Krispin Mayfield - Attached to God: A Practical Guide to Deeper Spiritual Experience

What a refreshing and uncynical confrontation of the toxic spirituality that many of us inherited from our intimate relationships. This book looks at how God transcends the brokenness to meet us where we are. Krispin has written a practical resource that intersects both character work and spiritual formation for many of us who are trying to find the God that is better and more reliable than even our most intimate relationships.

BRANDI MILLER, host of Reclaiming My Theology

This book normalizes our insecurities about God and faith. It gives us language for understanding our patterns of seeking closeness, untangles us from bad theology concerning mental health, and invites us on a realistic journey to wholeness. Full of psychological research and theological insight, this book is a gift.

PEACE AMADI, PsyD, professor and author of Why Do I Feel Like This?

If you have found your faith squeezed into various boxes of shame, anxiety, and disillusionment, Attached to God is a shaft of light. This book is like therapy and theology: it will gently bloom you open and graciously begin the work of repair. Krispins wisdom is field-tested and filled with story, evidence, and Scripture. Krispin brings us back to the places where harm set in, exposing that the fault was not with us but with the fault lines of the structures we were handed, then by degrees walks us toward a solid and secure foundation. Thank you, Krispin, for being our guide through this terrain.

J. S. PARK, interfaith hospital chaplain and author of The Voices We Carry

This is a powerful book for anyone struggling to relate deeply and openly with God. Reading it touched me in profound ways and has helped me heal from the distorted messages Ive received about how God wants to connect with me!

SHARON HALE, LMFT, president of the Portland Center for Emotionally Focused Therapy

Attached to God makes me so happy and hopeful! This is such important information for people trying to make sense of their relationship with God. Many of us struggle with a faith life that leaves us feeling anxious or disconnected in different ways no matter what we do. In relatable and easy-to-grasp language, Krispin reveals how this happens through the science of human attachment. In doing so, he offers us hope to step out of the pull of our messy, imperfect attachment histories and into a more secure relationship with God.

JEFFREY OLRICK, PhD, cofounder of Growing Connected and author of The 6 Needs of Every Child

A brilliant blend of attachment science and spiritual development, Attached to God will help you understand more about yourself, about the people around you, and about God. Mayfield deftly challenges Christian teachings based in shame, guilt, and should, pointing instead to the individual and unique ways that each of us can connect with a loving and graceful God.

ROBERT VORE, therapist and cohost of CXMH: A Podcast on Faith & Mental Health

Growing up in church was confusing and hard because when I struggled in life, I thought it was because I didnt pray hard enough. In this book, Krispin articulated everything I have grown to understand but never really had the words to express. This book will give you better understanding and help you create a deeper relationship with God.

CELESTE VICIERE, host of Celeste the Therapist podcast

ZONDERVAN BOOKS

Attached to God

Copyright 2022 by Krispin Mayfield

Requests for information should be addressed to:

Zondervan, 3900 Sparks Dr. SE, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49546

Zondervan titles may be purchased in bulk for educational, business, fundraising, or sales promotional use. For information, please email SpecialMarkets@Zondervan.com.

ISBN 978-0-310-36382-8 (audio)

Epub Edition December 2021 9780310363804

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Mayfield, Krispin, 1986- author.

Title: Attached to God : a practical guide to deeper spiritual experience / Krispin Mayfield, LPC.

Description: Grand Rapids : Zondervan, 2022. | Includes bibliographical references. | Summary: If youve ever heard the damaging message that feeling far from God is your own choice or the result of sin in your life, therapist Krispin Mayfields Attached to God will reveal a new way of approaching your relationship with the Divine that will help you feel closer and more connected to God than ever beforeProvided by publisher.

Identifiers: LCCN 2021037016 (print) | LCCN 2021037017 (ebook) | ISBN 9780310363798 (trade paperback) | ISBN 9780310363804 (ebook)

Subjects: LCSH: Hidden God. | GodKnowableness. | Spiritual lifeChristianity.

Classification: LCC BT180.H54 M28 2022 (print) | LCC BT180.H54 (ebook) | DDC 231.7dc23/eng/20211201

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021037016

LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021037017

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from The Holy Bible, New International Version, NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.Zondervan.com. The NIV and New International Version are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.

Scripture quotations marked ESV are taken from the ESV Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version). Copyright 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Any internet addresses (websites, blogs, etc.) and telephone numbers in this book are offered as a resource. They are not intended in any way to be or imply an endorsement by Zondervan, nor does Zondervan vouch for the content of these sites and numbers for the life of this book.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meanselectronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any otherexcept for brief quotations in printed reviews, without the prior permission of the publisher.

Names and identifying characteristics of some individuals have been changed to preserve their privacy.

Cover design: Lindy Martin / Faceout Studio

Cover images: Maria Mirnaya / Grisha Bruev / Shutterstock

Interior design: Kait Lamphere

Printed in the United States of America

21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 /LSC/ 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

For Ransom and Ramona,

who have helped me deeply understand

how God feels toward me

and have brought absolute joy and delight to my life

Ebook Instructions

In this ebook edition, please use your devices note-taking function to record your thoughts wherever you see the bracketed instructions [Your Notes]. Use your devices highlighting function to record your response whenever you are asked to checkmark, circle, underline, or otherwise indicate your answer(s).

Information about External Hyperlinks in this ebook

Please note that the endnotes in this ebook may contain hyperlinks to external websites as part of bibliographic citations. These hyperlinks have not been activated by the publisher, who cannot verify the accuracy of these links beyond the date of publication

CONTENTS

When I was about four years old, I learned in Sunday school that my life was like a black-and-white picture. A deep gorge of sin separated me from God, but Jesuss death on the cross built a bridge across. My kind but stern teacher wagged her finger at our class and said that the only way not to be separated from God and fall into the chasm of death was to step onto the bridge to make it to the other side.