Finding Security Amidst the Storms: How to Find Your Secure Attachment in God-With-UsSample

Hebrews 13:5 Amplified Bible

Let your character [your moral essence, your inner nature] be free from the love of money [shun greed—be financially ethical], being content with what you have; for He has said, “I will never [under any circumstances] desert you [nor give you up nor leave you without support, nor will I in any degree leave you helpless], nor will I forsake or let you down or relax My hold on you [assuredly not]!”

At a formational prayer training in 2010 in Ashland, Ohio, I sat at a roundtable facing Dr. Anne Halley. That day Anne wore a blue sweater, her brown hair in a neat bob, and her characteristic warm smile. Anne was teaching us how our attachment with our first caregiver still affects our relationship with God. During our session, she invited us to ask the question, “Jesus, where are You in the room on my behalf?” That might sound like a strange question, but if He promised to never leave us or forsake us, if He promised to be with us until the end of the age (Matthew 28:20), there is no room that can keep Him out. He has already shown us that He can walk through locked doors.

I sat with Anne’s question, “Jesus, where are You in the room on my behalf?” I sensed Jesus was far away in the corner but near in His attentiveness. He was turning toward each of us in delight. In fact, He was turning toward me in delight. I was experiencing Emmanuel—God-with-us—holding my gaze with tenderness. In His gaze, the room stopped spinning. My breath deepened. My shoulders dropped. In the middle of a full conference room, my orientation shifted from overwhelmed to grounded. Christ is here, I thought. He who holds the world in the palm of His hand is present. As I opened up my awareness to Emmanuel’s presence, I experienced feeling safe, seen, soothed, and secure—the four necessary components for establishing attachment.

What if we could experience an attachment with God so grounding that we feel safe in every room because we are oriented to His anchoring presence? What if we learn to stop at every threshold, take a deep breath, and ask, “Jesus, where are You in this room on my behalf?” And then, as we step into the space, we join the One who is perpetually welcoming His children.

That day, I began to comprehend what the disciples learned that night on the Sea of Galilee: peace is a person, and when we are aware of His presence, waves of anxiety are stilled. I also learned that coming awake to this truth will be my life’s work.

Author C. S. Lewis said in Letters to Malcolm, “We may ignore, but we can nowhere evade, the presence of God. The world is crowded with Him. He walks everywhere incognito. And the incognito is not always hard to penetrate. The real labor is to attend. In fact, to come awake. Still more, to remain awake.”

How can you remember God's presence in your life today?