Pursued: God’s relentless pursuit and a drug addict’s journey to finding purpose

FREE on Kindle until June 27th.

How the author survived is a turn pager and amazing. Even though his struggles took him to dark places; God was always within his reach. The agony of addiction with the anguish of everything that follows with an addictions is well written in the book. I’m impressed with Michael’s honesty and openness throughout the book. Read this book with or without a struggle. A must read. – Amazon Review

Pursued: God’s relentless pursuit and
a drug addict’s journey to finding purpose

We had lit a forest on fire…
We were stoned as crap…
My sister was calling 9-1-1…

As I watched the flames dance across the twilight sky, consuming everything in their path, I realized they represented my life. In my pursuit of pleasure and partying, I had ignited an addiction worse than any forest fire. After five arrests, a dozen allegations, a v-squad of cop cars chasing me down center street, and years of worshipping all the wrong things led me to the brink of death, I finally found hope in life. This is a story of how the initially enthralling and sometimes humorous pursuits of drugs, sex, and success cannot satisfy in the way that they promise, but there is One who can.

Embark on a journey of hysteria, tears, and joy that will help you realize you are not quite so alone in your brokenness as perhaps you once thought.

This book is just as much for those who are facing addiction as it is for their friends, mentors, counselors, and teachers. For anyone growing up in public schools, in college, thinking that drinking and partying is the high-life, this will hit home. For anyone striving relentlessly to build a name for themselves through accomplishments, wealth, status, luxury, and success, this book will resonate. Maybe you’re at your wits end, and you’re starting to believe you’ll never heal, you’ll always be broken. Maybe you’re in the trenches of addiction or maybe you haven’t even had your first hit, either way these humorous pursuits, sorrowful stories, and powerful truths will help you know you’re not alone in your addiction, and help you be there for those you love!

What Others Say About this Book:

Wow! Some might think Michael Heil’s story and the miracles he experienced on his journey are almost unbelievable. Knowing Mike personally allows me to express that I believe his story is true. If you’re a parent dealing with a wayward child, this book will bless you and provide you with some hope. If you’re a high school or college student, this book may be the light at the end of a dark tunnel you desperately need. I really hope a lot of people read it and discover the power of God’s love! –Rev. Greg Johnson, President of Standing Together
This book is vulnerable, extensive, articulate, and engaging through invigorating and adventurous personal experiences that help the reader to see the redemptive power of the living God. Through the writer’s journey, I was reminded how God pays attention to every detail of our lives and will use it to reveal his glory. I was taken on a journey of tears, laughter, and raw truth. I recommend this book to anyone who struggles to see the power of God at work. –Mpumi Maweni, Director of Mobilization, Operation Mobilization, Canada
Michael Heil’s book is the best example of God’s effectual calling of anyone I have met or heard about. In spite of Michael’s resisting God’s love and grace with his rebellion and seeking meaning and purpose in life through all the ways the world offers, our God reached down and marvelously saved him. This book will capture your heart as you see that Jesus love and grace are greater than all our sins—no matter the depths of sin to which we have descended. Michael’s book will encourage anyone who is seeking real meaning & purpose in life. –James Stewart, South Region Coordinator for Evangelism Explosion International

You will love this book if you need help with or enjoy reading:

1) memoirs about alcoholism
2) spiritual growth self help
3) Self-help for addiction
4) ya addiction
5) alcoholism books for family
6) self help book spiritual
7) teen addiction workbook
8) teen depression and drug abuse
9) spiritual books self help
10) memoir addiction
11) teen suicide books
12) pursuit of god

About the Author

Michael J Heil Since being rescued from the clutches of addiction, Michael has traveled to, volunteered, and lived in over 35 countries. He has spoken in jails, rehabs, detention centers, treatment centers, churches and schools with an unquenchable passion to help people find and experience the love of God which he rejected and missed out on for so many years.

Some of Michael’s favorite memories are from when he worked with Youth With A Mission (YWAM) and Operation Mobilization (OM). Living in a tent for five months, he had to shower with a water bottle as he served across southern Africa, empowering locals, planting churches, and helping remove injustices oppressing children. Another team lived in a van and slept on church floors for six months across Europe as they served gypsies and orphans, creating education and distribution programs alongside local churches. When he lived in Asia for two years, he was adopted by the underground church, learned an eastern language, danced with a hundred grannies across the town square, and fended off rabid monkeys with the broom from fantasia.

After four years of international service, Michael returned to the United States to complete a Master’s Degree in Intercultural Studies and Community Development. After that, he pastored a small Presbyterian church in the heart of Mormon country for three and a half years. He currently has five jobs, all but one of which is related to writing. He also runs two ministries in conjunction with his church Calvary Mountain View: a weekly Bible study for juvenile delinquents at private and state-run facilities, and Evangelism Explosion. Both efforts are aimed at helping those who are facing addiction, homelessness, helplessness, depression, suicide or lack of purpose.

Michael and his wife, Denise, have a Cat named Percival whom they rescued off the streets and a Bearded Dragon named Fritz. They are both full-time creatives and couldn’t think of anything they would enjoy more than creating beauty out of blank pages and canvases.

With his writing, Michael endeavors to provide a peaceful and thought-provoking dialogue from the perspective of someone who once doubted God with all their being, only to find out He is real. There are 36,000,000 drug addicts, pill users, and alcoholics who cannot function without some sort of substance pulsing through their veins and altering their perception. There are 17,300,000 people in our nation battling depression and suicide. 26% of the U.S. Population have given up on God and called themselves None’s because they couldn’t find adequate answers to their questions about life’s meaning or purpose. God is the answer they are looking for. They just have a lot of questions that need to be hashed out. I want to help them along in that journey, with words that make them laugh and cry, and help them feel understood.

For anyone who has turned to sex, partying, drugs, success, status, wealth, or religion to add meaning and value to your life, but still found that you were empty inside, I invite you on a journey.