Attuned: How God’s Presence Healed What the World Missed
- Will Malcolm
- 2 days ago
- 3 min read

For a long time, I didn’t know I had tuned out. Not just from people—but from myself. And from God.
When you grow up without emotional attunement, it teaches you something quietly devastating: Your needs don’t matter. Your emotions are inconvenient.Your pain is a burden.
So you stop feeling. You shut down. You learn to survive.
That was my story.
I tuned out my pain—at least, I thought I had. I became a master of pushing forward, staying productive, staying strong. But underneath, there was a weight I couldn’t name. A pressure I couldn’t release. And no matter what I did—diet, biohack, optimize, hustle—it kept rising to the surface.
Eventually, I found myself chasing every dead-end path I could: Trying to numb the pain. Trying to outrun the ache. Trying to fix myself so I wouldn't have to feel it.
And in the process, I tuned out God’s voice—His signals, His pursuit, His presence.
Not because I didn’t love Him. But because I didn’t know how to be still enough…Soft enough…Safe enough…To let Him attune to me.
The Power of Attunement
Attunement is the essence of safety in any relationship. It’s what tells the nervous system:“You’re not alone. You’re safe here. You matter.”
It’s not just listening—it’s turning toward someone with your full presence. It’s being with them where they are, not where you wish they were.
Most of us never had that. So we hardened. Or shrank. Or got louder. Or got smaller. Anything to survive.
But survival isn’t the same as healing. And healing doesn’t happen until someone turns toward you with love, and stays.
God Was Attuning to Me All Along
I just didn’t know how to receive it.
It took hitting rock bottom—emotionally, physically, spiritually—for me to finally notice: God had never left. He had been there in the ache. In the silence. In the moments I was trying to fix everything on my own.
And when I finally stopped striving… I felt Him.
Not as a distant God with demands. But as a Father who had been turning toward me all along.
“You have searched me, Lord, and you know me… You are familiar with all my ways.”—Psalm 139:1–3
He Wants My Attunement, Too
God’s attunement is never the problem. He is always present. Always near. But relationship is mutual. And I had to learn how to turn toward Him.
To give Him not just my prayers—but my pain. Not just my effort—but my emptiness. Not just my words—but my whole self.
“Be still, and know that I am God.” —Psalm 46:10“Return to Me, and I will return to you.” —Malachi 3:7
He doesn’t just want to fix us. He wants to be with us. That’s what heals.
Where Healing Begins
So much of our trauma came from a lack of attunement. We were unseen. Unfelt. Unheld.
But the healing of those wounds begins when someone turns toward you and stays. When someone says, with presence, not pressure:“I see you. I’m with you. You’re safe here.”
That’s what God says to you. Today. Right now. Even in the places you’ve shut down.
Healing begins the moment you stop running… and turn back toward the One who never turned away.
Want more reflections like this in your inbox?Sign up for my free newsletter here.
I share weekly insights, personal stories, and trauma-informed tools for faith-centered healing.