God Attachment Healing

Sam

Hi everyone! Welcome to the God Attachment Healing Podcast. I'm your host, Sam Landa. This podcast is dedicated to Christians who want to understand why they relate to God in the way they do. I explore how our early childhood relationship with our parents--specifically with how they met or did not meet our needs--influences how we relate to ourselves, the church, and to God. Because much of the pains and struggles of life are intertwined in these three areas, I discuss with my guests how we can find healing from the pain, confusion, doubt, and anger experienced in these relationships. If you're interested in learning more about your attachment style and how to heal from the pain you’ve experienced in the relationships mentioned above, then this podcast is for you. Welcome to the show! I'm happy you're here!

  1. 2D AGO

    You Can Still Trust God after Unthinkable Loss w/ Ashley Glader

    Send Me Questions on Attachment Some stories force a question most of us try to avoid: what do you do with God after life takes something you can’t replace? Ashley Glader joins me to share a journey marked by layered loss, starting with her brother’s death in the Columbine shooting when she was 11, and continuing years later with the medical crisis of her newborn son, months in the NICU and PICU, and his death shortly after coming home. We talk honestly about Christian grief, trauma triggers, and the kind of doubt that doesn’t mean you’re walking away from Jesus, it means you’re trying to trust Him with your whole heart. Ashley explains why believers sometimes rush past pain with quick answers, why “everything happens for a reason” can wound, and what actually helps: steady presence, specific care, and friendship that can hold raw questions without trying to defend God. You’ll also hear practical guidance for supporting a grieving friend, how marriage can strain when partners grieve differently, and what it looks like to parent children through loss as they revisit questions at each developmental stage. Ashley shares the Scriptures that anchored her, including Joshua 1:9 and 2 Corinthians 4:16–18, and why God’s greatest promise is not prosperity but His presence. If you’ve been through infant loss, cancer, sudden death, or faith-shaking suffering, this conversation is for you. Subscribe for more Christ-centered healing conversations, share this with someone who needs hope, and leave a review. What part of grief do you wish the church understood better? Support the show FOLLOW ME ON INSTAGRAM: @godattachmenthealing FOLLOW ME ON FACEBOOK: God Attachment Healing MY HOPE FOR YOU I hope these episodes bring you closer to Christ and encourage you in your walk with Him.  ABOUT ME 👇 I have been a Christ-follower for the last 20+ years of my life, and have seen the Lord's grace, strength, and faithfulness through it all. He led me to pursue a degree in higher education and has given me a gift for the field of counseling.

    53 min
  2. APR 1

    Counterfeit Christianity: You Cannot Follow A Jesus You Negotiate With w/ Ryan Shieh

    Send Me Questions on Attachment Everyone seems to have an opinion about Jesus right now, but the hard question is the one most of us avoid: are we following the real Jesus or a version we’ve edited to fit our preferences? Sam sits down with Ryan Shieh, author of Counterfeit Christianity and a teacher of evangelism at Liberty University’s School of Divinity, to unpack how cultural Christianity creates people who recognize God but resist surrender. Ryan shares his own story of growing up around church, mistaking “not doing the big sins” for discipleship, and eventually realizing that head knowledge without changed desires can’t hold up. From there we dig into the Western performance mindset that says you behave to belong, and why the gospel flips it: you belong by grace through faith, then your identity in Christ reshapes your life. We talk about the authority problem behind selective obedience, the danger of “fence riding,” and why “a Jesus you negotiate with is not a Jesus you surrender to.” We also go deeper into the tension many people feel between the fear of God and the love of God. Ryan explains fear as reverence and awe, not hiding from a punisher, and why God’s justice and God’s love must coexist. Along the way we hit practical discipleship themes like holiness, repentance, gratitude, and the subtle apathy that grows when the gospel becomes familiar. Ryan closes with Jesus’ Matthew 13 picture of wheat and tares, a warning that convincing counterfeits can still lead to spiritual death. If you’ve ever wondered whether your faith is more culture than Christ, this conversation is for you. Subscribe, share this with a friend, and leave a review to help more people find the show. Ryan's New Book: Cultural Christianity Support the show FOLLOW ME ON INSTAGRAM: @godattachmenthealing FOLLOW ME ON FACEBOOK: God Attachment Healing MY HOPE FOR YOU I hope these episodes bring you closer to Christ and encourage you in your walk with Him.  ABOUT ME 👇 I have been a Christ-follower for the last 20+ years of my life, and have seen the Lord's grace, strength, and faithfulness through it all. He led me to pursue a degree in higher education and has given me a gift for the field of counseling.

    35 min
  3. MAR 18

    Prayer As Two-Way Communication with God w/ Maggie McCane

    Send Me Questions on Attachment Prayer can sound like a constant stream of words, worries, and requests but what happens when we actually expect a relationship on the other end of the conversation? I sit down again with therapist Maggie McCane to connect everyday communication skills to something many of us forget to practice: communicating with God in a way that builds trust, closeness, and spiritual maturity. We get practical about why listening is so hard. Most of us don’t hear an audible voice, so we look for God’s guidance through Scripture, a quiet stirring, wise community, and the slow work of discernment. We also talk about the “noise” that blocks connection: busyness, impatience, and the subtle confirmation bias that searches for the answer we already wanted. If you’ve ever wondered how to hear God’s voice, this conversation reframes the goal as creating space for a real response, not forcing instant certainty. Then we go deeper into honesty, shame, and repair. Maggie breaks down guilt versus shame, why shame makes us withdraw even though God already knows, and how repentance involves both accountability and changed behavior. We connect these ideas to attachment and relationships: rebuilding trust often means choosing consistent actions even when feelings haven’t caught up yet. We also explore boundaries, including learning to receive “no” or “not yet,” and how suffering can become a catalyst for post-traumatic growth rather than isolation. If this helped you think differently about prayer and connection with God, subscribe for more, share the episode with a friend who’s wrestling with faith and communication, and leave a review so more people can find the show. What part of communicating with God feels hardest for you right now? Support the show FOLLOW ME ON INSTAGRAM: @godattachmenthealing FOLLOW ME ON FACEBOOK: God Attachment Healing MY HOPE FOR YOU I hope these episodes bring you closer to Christ and encourage you in your walk with Him.  ABOUT ME 👇 I have been a Christ-follower for the last 20+ years of my life, and have seen the Lord's grace, strength, and faithfulness through it all. He led me to pursue a degree in higher education and has given me a gift for the field of counseling.

    47 min
  4. MAR 11

    Safety First: Why Listening Builds Love w/ Maggie McCane

    Send Me Questions on Attachment What if the secret to fewer fights isn’t better arguments, but better timing, safety, and words that actually fit what you feel? We sat down with licensed clinical social worker Maggie McCane to break down communication that heals—starting with self-awareness and moving all the way to how faith communities handle shame and support. We begin with a simple shift that changes everything: regulate before you relate. If you’re hungry, flooded, or exhausted, ask for consent to talk later. From there, Maggie walks us through the feeling wheel to expand your vocabulary beyond mad-sad-bad and into language that creates connection—hurt, overlooked, embarrassed, overwhelmed. We model how to use I-statements without sounding scripted, and how to open hard topics by first asking, Is now a good time for a heavier conversation? Consent makes space for listening rather than defense. We also look at patterns that wreck trust: stonewalling, sarcasm disguised as play, phones on the table, and scorekeeping that treats your partner like an opponent. Instead, we build safety with simple ground rules, micro-moments of repair, and a team-first mindset. Maggie shares why many men were taught to express only anger and how shutdowns or addictive escapes take root—and how small, daily awareness interrupts that cycle. Then we zoom out to faith: why Christians can love Jesus and go to therapy, how shame silences growth, and the quiet loneliness pastors face without confidential support. By the end, you’ll have a toolkit you can use tonight: regulate first, ask for consent, speak in I-statements, and practice active listening with clarifying questions and paraphrase. No perfection required—just a plan and a little courage. If this helped, subscribe, share with a friend, and leave a review with the one skill you’ll try this week. Your words can build a safer home. Let’s practice together. Support the show FOLLOW ME ON INSTAGRAM: @godattachmenthealing FOLLOW ME ON FACEBOOK: God Attachment Healing MY HOPE FOR YOU I hope these episodes bring you closer to Christ and encourage you in your walk with Him.  ABOUT ME 👇 I have been a Christ-follower for the last 20+ years of my life, and have seen the Lord's grace, strength, and faithfulness through it all. He led me to pursue a degree in higher education and has given me a gift for the field of counseling.

    41 min
  5. MAR 4

    Rebuilding Faith After Deconstruction w/ Patrick Hubbard

    Send Me Questions on Attachment Doubt, distance, and disappointment don’t have to be the end of your faith story. They can be the door back to a deeper, sturdier life with God. Today we sit down with pastor and church planter Patrick Hubbard to explore deconstruction with nuance—naming real wounds, clarifying core doctrines, and recovering the kind of church life that quietly forms people over time. Patrick traces his journey from international church planting with Living Bread Ministries to launching a local congregation built on essentials: Scripture read and preached, weekly communion, congregational singing, and shared prayer. Instead of chasing the next experience, they lowered the volume so the room could hear itself worship. That shift—from worship as a private encounter to worship as communal formation—reshaped how people healed and how they grew. We also tackle the lingering effects of the pandemic, when many learned to treat online viewing as “equivalent” church. Patrick explains why his church intentionally refused to simulate the gathering, and how presence, participation, and proximity enable the one-anothers that streams cannot. We get practical about doctrine and reconstruction. Which beliefs are non-negotiable? Patrick names the center—Jesus’ virgin birth, sinless life, atoning death, bodily resurrection, ascension, and promised return—and urges charity on secondary issues that should not break fellowship. We discuss politics, culture-war fatigue, and the quiet harm done when celebrity conversions get platformed without patient discipleship. Fruit, not hype, signals genuine faith. As Christ’s ambassadors, our endorsements, corrections, and everyday conduct either reflect or distort the One we represent. If you’re wary, wounded, or wondering where to begin, Patrick offers a simple next step: show up in faith. Don’t hunt for a church that checks every box; find a body that needs your gifts and start serving. Healing has a pace, but growth requires presence. Subscribe, share this conversation with a friend who’s wrestling, and leave a review to help others find it. Support the show FOLLOW ME ON INSTAGRAM: @godattachmenthealing FOLLOW ME ON FACEBOOK: God Attachment Healing MY HOPE FOR YOU I hope these episodes bring you closer to Christ and encourage you in your walk with Him.  ABOUT ME 👇 I have been a Christ-follower for the last 20+ years of my life, and have seen the Lord's grace, strength, and faithfulness through it all. He led me to pursue a degree in higher education and has given me a gift for the field of counseling.

    56 min
  6. FEB 25

    A Therapist’s Journey from Anxiety, New Age, and Shame to Faith in Christ w/ Elysse Rocha

    Send Me Questions on Attachment A cracked façade can still shine on Instagram, but it cannot carry a soul. Elysse joins us to peel back the layers of anxious attachment, approval chasing, and meticulously controlled routines that unraveled into a full-blown mental breakdown and an involuntary hospital stay. What followed wasn’t a polished comeback; it was a raw surrender that reframed pain as loving redirection and opened the door to a different kind of peace. We walk through the hard rooms of her story—early instability, people-pleasing that numbed more than it soothed, and the heavy grief surrounding abortion—and we sit with the difference between condemnation and conviction. Elysse explains how shame lifted at the cross, leaving space for honest grief and real healing. Her search for the transcendent led deep into new age practices, promises of power, and even an eerie “new name” moment. Then, in a quiet flash, the presence of Jesus broke through, scripture came alive, and a planned trip to further her spiritual path was replaced by a church course and a new way to be human. We talk about leaving tight-knit communities, with all the unfollows and closed doors that come with a public reversal. We also highlight the believers who held firm convictions with gentle presence—people whose kindness confounded expectations and kept the conversation open. For anyone wrestling with anxiety, identity, or the ache to belong, Elysse's journey is a clear map: grace reaches farther than your worst day, truth can be tender, and kindness has the power to lead you home. If this story moved you, share it with a friend, subscribe for more conversations that heal, and leave a review to help others find hope. Find Elysse on IG: @beledbylove Support the show FOLLOW ME ON INSTAGRAM: @godattachmenthealing FOLLOW ME ON FACEBOOK: God Attachment Healing MY HOPE FOR YOU I hope these episodes bring you closer to Christ and encourage you in your walk with Him.  ABOUT ME 👇 I have been a Christ-follower for the last 20+ years of my life, and have seen the Lord's grace, strength, and faithfulness through it all. He led me to pursue a degree in higher education and has given me a gift for the field of counseling.

    50 min
  7. FEB 18

    Understanding The Image Of God: Structure, Function, And Relationship w/ Jason Glen

    Send Me Questions on Attachment What if our arguments about politics, ethics, and identity are symptoms of a deeper amnesia about what a human being is? We sat down with ethicist and professor Jason Glen to rethink the Image of God from the ground up—why it matters now, where classic theology helps, and how a richer view can heal the way we live, lead, and speak. We unpack three major angles that have shaped Christian thought. Structural views highlight capacities like reason, conscience, and will; functional views center vocation, stewardship, and culture‑making; relational views focus on communion with God and neighbor. Each lens adds clarity, but each can harm when taken alone. Tie dignity to capacity and you risk sidelining the unborn and the disabled. Tie it to productivity and worth rises and falls with output. Tie it to active relating and isolation looks like erasure. Held together, they restore a durable vision of human worth. We also trace the beauty and stakes of complementarity. “Male and female he created them” is more than a line in Genesis; it’s a living parable of unity and difference that echoes God’s relational life. When homes and churches honor equal worth and distinct gifts, authority becomes responsibility, help becomes strength, and conflict becomes a path to growth rather than a permanent war. That same vision reframes heated issues—abortion, end‑of‑life care, immigration, public discourse—by insisting every person is an image bearer deserving of respect. Along the way, we address the popular “human being vs human doing” trope, clarify why “image bearer” differs from “child of God,” and offer practical steps for digital civility and real‑world compassion. If you’ve felt torn between truth and tenderness, conviction and humility, this conversation offers a framework sturdy enough for both. Listen, share with a friend, and leave a review to help more people rediscover a hope‑filled, dignifying vision of humanity. Jason Glen IG: @truettglen Jason Glen website: https://jtruettglen.com/ Support the show FOLLOW ME ON INSTAGRAM: @godattachmenthealing FOLLOW ME ON FACEBOOK: God Attachment Healing MY HOPE FOR YOU I hope these episodes bring you closer to Christ and encourage you in your walk with Him.  ABOUT ME 👇 I have been a Christ-follower for the last 20+ years of my life, and have seen the Lord's grace, strength, and faithfulness through it all. He led me to pursue a degree in higher education and has given me a gift for the field of counseling.

    59 min
  8. FEB 11

    Mercy Before Judgment: Is the God of the Old Testament a Harsh God? w/ Dr. Gary Yates

    Send Me Questions on Attachment What if the Bible’s clearest portrait of God starts with compassion, not condemnation? We sit down with Dr. Gary Yates—professor and pastor—to trace a through-line of mercy and comfort running from Sinai to the Psalms, and all the way through exile and return. Beginning with Exodus 34, where God introduces himself as merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, we explore how this creed shapes the rest of the Old Testament and reframes popular assumptions about a harsh, distant deity. Across vivid stories, grace stops being theory. Hagar meets the God who hears in the wilderness. Elijah finds food, rest, and a renewed call under a broom tree. We revisit the conquest texts with ancient Near Eastern context in view, acknowledging tough questions while uncovering the nuance of judgment aimed at moral corruption, not ethnic erasure, and the surprising mercy extended to outsiders like Rahab. Along the way, we name how our church upbringing and family dynamics can tilt our view of God toward fear or favor—and why careful interpretation can heal those lenses. We then map a practical theology of grace: God initiates relationship with flawed people, sustains it through provisions like sacrifice and the Day of Atonement, and restores it even after devastating failure. Repentance means turning, and grace empowers the turn. The Psalms model honest faith, giving language for seasons when God feels silent and showing how remembering his character revives courage. Jonah challenges our blind spots as we confront whether we want mercy for those we dislike as much as we want it for ourselves. Threaded through it all is divine patience—the long-suffering love that refuses to give up on people. If you’re wrestling with hard passages, heavy seasons, or a history of fire-and-brimstone faith, this conversation offers clarity, context, and comfort. Listen, reflect, and share it with someone who needs a gentler, truer vision of God. If it resonates, subscribe, leave a review, and tell us: which story most reshaped your view of grace? Books by Dr. Yates 30 Days to Jeremiah The Message of the Twelve Support the show FOLLOW ME ON INSTAGRAM: @godattachmenthealing FOLLOW ME ON FACEBOOK: God Attachment Healing MY HOPE FOR YOU I hope these episodes bring you closer to Christ and encourage you in your walk with Him.  ABOUT ME 👇 I have been a Christ-follower for the last 20+ years of my life, and have seen the Lord's grace, strength, and faithfulness through it all. He led me to pursue a degree in higher education and has given me a gift for the field of counseling.

    48 min
5
out of 5
27 Ratings

About

Hi everyone! Welcome to the God Attachment Healing Podcast. I'm your host, Sam Landa. This podcast is dedicated to Christians who want to understand why they relate to God in the way they do. I explore how our early childhood relationship with our parents--specifically with how they met or did not meet our needs--influences how we relate to ourselves, the church, and to God. Because much of the pains and struggles of life are intertwined in these three areas, I discuss with my guests how we can find healing from the pain, confusion, doubt, and anger experienced in these relationships. If you're interested in learning more about your attachment style and how to heal from the pain you’ve experienced in the relationships mentioned above, then this podcast is for you. Welcome to the show! I'm happy you're here!

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