love language and she balances her cynical idealism with humor and awkward pauses. She lives in Central Oregon with her husband, her tiny Asian mother, her three kids, a dog, a bunny, and a bunch of chickens.
For her blog, visit www.aliajoy.com.
Or follow her on Twitter @aliajoyh and Instagram @aliajoy
Let's be honest, talking about weakness as Christians is in many circles frowned upon. Okay, okay... that's not entirely true. We can talk about weaknesses but only to a certain degree. Commiserating with fellow moms about the stresses of motherhood? Sure, that's absolutely fine. Talking about the real depths of mental illness? Well, that's a trickier subject. Even when we open up about those struggles they are so often downplayed... or given only a glimpse into it. We tend not to be real about just how bad it truly is. I see this in my own life. I've always tried to be open about my own struggles with mental health...as in, I'm pretty clear letting people know that I struggle with it, and maybe even that I'm having a hard time with it... but never the full details off how bad it can truly be. Because when you do that, it makes people uncomfortable. We don't want to talk about that kind of struggle because it doesn't make us feel good. We read books that attempt to tell us that everything will be better if we just want it enough, if we just hustle more, if we make it happen ourselves. What a dangerous message that can be to those in the midst of mental health struggles already, right? This is why books like this one are so needed... books that TRULY take a long hard look at those weaknesses we face in raw honesty, but with a message of hope in the midst of the weaknesses.
I loved the way Alia told her stories. They were very honest and open, and written in such a way that you could truly see yourself there. It was captivating and me wanting to read more of her beautiful style of storytelling. Despite many of the hard topics talked about, I still wanted to read on.
In the introduction, Alia writes, "Well, this book is for every one of you who emailed me and told me my story made you braver with your own, whatever it might be. It's for everyone who doesn't understand their identity as beloved. It's for everyone who can't imagine their weakness might be their greatest strength. It's for everyone who thinks that strength comes from trying harder and doing more. It's for everyone who struggles and for everyone who loves the struggling. It's for everyone who's sat in the dark with a silent God, looking for a glimmer of hope that they're not alone. It's for everyone who needs to know that being poor in spirit is the richest place of all. That's where the treasure is buried."
And I agree with all of that...and so much more. I truly feel like this is a book we can all gain something from with it's powerful message and beautiful telling that so many need to hear in today's world. I highly recommend it to all.
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"Pleasant words are as a honeycomb: sweet to the soul and health to the bones." Proverbs 16:24