What Makes You Come Alive? | The Essential Grace Series, Pt. 1

Text Michele

Ever feel like you’re stuck in survival mode, just grinding through life? What if your deepest passions aren’t distractions but actually divine breadcrumbs leading you toward your purpose? In this kickoff episode of The Essential Grace Series, we’re reclaiming your sacred rhythm and tuning into what truly makes you come alive. 

Drawing from spiritual coaching and soul-deep wisdom, we’ll explore how moments of joy, flow, and deep gladness are more than just emotional highs. They’re holy clues. Whether it’s creativity, service, or simple stillness, your aliveness is not optional — it’s your calling. Get ready to ditch the grind and design a life that radiates the energy of heaven. 

Today’s Reflection Question: 

• When was the last time you felt truly alive? 

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Welcome to Today’s Kus Word — where life coaching meets spiritual formation! Join musician, life coach, and spiritual formation prof Michele Kus, as she serves up short, powerful teachings, immersive meditations, bold declarations, and holy f(reedom)-bombs that are based solidly in scripture, grace theology, and positive psychology. Whether you’re seeking calm, clarity, courage, healing, deeper self-awareness, or just a fresh Kingdom perspective, throw on your headphones and tune into your next breakthrough. #TodaysKusWord

*There is no actual cussing on Today's Kus Word. We keep it squeaky clean!

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All content © 2025 Michele Kus, M.A. All rights reserved.

Episode Transcript

Michele (00:00):
It's Monday, May 12th, and this is Today's Kus Word.
Welcome to Today's Kus Word,where this week we are launching
into a fresh new series calledEssential Grace.
We're going to be exploringsome big life coaching topics
this week, like uncovering yourvalues, clarifying your purpose,

(00:20):
designing an intentional life,juicy stuff like that.
I'm Michele Kus, your spiritualgrowth coach.
Let's get into it.
Well, happy Monday.
I hope all of you had awonderful Mother's Day yesterday
and we're going to be kickingoff a new series this week
called Essential Grace.

(00:40):
I'm pretty excited about it.
Most of you know, well some ofyou know, that I got certified
in life coaching a few yearsback and I also have a
certification in Myers-Briggs,so this is an area that I really
like walking people through isclarifying their values, their

(01:00):
purpose and designing a lifethat feels intentional, rather
than just a life that kind offell together by accident.
So we're gonna be talking aboutthose things this week.
And here's a something for youto chew on right off the bat.
So you were not created to justgrind through life.

(01:22):
You were actually made to comealive and to light up and to
radiate the life and the energyof heaven.
Think about that for a sec.
So let's be real, we don'talways feel that way, right?
That we're lighting up andradiating the life and energy of
heaven, because sometimes welearn to survive, we learn to

(01:44):
adapt, we learn to hustle, welearn to perform, we learn to
numb, we learn to people please.
We pick up on the cues aroundus and we adapt so that we feel
like we can survive whateverenvironment we're in, and
sometimes we just downrightforget who we are or what we

(02:08):
actually love doing.
I've been through seasons in mylife like this where I had to
take a step back and think, whatdo I actually love doing?
Actually, covid, during thelockdowns, was a great example
of this, because for most of us,everything was stripped off of

(02:28):
our calendars, right?
And it was a great opportunityfor me anyway, now that my
calendar is bare, to think aboutthe question, what do I miss?
And what do I not miss?
Honestly, I didn't miss goingto the gym.
This particular gym was just alittle bit of an overload on my

(02:51):
nervous system and so love thepeople there, but just the
lights and the music and theenergy was just a little bit too
much for me, and I didn't missgoing at all.
The only thing that I trulymissed during the COVID
lockdowns was playing keys on alive worship team for, like, a

(03:11):
live service.
That was the only thing Imissed doing that was taken out
of my calendar.
So I was like thrilled andecstatic when I was able to get
back in and start playing again.
So are there things like thatfor you that you maybe even
realized during the COVIDlockdown era, like, oh, I really

(03:33):
missed this, or, wow, I didn'tmiss that at all?
Those little things give usclues in our life and sometimes
the most alive parts of us willget buried under a to-do list.
Sometimes it's not even ourto-do list.
Sometimes it's someone else'sto-do list or a mental playbook

(03:54):
that we have going in our mind,saying I should do this and I
should do that.
So today I want to ask you areally important question and it
could change the trajectory ofeverything, and that's, I don't
know, maybe a dramatic statement, but it does for me and that

is (04:11):
What makes you come alive?

So Today's Kus Word is this (04:14):
I was designed to thrive and come
alive! And I'm particularlyproud of that Kus Word because
it rhymes.
So the theologian Howard Thurmanonce said this.

(04:34):
He said, Don't ask what theworld needs.
Ask what makes you come aliveand go do it.
Because what the world needs ispeople who have come alive.
That is a powerful quote.

(04:54):
So we think passion is a luxury, especially in our culture.
Passion is not a luxury,passion is a clue.
It is a clue to the call anddestiny God has on your life,
the divine design that he'screated you with.
Your passion is direction andthat sense of deep gladness,

(05:21):
that spark in your spirit, thatis often the Spirit of God

whispering to you (05:27):
This is the way beloved, this is the way I
have for you.
So we want to pay attention tothose things.
We want to pay attention to thethings that make us come alive,
that spark, that passion insideof us.
So Jesus said in John 10, verse10, I came that they may have

(05:55):
life and have it to the full.
So that's not just eternal lifesomeday out there.
That refers to aliveness thatis meant for you now, today.
That's an abundant life for younow, and it's the difference

(06:16):
between just existing and beingfully, gloriously, divinely
alive.
So the same spirit that raisedJesus from the dead lives inside
of you.
That's in Romans, chapter 8,verse 11.
And that means any part of youthat feels half alive or numbed

(06:43):
out or barely surviving.
That is not God's best for you.
He's got so much more for youthan that.
So think back to a moment.
It might be a big moment, itmight be a small moment.
Think back when you were fullypresent, fully engaged, fully

(07:04):
yourself, and you were fullyawake and alive.
Where were you?
What were you doing?
Who were you with?
Maybe you were creating, maybeyou were resting, maybe you were

(07:33):
in an environment that gave youlife, maybe you were serving in
a way that you felt like youwere in a flow.
The last time, for me personally, was when I was playing keys
during a service that our churchcalls a worship experience, and
it's a time where we have moresongs and like an extended time

(07:56):
of worship.
And it was not very long ago,actually, and I felt so in the
flow during that service and soalive, I almost forgot where I
was.
I almost forgot that there werepeople there who were watching
and listening and engaging withthis music.

(08:17):
I was so fully caught up in theexperience that I, like, lost
myself in a good way.
So how about you?
When was the last time you hadthat feeling?
Because that feeling is worthpaying attention to.
We call that flow and in thekingdom, your joy, your flow

(08:43):
when you're in that space,that's not distraction, that is
direction, right?
When you are alive, when you'recoming alive like that, that's
telling you something.
So here's another quote.
This is Frederick Buechner.

(09:04):
He said, The place God callsyou to is the place where your
deep gladness and the world'sdeep hunger meet.
I'll give it to you one moretime: The place God calls you to
is the place where your deepgladness and the world's deep

(09:27):
hunger meet.
I love that quote.
So I want to wrap up here.
This is just the beginning ofwhat I'm calling The Essential
Grace Series.
This is going to be a sacred,grace-based life coaching
journey, just all aboutdesigning a life around what

(09:49):
matters most to you.
And I want to combine spiritualformation ideas with life
coaching and some pull on somestuff from essentialism and
really help you get at whatmatters most to you and also
challenge you to let go of theextra fluff and stuff that is no

(10:11):
longer serving you.
Even if that extra fluff andstuff is just mindsets and
limiting beliefs, those are verypowerful things to get rid of.
So we're going to talk throughthat stuff this week and we're
not going to chase hustleanymore.
We are going to be aligned andtuning into heaven.
What is heaven saying?

(10:32):
Because when you show up fullyalive, God moves powerfully
through you and his Kingdom isadvanced on the earth.
Right?
Cool! All right.
Well, that's what I got for youtoday, my friend.
Make sure you're subscribed andfollowing the show so you don't

(10:53):
miss the rest of the episodes,and we will unpack this thing in
a fun way and hopefully, in away that's life-giving to you.
Hope you loved this episode.
If you did, make sure you shareit with a friend, and I will
see you on the next one.
Have a great day.