Pursued Quotes

“I had tried many times in the past to create accountability partners but, without fail, they had just made me feel worse about myself and my problems. Each time I had to call them and explain how I’d messed up yet again, I would feel utterly shameful. This was different, this was exciting and lifegiving. I had never seen accountability implemented with such genuineness, patience, precision, and care. Having God’s Word to rely on, rather than just sharing random opinions and biased advice, made it like surgery for the soul.”
― Michael J Heil, Pursued: God’s relentless pursuit and a drug addict’s journey to finding purpose

“They shared about the beautiful and unique plans that God has for each individual. Up until recently, I hadn’t had many hopes or plans. My life had been like a car stuck in a snowy ditch in the middle of the night. I knew I was stuck, but I didn’t know how to get out of it. When these guys came along, they had a tow truck, chains, and a spotlight that shed light on all the problem areas. They didn’t make me feel guilty about my problems; instead, they jumped out into the cold and helped me start digging. Not only that, but they were teaching me to see the hopes and plans that God had for others, they were teaching me to jump out in the snow and start digging as well.”
― Michael J Heil, Pursued: God’s relentless pursuit and a drug addict’s journey to finding purpose

“It was terribly embarrassing, but for the first time in my life, I didn’t really care what the cute girls thought of me or what my friends thought of me, for that matter. God kept winking at me this whole trip, so I figured that even in my sullied state, He must still find me pretty desirable.”
― Michael J Heil, Pursued: God’s relentless pursuit and a drug addict’s journey to finding purpose

“I wanted what my Christian friends had: a peace that wasn’t derived from a limited source, a joy that wasn’t dependent on circumstances. I knew it came from God, and that it was tangible and real, but I didn’t know how.”
― Michael J Heil, Pursued: God’s relentless pursuit and a drug addict’s journey to finding purpose

“It all revolved around me. Everything I did was centered around my life, my goals, my plan, and my agenda. Even when I went to Bible studies or church, I did so in order to acquire new knowledge and friendships that would benefit me, help me do better, and make me feel better about myself. They said a Christian is someone who has deposed themselves from the throne of their lives and placed God there; a Christian is someone who has placed God at the center and the foundation of their lives.”
― Michael J Heil, Pursued: God’s relentless pursuit and a drug addict’s journey to finding purpose

“I suddenly realized that I was in the center of my world, and my emotions were at the center of me. They were the basis of my identity. Emotions had been my center point, the lens through which my reality was dispersed and regulated. The desire for pleasure, satisfaction, approval, and recognition had ruled my life.”
― Michael J Heil, Pursued: God’s relentless pursuit and a drug addict’s journey to finding purpose

“When I experienced pleasurable emotions, I was at peace; when I lacked them, I felt anxiety. When I experienced positive emotions, I felt my life was meaningful. When I lacked them, it felt void of purpose and meaning.”
― Michael J Heil, Pursued: God’s relentless pursuit and a drug addict’s journey to finding purpose

“Emotions had been the primary factor in my planning and decision-making. Most of the time, they made my life feel like a roller coaster ride that ended abruptly with a broken piece of track.”
― Michael J Heil, Pursued: God’s relentless pursuit and a drug addict’s journey to finding purpose

“By this point I was growing convinced that my ever changing, ever evolving opinion was less sophisticated than a monkey's. My emotions were not a reliable foundation upon which to base my well-being. My opinion, and everything it was built on was about as solid as tapioca.”
― Michael J Heil, Pursued: God’s relentless pursuit and a drug addict’s journey to finding purpose

“The more knowledge I obtained, the more my mind changed. The more I learned, the more I realized how little I knew.”
― Michael J Heil, Pursued: God’s relentless pursuit and a drug addict’s journey to finding purpose

“The more I sought to understand things, the more they baffled me.”
― Michael J Heil, Pursued: God’s relentless pursuit and a drug addict’s journey to finding purpose

“My finite human brain could only contain so much information”
― Michael J Heil, Pursued: God’s relentless pursuit and a drug addict’s journey to finding purpose

“Each year there are new scientific breakthroughs, many of which contradict the old ones. Blinding myself by becoming set in my bigoted, limited perspective was equivalent to an ostrich burying its head in the sand at the threat of encroaching danger.”
― Michael J Heil, Pursued: God’s relentless pursuit and a drug addict’s journey to finding purpose

“When I finally acknowledged my finitude and let go of my biases, my world exploded with awe and wonder.”
― Michael J Heil, Pursued: God’s relentless pursuit and a drug addict’s journey to finding purpose

“If the Bible is His instruction manual for the human race, it contains everything we need to navigate through the hardships of this life. Learning and applying the knowledge in it would be more valuable to us than reading all the books ever written.”
― Michael J Heil, Pursued: God’s relentless pursuit and a drug addict’s journey to finding purpose

“I started weeping out loud as the scenes of my past replayed through my head. I’d always seen God’s interventions as freebies, as nice gestures from an all-powerful genie-like figure. I was finally beginning to see not only what it meant to have a clean slate, but also how much it cost Him to give me one.”
― Michael J Heil, Pursued: God’s relentless pursuit and a drug addict’s journey to finding purpose

“I’d been so used to the court system and thinking of myself as a criminal. I’d been so used to pleading in abeyance, proclaiming my guilt and unworthiness and asking the judge for mercy. But God’s love went beyond anything I’d seen in my lifetime. He wasn’t just giving me mercy by overlooking my sins, He was giving me justice by paying off every debt I’d ever created and bearing every damnation I’d ever deserved.”
― Michael J Heil, Pursued: God’s relentless pursuit and a drug addict’s journey to finding purpose

“He wasn’t just telling me, "If you’re good, I’ll forgive you. If you do this and that and follow my protocol with excruciating exactness, then I will forgive you." No, He had already forgiven me. Just like the lawyer had stood on my behalf after my second DUI, so Jesus had stood before the judgement throne of God. Although I was 100% guilty, he had erased all evidence against me.”
― Michael J Heil, Pursued: God’s relentless pursuit and a drug addict’s journey to finding purpose

“When the eternal God looked at my record and said, “Michael is found guilty, the penalty of his crimes is death and his crimes must be paid for in hell,” Jesus didn’t just sit there pleading for my forgiveness saying, “Please forgive Michael. Please have mercy on him.” No, He made a case for me and got a verdict on my behalf. He took the penalty on Himself and fulfilled everything that the law required.”
― Michael J Heil, Pursued: God’s relentless pursuit and a drug addict’s journey to finding purpose

“I was not in the system any longer. I didn’t need to perform an endless list of deeds to keep myself out of jail and in the judge’s good favor. I’d been completely forgiven of my past, present, and future sins. In His book, next to the name Michael Heil was a signature that read: “Paid in full,” signed Jesus.”
― Michael J Heil, Pursued: God’s relentless pursuit and a drug addict’s journey to finding purpose

“If justice is to happen, each sin must be accounted for. If God allowed our sins to continue without interference, without ever correcting or addressing the corruption, our sins would echo into eternity and He would not be just. Either the transgressor bears the penalty, or Jesus bears it on their behalf.”
― Michael J Heil, Pursued: God’s relentless pursuit and a drug addict’s journey to finding purpose

“He took the wrath of the whole world’s sins upon His shoulders. He took the wrath that was stored up against every single one of these acts of evil, and He bore the flaming, searing, scorching, penalty for each.”
― Michael J Heil, Pursued: God’s relentless pursuit and a drug addict’s journey to finding purpose

“God could not overlook the plight of the orphan or the widow, the victim of genocide, war, or rape; He could not turn His head away from any singular hurt, sin, or pain. He strapped Himself to our judgment seat to ensure that every evil act would be accounted for, and to ensure that justice would reign in eternity, He strapped Himself to my cross.”
― Michael J Heil, Pursued: God’s relentless pursuit and a drug addict’s journey to finding purpose

“The cost was the life of the eternal, immortal, invisible God, the One who created everything, made us, and gave us His word to guide us. This was the God we rejected in order to do our own thing, and each go our own way. He who is a trillion times bigger than us entered knowingly into our shoes, although we are a trillion times smaller than a speck of dust in comparison. He made Himself like us, weak, frail, and puny so He could die in our place. He did this to give us hope for our future, an eternal hope that extends even beyond the veil of this life.”
― Michael J Heil, Pursued: God’s relentless pursuit and a drug addict’s journey to finding purpose

“This hope is not rooted in wishful thinking, but in concrete, tangible acts of the most sacrificial love that anyone has ever seen or lived.”
― Michael J Heil, Pursued: God’s relentless pursuit and a drug addict’s journey to finding purpose

“Both men and women can treat each other like objects. They do this when they use sex and use each other’s bodies to meet their own inner need for acknowledgment and appreciation. Until they get married, the partners are on audition, and they can be thrown out at any point that one partner finds a better suitor or gets tired of the other.”
― Michael J Heil, Pursued: God’s relentless pursuit and a drug addict’s journey to finding purpose

“When used in marriage, sex is a celebration of the fact that you’ve given one another everything and are committed to one another irrevocably. Since you’ve already given each other your time, trust, money, income, home, bank account, schedule, and everything else, giving each other your body is safe, natural, and enjoyable. Since you’ve committed to one another ‘for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, until death do you part,’ you know that the other person will cherish you and will not just throw you out when you fail to perform to their standards.”
― Michael J Heil, Pursued: God’s relentless pursuit and a drug addict’s journey to finding purpose

“If you use sex whenever you want with whomever you want, you’re treating it like trash, like it means nothing. Imagine a piece of duct tape. It’s got a purpose, it’s designed to stick to something, but if you stick it to the dog and rip it off, then the floor, the wall, the toilet, the neighbor’s pit, after that, it just won’t work right anymore. When you finally find your spouse and try to connect with them, there will be all sorts of crud in the way. It might be a physical STD, or it could be an emotional one that spreads through your relationship and life like an infection.”
― Michael J Heil, Pursued: God’s relentless pursuit and a drug addict’s journey to finding purpose

“If you use sex outside its proper context, it will hijack your emotions, get you into a bunch of stupid situations, and eventually control your wellbeing. I’m sure you’ve been hurt by all sorts of relationships in the past, and they’ve probably torn you up, caused you to get into fights, ate away at your self-worth, made you sick to your stomach. Well, that’s why. Acknowledgement and appreciation are legitimate needs, but sleeping around is not the way to meet them.”
― Michael J Heil, Pursued: God’s relentless pursuit and a drug addict’s journey to finding purpose

“These Christians always seemed to consider long-term holistic wellbeing. None of their answers were easy or quick but took grit and determination. Every “do” and “don’t” had a reason and purpose behind it. I was finally beginning to understand the why behind things.”
― Michael J Heil, Pursued: God’s relentless pursuit and a drug addict’s journey to finding purpose