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Most people think of “Imagine Beautiful” as a wedding song. However, for one man, it’s become the soundtrack to his life of recovery. Stay tuned for some interesting twists and turns as the story unfolds as well as a listening challenge. To hear the song, read the show notes or email Mark, visit the . Welcome to Grit & Glory, Songs & Stories. I'm so glad that you have decided to join us today. I’m here with a long-time friend of mine, Mike Foote. Mike has some amazing God-stories that should inspire faith and hope – for your own life or for a person you’ve been praying for during a difficult time in their life. Mike, welcome to the show. To start us off, would you tell us about a time you thought it was all over and how you were able to overcome. (Mike) Oh, it's great to be here. Thanks for having me. (Mike) Oh, well, unfortunately, I mean, for me, I guess I've got a couple of times I, I could choose from. But for me, the one that comes to mind the most, because it was the time that everything really changed was about, well, when we met almost 10 years ago now, I struggled with depression and anxiety my whole life due to some abuse that I suffered when I was a kid. There's some other issues, you know. My father left when I was about a year old, never to be seen again. And I think that when, you know, when a parent who you know, the people in the world who are supposed to love you the most, abandon you, I think that's pretty catastrophic. So there was that. Over the years, you know, I made a lot bad decisions. I got involved in drugs and alcohol, lots of other things, and tended to medicate quite a lot with whatever I could get my hands on. An equal opportunity abuser is how I used to describe myself. And over the years you just kind of go down a spiral. And there have been a couple of times where I, you know, it was a point where I didn't think I would make it past that, but then I would, and then I would. But then about nine and a half, 10 years ago, I was in the worst period of depression and anxiety of my life, which was really saying a lot beause I've been through some pretty, pretty rough times and I was planning my suicide. And just for some context, I’m married. I have a wife and two daughters. My daughters at the time were one and five years old. And I had convinced myself basically that they would be better off without me, or what I actually convinced myself was, I'm gonna die sometime and they're going to be mourning me. What difference does it make when that happens? You know, in hindsight, obviously that's extremely foolish. I mean, they're, especially at that age, they need a dad. But, so that's just kind of a lead up to I'm planning my suicide, I'm, I'm ready to do it. I'm thinking about how do I make it look like an accident, trying to think of a place, things like that. And I'm working all of that out. And at that time we hadn't been going to church for a while and we had gone to a couple of churches that had some really big issues. They had both split very acrimonious, and we kind of swore off Christians. And we started going to the church that we go to now here in Minnesota. And the second week I was there, met someone who told me about a recovery program that the church sponsors and went to the recovery program the following Monday night. This story about how that happened is also kind of crazy, but, and then I met you and it just, the first thing that happened was I finally was able to humble myself before God. I was, and that's kind what I had been missing all along was I had gotten to a point where I know I can't do this without God. I can't move forward on my own. I don't have the strength to do it. I'm ready to just give up. But God, at the last possible moment, as He likes to do, rescued me by introducing me to someone who told me about the recovery program and then walking in the door that night, I met you, who immediately grabbed me up and, Hey, what's your name? How are...