As I got into junior high and to those teenage years,
my self-esteem really started to struggle.
I was trying to find out who I was,
and I got involved with drinking and drugs.
I felt like it was making me happy,
so I kept going until I was hooked.
One day my father called me out of the blue
and said, "Son, I've got a lump in my brain."
And 11 months later, he had passed away.
My father was my rock.
He was my foundation.
And so when he passed away of cancer,
I didn't know what to do.
It was like part of me died as well.
I was a full-blown alcoholic.
I was waking up in the morning wishing that I didn't exist.
It wasn't that I would just die and move on;
I wanted God to get rid of me.
I thought He had made a mistake in creating me
and that I was worthless.
And the thought had crossed my mind several times
of ending my life, and I didn't think there was a way out.
There's a picture of Christ that my father drew,
and this picture has always been part of me in my life.
I took this picture with me everywhere I went.
And I had the thought come into my mind, "Mike,
get down on your knees and say a prayer."
I slowly got on my knees.
I had no idea what to say.
The only thing that I could get out of my mouth, the only words
that I could get out, were "Help me.
Help me."
And as soon as those words left my lips, I felt His embrace
and I knew that He loved me.
I knew that I was worth something to Him.
I decided I was going to go back to church.
And I tried really hard, but the habit was still there.
At that point I felt like I could forgive other people,
but I couldn't forgive myself.
Two weeks after going back to church for the first time,
I'd just purchased this scooter.
My girlfriend, Alicia, and I were hit head-on.
It was bad.
We didn't have helmets on, and Alicia broke her neck and back
in several places.
I broke my skull in three places and had traumatic brain
injuries, and I was in a coma.
And three days after the accident,
I woke up from my coma.
There was a lot of healing that needed to be done.
As I was laying in bed, I had a very distinct and very real
feeling come to me.
In the scriptures, there's a verse
that says you're spared by "the prayers of the righteous."
And I knew that because of the faith of those around me
and because of the love of those around me, that I was spared.
As I got out of the hospital and as I started to rehabilitate,
I started to go to LDS 12-step meetings.
And I started to get myself committed to the Lord.
It is by the grace of God that I was in that accident.
And it's not something I'd ever want to go through again,
and I'm glad it's in the past, but that accident spared me.
That accident gave me the circumstances
that I need to start to humble myself
and to look to Him again.
And as I looked to my Savior, He came to me and He redeemed me.
He saved my soul, where I didn't think
it could be saved anymore.