Sacred Attachment: Escaping Spiritual Exhaustion and Trusting in Divine Love
Ebook
What do you do when the gap between what you believe and what you experience feels insurmountable? Where do you turn when trauma leaves you feeling lost, ashamed, and exhausted, spinning in spiritual uncertainty but still longing for relationship with God?
Michael John Cusick voices the questions and contradictions that are inherently part of living an authentic spiritual faith. With raw honesty and vulnerability, he shares his own zigzagging path to God and reveals how brokenness and pain can become the gateway to experiencing joyful divine attachment. Because God's love has you, you can put aside fear and loneliness—and you can rest seen, soothed, safe, and secure in God's presence. Cusick's gentle, trauma-informed guidance lets you reimagine life with God in a way that repairs wounds and deeply satisfies your soul.
You're not losing your faith; you're shedding baggage. Your struggle to believe is not a barrier—it's the bridge to a restorative, embodied spirituality.
1. Spinning: Escaping and Experiencing God's Embrace
2. Delta: Closing the Gap Between Believing and Knowing
3. Attached: Being Held and Beheld
4. Evil: Rejecting the Lies About God and About Ourselves
5. Embodied: Connecting to Our Bodies and Connecting to God
6. Turning : Discovering We Are Broken, but Not Bad
7. Wholly: Becoming Whole and Holy
8. Known: Facing Our Deepest Desire and Greatest Fear
9. Mysticism: Experiencing Spiritual Oneness with God
10. Imagination: Learning to See with the Eyes of the Heart
11. Practice: Embodying Our Connection with God
12. Overflow: Opening Our Hearts to Vulnerability
Acknowledgments
Guide for Leading a Group
Questions for Reflection and Discussion
Notes
Further Reading
"Trauma, exhaustion, shame, and pain are all part of life. However, the brighter side of life consists of love, contentment, peace, and joy. The latter are spiritual fruit that develop throughout the course of life. In the book Sacred Attachment, Michael John Cusick understands that both sides of the coin are part of the divine plan. . . . He takes the reader on a spiritual journey from growing up with fear and anxiety about his faith to becoming an adult who delights in the blessed assurance of experiencing a more intimate relationship with Yahweh. And that is why we were created!"
"I absolutely love this book! Cusick not only brilliantly unpacks insights from Scripture and psychology, but with breathtaking courage and generosity, he reveals his life to us so we can experience the joy of wholeness."
"Some of us are tempted to believe that our struggles or sufferings push God away. In fact, the grace, mercy, and love of God are drawn to that which is wounded, wayward, or broken in us. Michael Cusick's stories, from both his life and his walking alongside others, powerfully display the surprising and even scandalous grace of our God. I felt encouraged and understood as I read this book. I highly recommend it."
"With compassion and vulnerability, Sacred Attachment invites us to address the gap between who we are and who God created us to be. Michael Cusick has written a gentle yet powerful book drawn from a blend of biblical insight, psychological acumen, and ancient Christian wisdom that is deeply needed in our world today. This compelling resource is an absolute gift."
"We don't believe we are loved until we feel it in our chests. Given how infrequently this happens, no wonder we are as exhausted as we are. But thanks be to God, . . . Michael Cusick takes us on a deeply personal and comprehensively practical journey that invites the reader into the wide place to stand of which the psalmist writes. A wide place in which you become the beauty and goodness that you have been destined to become. Read this book and rest. Read this book and be revealed. But mostly read this book and know—in your chest—what it means to be loved."
"As a personal witness and beneficiary of Michael Cusick's trauma-informed spiritual care, I can attest to the sacred wisdom offered in these pages. Among the treasures you'll find herein, you'll find the truth of how it is that the divine life can be known and experienced directly through our wounds and in our shadows. This revelation is perhaps the primary medicine and mercy that God dispenses through Michael to those in need of healing, whether in his clinic and intensive retreats or through his books. I'm forever grateful."
"As someone who makes a living writing at the intersection of faith and culture, I'm inundated with stories of people who are spirituality disillusioned. Too many have been told their doubts and objections, brokenness and struggles, orientations and identities are incompatible with living in the arms of divine love. Michael John Cusick offers us something we need more than we know: a trauma-informed spirituality of compassion. Sacred Attachment presents a path for life with God that is wide-armed and clear-eyed. This remarkable book makes the good news feel, well, good. And it has come to us not a moment too soon."
"With disarming vulnerability, Michael John Cusick masterfully weaves his own dramatic story of healing with clinical insights he's gleaned in over thirty years of working as a therapist and spiritual director. Along the way he exposes and names our own spiritual wounds while guiding us to rest in divine love—the one true place where we are seen, soothed, safe, and secure. If you are sick and tired of trying to acquire or attain God's affection, or trying to muster up faith, this book is a must-read."
"With Sacred Attachment, Michael John Cusick paints a beautiful, multifaceted picture of healing that inspires the imagination and invites deep personal reflection. I couldn't put it down. Cusick's willingness to share his own journey through pain adds depth and nuance to his expertise as a clinician. This book is a moving testament to the power of grace and restoration. It will not only nourish your soul, it will help you heal."
"This book delivers the full experience of restoring the soul. Following Michael John Cusick's approach to trauma-informed, clinical soul-care, this book offers wisdom for healing and restoration. The brilliance of the message comes from its trustworthy source, Michael's own life and experiences. His gifted and authentic teaching invites the reader to open up their inner world and be transformed by the sacred truth that love has you."
"Michael Cusick's story is so compelling, not least because it's in and through it that the very good and very beautiful story of the safe, secure, seeing, and soothing love of God can be revealed. For all who feel too broken, this is an invitation to the deep and sacred work of healing that is possible."
"I cannot express how deeply this book resonated with me. It feels like a deep confirmation of who I am and the identity I am meant to embrace in the world. Cusick's insights are not just thought-provoking; they serve as a powerful affirmation of truth and discovery. The life experiences that Michael John Cusick shares throughout the pages of this book have led him to a level of expertise that is both inspiring and transformative. His wisdom is profound and has the potential to liberate thousands from the uncertainties and struggles of real life. I truly believe that the insights found within this book are incredibly valuable and can spark change in the lives of many."
"Michael John Cusick is beautifully honest and compelling. He invites us to explore God's wild attachment and our audacious response. It's a read that will awaken the parts that have grown numb."
"I love this book. I love it for many reasons: the writing is excellent, funny, and vulnerable. But what I love most about this book is what it did to me as I read it. It gently exposed my deep longings to be seen, safe, soothed, and secure, while dismantling my false narratives about how to achieve them. It moved me toward a new paradigm for a new kind of faith, one in which my soul had been longing for. By the time I was done reading it, I was convinced as never before that love truly has me, and I am now unafraid to invite God into the gaps in my life. This book soars, as each chapter is better than the last. No matter what you do this year, read this book."
- Title: Sacred Attachment: Escaping Spiritual Exhaustion and Trusting in Divine Love
- Author: Michael John Cusick
- Publisher: IVP Formatio
- Print Publication Date: 2025
- Logos Release Date: 2024
- Language: English
- Resources: 1
- Format: Digital › Ebook
- ISBNs: 9781514008324, 9781514008317, 1514008319, 1514008327
- Resource ID: LLS:9781514008324
- Resource Type: Monograph
- Metadata Last Updated: 2024-10-06T06:42:08Z
Michael John Cusick is the CEO and founder of Restoring the Soul, an intensive counseling ministry in Denver. He is a licensed professional counselor, spiritual director, and former assistant professor of counseling at Colorado Christian University. Michael is the author of Surfing for God, and his articles have appeared in such places as Relevant, Huffington Post, and Red Letter Christians. He and his wife, Julianne, have two grown children and live in Littleton, Colorado.