Alia Joy

A Prayer for Orion

Counseling, Grief & Mental Health

“A Prayer for Orion is a memoir of sobering truth. James's incisive prose unflinchingly cuts to the core and reveals an incandescent, searing, heartbreaking-yet-tender story that will touch lives, especially those impacted by addiction. This book tells the truth, and in doing so it allows others to both hope and heal.”

Back Roads to Belonging

Christian Living

“Kristen’s generous voice, using storytelling that is both hilarious and poignant, offers us the comfy cushion on the couch and the best throw pillow to hug against our fluffy spots as she scooches over to make room for our fears, our insecurities, and our ‘we don’t belong’ feelings, and then she leans in close and whispers in the pages, ‘Belonging is woven into our being.’ It is a gift for us all, nothing asked, nothing earned. Back Roads to Belonging invites us to explore those woven places with Kristen, a trusted companion, who’s picked at the threads herself and discovered a God who’s stitched a masterpiece in each one of us and called us beloved.”

Relentless

Christian Living

“Cushatt takes our hand and walks with us through the big question many of us don’t dare ask while suffering, but think all the same: “Why have You forsaken me?” Along the way, she deftly interweaves her testimony with an examination of Scripture, guiding us to recognize, remember, and rest in God’s relentless presence.”

The Ministry of Ordinary Places

Christian Living

“The Ministry of Ordinary Places tears down the high and mighty calling we’ve often conjured in our minds about how the faithful serve God and instead invites us to see a sacred call in the faces of our neighbors, to smell the holy incense in ashtrays filled with crooked cigarette butts, or to see the broken bread set before us in a Burger King table for two. Shannan challenges who our neighbor is then offers a glimpse of what it might look like to stay put, stick around, and find that our best life is one where we simply pay attention to that common ache to be known and seen and loved, just as we are. In a book that’s both challenging and down to earth, she leads us into a theology of ordinary places, of neighborliness, secondhand smoke, and the holy ground of discovering our way home is always together.”