The Digital Examen

Noticing God Bind Our Spiritual Wounds with Michael John Cusick

Feb 5, 2025

In this engaging discussion, Michael John Cusick, founder of Restoring the Soul and author of Sacred Attachment, dives into the profound connection between attachment and spiritual healing. He challenges listeners to embrace their vulnerabilities, viewing them as pathways to experiencing God's love. Cusick shares practical insights on how to trust in God's presence during pain, emphasizing the importance of being seen, soothed, and secure. The conversation ultimately invites us to move from spiritual exhaustion to a renewed sense of God's embrace with compassion and hope.

48:44

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Episode guests

Michael John Cusick

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Quick takeaways

Understanding our spiritual poverty and embracing our vulnerabilities can lead to deeper encounters with God's grace and love.

Healthy attachment needs—being seen, soothed, safe, and secure—are essential for fostering a meaningful relationship with God.

Deep dives

Understanding Spiritual Poverty as a Pathway to God

Spiritual poverty is highlighted as a fundamental starting point for experiencing the divine. Instead of viewing our weaknesses and wretchedness as shameful, they can be seen as the gateways through which we connect with God’s grace and love. Biblical references emphasize that God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble, suggesting that acknowledging our need for God can lead to profound spiritual encounters. This perspective reframes wretchedness not as a source of guilt but as an invitation to seek a deeper relationship with the divine.

Intro

2min

Exploring Connection and Vulnerability in Spirituality

25min

Reflecting on Spiritual Vulnerability and Growth

3min

Exploring the Four S's of Healthy Attachment

2min

Connecting Through Pain and Presence

15min

Embracing the Profound Love and Presence of God

3min

Can we really trust God with our wounds?

Fear and shame can lead us to mishandle and hide our brokenness and insecurities from God and others. Yet, as we attempt to protect ourselves, these fractures hinder our ability to perceive and receive God’s loving presence.

How can we instead believe in our belovedness and embrace our vulnerabilities as an opportunity to experience God’s delight in us?

In this episode, host Jay Y. Kim speaks with Michael John Cusick, CEO and founder of Restoring the Soul, a Denver-based intensive counseling ministry. Cusick, a licensed professional counselor, spiritual director, and author of Sacred Attachment, explores the profound connections between attachment theory, spiritual wounds, and our relationship with God.

This conversation challenges us to steward our vulnerabilities with self-compassion, honesty, and hope—while reckoning with God’s gentle desire to meet us precisely in our needs and limitations. Cusick shares practical steps to connect with God through our imagination, helping us more fully trust that God sees us, soothes us, keeps us safe, and offers us security.

Tune in to learn how to move from spiritual exhaustion to sacred attachment, finding rest in the healing balm of God's unchanging love.

This episode highlights the following themes:

The impact of attachment needs and theory on spiritual growth
The role of vulnerability in deepening our relationship with God
Practical steps to experience God’s loving presence

Links from this episode:

Get to know more about Michael John Cusick
Read Cusick’s book, Sacred Attachment
Read the transcript here

God is present; do we notice him? As the world gets louder, listening to God’s voice becomes increasingly challenging. We are bombarded by the chaos of our feeds, by distractions both inside and out, and by the everyday cacophony that drowns out the calm of a life lived in close communion with God. In this season of The Digital Examen, pastor and author Jay Y. Kim guides us toward reorienting our lives so that we can notice God with the entirety of our beings—heart, soul, mind, strength—in both the mundane and majestic moments of everyday life.

Learn more about The Digital Examen

Learn more about your host, Jay Y. Kim

Read Analog Church and Analog Christian by Jay Y. Kim

Download a Guide to The Examen.

Links and Credits

✅ Special offer: Visit ivpress.com and use the code IVPOD25 for 25% off any IVP resource mentioned in this episode.

✅ Consulting Producer: Helen Lee

✅ Producers: Christine Pelliccio Melo and Travis Albritton

✅ Production Assistant: Jack Reece

✅ Sound Engineering: Honest Podcasts

✅ Social Media Managers: Allie Noble and Makayla Payne

✅ Podcast Art: Kate Lillard and Elsbette San Blas

✅ Theme Song: "For They Will Inherit the Earth" by Stephen Keech

Disclaimer: The comments, views, and opinions expressed in this podcast are solely those of the host and/or the guests featured on the podcast and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of InterVarsity Press or InterVarsity Christian Fellowship.

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