And listen, I know that there are people listening
to this show today that are going through the
same struggles. And I hope you hear what I went
through and avoid some of the pitfalls I did,
because it's OK to tell people you're hurting.
It's OK to tell people, hey, I'm struggling.
Because I was, and I think I could talk to anybody.
Hey there, welcome to the God's Goodness Podcast.
We are your hosts, Josh and Shelly Hankins, and
we're here to share real stories of God's power,
stories of hope, healing and miracles that will
strengthen your faith. No matter what you're
walking through, we want to remind you that God
is good and He's still moving today. Let's dive
in. Today we have an incredible guest, Michael
Price, who was actually referred to us by our
friend and past guest, author and speaker, Ben
Hinton. Ben said, you have to have Michael on.
His testimony of God's goodness is going to bless
so many people. And after hearing just a glimpse
of his story, I completely agree. So Michael
has walked through battles that would have taken
most people out. depression, a suicide attempt,
total blindness in one eye, back -to -back heart
attacks, and now multiple sclerosis. And yet
here he is, thriving, leading, and proclaiming
the goodness of God. Today he's a leader in the
business world, an ordained minister, and the
market president for C -suite for Christ Charlotte,
where he's working to bring Christ into the marketplace.
Michael, welcome to the podcast. We are so glad
to have you here. I am so happy to be here. Thank
you for having me. Oh, my pleasure. Now before
we dive into your testimony, I'd love for our
listeners to get to know you a little. So tell
us about your world today, like your family,
your work, your ministry. Like what does life
look like to you right now? Just briefly. Yeah,
absolutely. So first, I love the Lord first and
foremost. He is my number one relationship and
everything else comes after Him. But as far as
my life today, married to my beautiful wife,
Elise, for almost 26 years coming up here in
May. I have two adult children. Both of them
have families. Both of them are servants, ones
in law enforcement, ones in nursing. So they
love serving in their communities. And they both
have given me grandchildren, which I perfectly
spoil as much as I possibly can. As well you
should. Absolutely. I'm a retired healthcare
executive, recently retired. I still do some
consulting in the healthcare industry. And as
Shelley just mentioned, I am the newly appointed
market president for C -suite for Christ Charlotte.
You know, where we are striving to cover the
world in Christ through the workplace, which
most people say, lead Jesus at the door, work,
and then pick him back up when you leave. And
we are countering that. Taking him everywhere.
Yes, absolutely. And then my other passion, really,
and just what we're getting ready to talk about,
have a passion for helping leaders and others
out in the workplace, deal with burnout, and
deal with how to overcome some of that. So there's
a lot of things in flight, a book, some speaking,
and some other things going on. And maybe we'll
dive into some of that now. But at a high level,
that's what's going on in my life right now.
That's awesome. Now, God has shown up for you
in some incredible ways over the years. But let's
go back. Before the battles, before the miracles,
When do you first remember experiencing God's
goodness in your life? Like was there a moment
as a child, a young adult, or even later where
you first knew like God is real and he's with
me? Yeah, I would say that's a great question.
I would say my granddaddy. So my dad's dad, I
never knew him, but he had a grandfather, my
great granddaddy, and the man was a tremendous
man of the Lord. He loved the Lord more than
anything in the world. And you could feel that
love when you walked into the room with him.
Everyone in the neighborhood knew him. He stopped
and spoke to everyone. I mean, he actually wrote
his own sermon for his funeral and had it preached
to him exactly a year before he passed away.
I mean, he wanted to understand what people were
going to say. About his legacy and he wanted
to make sure he was geared towards his love for
christ I mean, so that was the first time I saw
the lord I knew he was real because I saw him
in my granddaddy And then that led me to 1992
when I was 18 years old whenever I was saved
and when I first met Jesus as my personal savior,
I was in 1992 How how hard was that for you because
I come from i'm a first generation christian
and I didn't I didn't find jesus even though
he was knocking on my door for 30 years. So was
it an easier transition with the background you
had? Or was it harder because you felt the need
that you had to expect a certain kind of behavior?
So as at a young age, we moved away from I'm
originally from North Carolina, we moved away
to Florida where I spent most of my life. And
so I moved away from all of my family. We found
a church down there and, and my dad I come from
a loving home, but he wasn't a Christian until
we moved to Florida. And I would say when I actually
met Jesus on a summer night in Windermere, Florida,
it was easy for me because the spirit was moving.
We had a missionary that was preaching as a guest
preacher that night. So when he got done, I was
amazed because I didn't know that there was anybody
else in that church building, even though it
was full. because the Holy Spirit was speaking
directly to me. So the actual conversion, me
meeting Jesus, it was easy. Now getting there,
I had a fault. I fault a lot because I thought
I was a good person. And you'll hear as I go
through my story, I've never been one to ask
for help. I'm a different person now, but most
of my life I felt that I had what I needed. I
didn't need to ask for help. But yeah, the actual
conversion was very easy for me because You know
when when the Holy Spirit starts moving you get
that tingling that burning your heart starts
racing I mean you move and anyone that doesn't
I don't know how they wouldn't I Love that you
have a specific date That you remember like some
addicts remember the last day they used and some
people I had a more gradual Coming to Jesus,
you know getting to know him and then they don't
have a date. So I think that's cool. I like that
I like that. Yeah. So one of the hardest battles
you've walked through was depression and even
a suicide attempt, right? So can you take us
back to that season? Like what was happening
in your life and what led you to that breaking
point? Well, you're looking from the outside
in, you'll say, my goodness, I can't believe,
you know, that even happened. I had recently
built my house. I had a great job. I had friends,
a loving family, but inside I was dying. My self
-esteem was extremely low at that time, 27 years
ago. I didn't feel like there was a future for
me. I didn't have goals, you know? And when you
lose hope, it only takes a split second for our
enemy to say, I got something for you. And when
you take it, it can literally destroy your life.
I've never been one to ask for help. And for
those that are out listening today, and listen,
I know that there are people listening to this
show today that are going through the same struggles.
And I hope you hear what I went through and avoid
some of the pitfalls I did, because it's okay
to tell people you're hurting. It's okay to tell
people, hey, I'm struggling. Because I was, and
I think I could talk to anybody. But I can still
remember, I vividly remember in my house, in
my bedroom, Going through the actual act of trying
in my life. I remember it a hundred percent No,
was that before 92 before Jesus? No, it was 98.
Okay, so it was after it was 1998. Okay, it was
actually February February of 98 You'll hear
you like dates. I love dates. You'll hear as
I talk about everything I'll usually give a specific
date, but it was after and like I said, I came
to that crossroad and You know, there's only
two ways you can go You can either continue down
the path that the Lord wants you to go Or like
I said when you're at that point where you believe
there's no hope the enemy presents you something
and I tried to grab it and the Lord had completely
different plans for me as we'll talk about going
forward He launched me into a journey Almost
immediately almost immediately So in that moment
when you felt at your lowest Do you remember
how god showed up was it instant or was there
a process of healing? He showed up immediately
so um bear with me It's clearly still difficult
it is it is it's difficult and because it takes
me back into a time where You know, like I said,
you lose hope I mean and it is a it is a dark
desperate place to be and I was only there for
a split second But I was in my home went through
with the act and Miraculously, my parents showed
up at my house and I will let me tell you this
it took me 27 years This only happened a few
weeks ago before I asked my dad why they were
at my house And what was the random reason I'm
sure he said that your mother said we need to
go and I said no Huh, so they came mother's intuition
So if you don't mind me asking what did you do
for your attempt Pills pills. It was pills. Yeah,
it was a chore to take the first one But the
rest of them and I can't tell you it was in the
20s Of the number of pills I took and and not
only did my parents show up They showed up and
called their best friend who was a pharmacist
and told him what to do Wow Incredible divine
friendships, so you asked how God showed up.
He showed up immediately Wow, well one would
argue if your mom was having a conversation with
your dad about visiting you You hadn't even done
the act yet because they didn't live across the
street. Did they? Correct. No, they did not so
they had to take time to come over which is the
time that you were doing Right. They had to have
a thought before you even did it. Yeah and convincing
Only God could have known that only God could
have known all the red lights the stop signs
all the stuff the exact moment Wow Wow So you
could say that's the Lord miraculously saving
you. So was there something specific, like an
encounter, a person, a moment that shifted everything?
Like, so what happened after that? Like, what's
that looking like? So what happened after that?
You went to the hospital. So I don't remember
my parents showing up. I remember being in their
backseat on my way to the ER and went to the
ER. I spent a few days in the hospital. And like
I said, we had an extremely loving church and
just went through a process of healing. The Lord
showed up and showed up big as he always does
and took me through a process of healing. I had
friends that I wouldn't ask for help come and
ask me why I wouldn't. You know till still to
this day. I can't answer why I wouldn't ask for
help You know that our enemy has a way of trying
to shame you into things to say You know, there's
specific things even in our society today. You
shouldn't talk about suicides one of them It's
taken me 27 years. I mean now I'm sharing it
publicly because this is You know, the Lord takes
us through things in our lives, not necessarily
to teach us something, but to help other people
as well. 100%. You know, it's funny that you
mentioned how isolated you were and alone, because
that is the exact tactic that the enemy uses,
is to isolate. It's like a lion seeking to whom
he's going to consume, right? And so, he doesn't
go after the middle of the herd, he isolates
the weak ones on the edges, the ones that have
already been wore down. because that's the ones
he can get. I had a revelation on a fast after
I had a fast my wife decided to do one and she
did hers ten times less of the length that I
did mine. I was flabbergasted by it and then
the Lord revealed to me that a married couple
is ten times or exponentially more powerful than
a single person and that's why the devil tries
to attack marriage so much because he needs to
isolate you because he has no chance against
you when you're strong. He has no chance against
you when you're in the herd. He has no chance
against you when you have all your brothers and
sisters in Christ at your back. But if he can
get you isolated, he has every chance. You know,
it's just another one of those examples that
proves it, that he needs to have you isolated
because he is powerless against us, right? He
can only do what God allows him to do. And if
we don't reach out, then he has a little bit
more authority to hurt us. Yeah, that stronghold.
Yeah, I mean, you're absolutely right. I mean,
it goes back to the story of Job, you know, because
the Lord knew, the Lord said, here, go, go test
them. You know, it's the same way with us. When
you get to that point in your life, when you
give everything to Jesus, everything to Christ,
I mean, your first fruits of your time, every
morning you get up, you're reading, you know,
your finances, you know, the first fruits of
those finances, you know, everything you do in
life goes to him first. You're right. I mean,
Satan, he hates that. He no longer had a stronghold
on your life. Wow. So fast forward to years later,
you experienced something completely unexpected,
a blood clot that left you completely blind in
one eye. So what was your first reaction? Was
it like fear, faith, something in between? It
was fear. Let me tell you why. Because I literally
woke up at 430 in the morning. in 2016 and I
was experiencing the law. I was actually seeing
the vision being lost in my right eye because
it was like a lightning storm and I went to the
bathroom and I looked in the mirror and with
both eyes I could see that I closed my left eye
and it was black completely dark. So I mean yeah
I mean I would love to say that yeah I mean I
would I say oh okay Lord what are you doing now
it was It was panic and it was fear. I thought
I was having a stroke and I just lost vision
in my right eye. So my, you know, my wife got
up, we ran to the ER. We're in Tampa at the time
now and ran to the ER. And so I'm sitting in
the ER with a very compassionate ER physician,
very compassionate. I mean, he's come into tears
because he can't do anything. You know, an ER
guy, and I come from the ER, I come from healthcare.
So the ER doctor wants to help you when he can't
do anything for me. So he calls the retinal specialist
that's on call. And that doctor tells him, have
him come to my office at eight o 'clock. We're
like four o 'clock in the morning. He says, have
him come to my office at eight. He said, are
you kidding me? What am I going to do for him
right now? And he said, there's nothing we can
do for him right now. Nothing. The division's
lost. I can't help him. So when he told me that
it was a wow moment, it was, okay, now what am
I going to, I have no sight in my right eye.
What am I going to do? Yeah. So did you like
sit there and pray for a few hours or like what,
what was going through your mind? We did. We,
we, we went home, we, we left the ER and went
home. So, you know, it's five, six o 'clock in
the morning. We got a couple hours. So yeah,
we went home and we prayed and, um, we ended
up going to the doctor and, um, And he told us,
he said, there's no hope of your vision returning.
The damage is done. There's nothing I can do.
The blood clot shut the blood flow off to your
eye and it healed those veins. So it was a blood
clot. It was a blood clot, yes. And so it deprived
your oxygen to your eye, which is obviously how
organs fail is without oxygen. Correct. And he
told you to wait till eight o 'clock the next
morning regardless. Correct. So, you know, they
go through, they run all these tests. About two
weeks later, you know, I started wearing an eyepatch,
no eyepatch, you know, do I close my eye? Not,
you know, now I'm thinking people are looking
at me like I'm blind in one eye, but of course
nobody can see that. And about two weeks later,
the darkness goes from a darkness to a gray,
just imagine a gray cloud sitting right in front
of your eyeball. You can see to the, you can
see around the edges to the right and the left.
but you can't see straight ahead. It's just a
gray cloud. And I think of the cloud by night,
you know, when the Lord was leading the Israelites,
that's the exact thought that came to my head
that, okay, Lord, there's a cloud in front of
my eye. What are we going to do with the cloud?
And Psalm 46 10. So this is where one of my life
verses came into play, Psalm 46 10, where the
Lord says, be still and know that I am God. He
wants us to stop. He wants us to be still and
know who He is. And a few years later, He gave
me Exodus, verse 13, so Exodus 14, verse 13,
where the Israelites are standing at the Red
Sea. The Egyptians and their 600 chariots are
barreling down on them. And they look at Moses
and say, why did you bring us out here? And the
Lord told Moses to tell them, stand still and
watch what I'm gonna do. I just had to live there,
but stand still. I don't need anything from you.
just stop and look at what I'm gonna do. It's
the same thing he told me in that moment, just
be still. So I was still. And over the next month,
he slowly removed the cloud and about half of
my vision came back. And today I can tell you,
when I have glasses, I can't tell, the only time
I can tell there's something wrong with that
eye is if I close my left eye. It's the only
time I can tell. And the eye doctor that I have
today here in North Carolina says, I can't tell
that anything ever happened in your eye because
it looks like a healthy eye. I mean that is truly
incredible because I'm in a health care field
too. I'm an EMT and you know when people have
strokes and we get them to the stroke center
and they give them medication to help anticoagulants
and such you know they can usually reverse a
lot of symptoms depending on what it is if it's
four hours and you're going till the next morning
Right, by all rights, you should be blind in
that eye forever. Yes. So there's clearly a miracle
involved in this because that is not normal.
Now, I have a question. When I had a blood clot
in my leg, my legs got swollen over a few days.
Was there anything leading up to that morning?
Like any symptoms? No. Wow. There was nothing.
Like I said, I woke up at 4 .30 in the morning
and... There's a lightning storm in my right
eye. Wow. That's nuts that it happened so quickly.
But then it just proves that sometimes healing
isn't instantaneous. Right. So looking back,
what do you think God was showing you through
that experience? He wanted me to stop and trust
him. Again, sometimes he puts us through things
to help other people. Sometimes he puts us through
things because he's molding us and he's preparing
us. You know, we'll get to where I'm at today.
But I truly believe that 27 years ago, what he
put me through in 2016, what he put me through,
what we're getting ready to talk about is led
me to where I'm at today. Because if I would
have never stopped for a moment for him to give
me that verse, for him to be able to tell me,
listen, I have this. just trust me. That verse
was my verse, Psalm 46, 10, be still and know,
when we were going through 27 months of unemployment
or, you know, no income. And when the money runs
out, when the unemployment runs out and there's
only God and he shows up in incredible ways,
it's just that anchor verse is something so powerful
to get you through, you know? It's amazing. I
love it. It's almost like God knows what he's
doing. It's almost like he's the author and protector
of our lives, and it's just so bizarre. Almost
as if he's created us, yes. Hey there, listeners.
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prevent any disease, but the stories speak for
themselves. Now back to the show. So then not
long after that, you walk through back -to -back
heart attacks. So what happened in those moments?
Like, do you know right away? Like, did you know
what was happening? Like, what did that look
like? Yeah, so 21 and 22, those were challenging
years. So to answer your question, the first
one I did not know. The first one, my wife and
I was a Saturday, we were out and we were, you
know, running errands. You know, I traveled a
lot at the time and I was always out of town
and we were spending the day together. And I
just, you know, here, the difference between
the I and here is I knew that something was going
on. I just was choosing not to listen to my body
at the time. you know, and we were out at a big
box store. And I remember she was picking up
some glasses. I had to walk, walk away to little
boy's room and I couldn't make it. It took me
probably double to triple the time to make it
there. And then on the way back, you know, I
stopped several times because the pressure on
my chest was so bad. I'm a stubborn, you know,
man. And I didn't want to say anything to my
wife. So I told her, I said, listen, listen,
I'm not feeling that well but I think it's I
think I need to eat we haven't eaten all day
so let's go have dinner so we went and had dinner
and after that we left we're headed home about
45 minute drive home and I said she knew something
was wrong she already knew I mean and I said
yes we have to go to the hospital because the
pain was so bad that I was having a hard time
breathing and I just I couldn't function anymore
I couldn't I couldn't even talk That's about
the time I get the call for the ambulance to
not not while they're experiencing the tightness,
but when it's unbearable on the other shortness
of breath and yes, yes. So we get to the hospital
and and yeah, I mean they they came in and said
yes, you are right in the middle of having a
heart attack. And Josh, so you know, wasn't a
stem. It was a non stemming. Okay. But much opponents
but much opponents were highly elevated. so this
is on a saturday here's where i was still at
the time this is four years ago you know so i
had the heart attack on saturday they placed
my stints on sunday on monday i'm back at work
i'm still in the hospital but i'm joining calls
because i've learned nothing about what the lord
wants me to do and to be steel so so it stitches
in your chest and everything sitting in the hospital
well a lot of cast so i had a cast okay okay
that's easier so Yeah, it was crazy. And I use
it as a way to tell people what not to do these
days. So the second heart attack was a little
different. It was on Labor Day in 2022. I knew
exactly what was happening, but we're a stubborn
race. And we had a party at the house. Family
was over. You know, I just ended up sitting on
the couch, couldn't eat, couldn't move. And then
that night, to your point, Josh, I waited. to
call the ambulance. This time I had to go by
ambulance because I couldn't. We love that, by
the way. We love it when it's daylight and we're
awake and you don't call us and you wait till
two in the morning. We absolutely love that.
Well, I only waited until 1230, so at midnight,
so after midnight. So it was at 2 a .m. And yeah,
I went back to the hospital again, you know,
the heart attack, non -STEMI. I don't know if
I'm saying that as a positive thing or not. but
um place more stamps this time I had a phenomenal
and I still do have a phenomenal cardiologist
great christian guy we'll I'll go see him at
the office we'll talk about my health and then
we'll pull the bible out we'll talk about we'll
talk about the lord and um he told me minimum
six weeks you're not going back and remember
I'm a healthcare executive at the time and I'm
like okay lord they're not going to wait six
weeks for me to come back but I tell you what
I had a a group of leaders, not all of them Christians,
a group of leaders that said, you just take the
time that you need, and we got this. And that's
when the Lord showed up again, because they said,
don't work. I don't want to hear you. I don't
want to hear from you. Just go and get better.
It took about six weeks. And, you know, the Lord
showed up in all that six weeks, you know, Elise
and I spent a lot of time together, you know,
really got closer with my relationship with the
Lord. You know, we're I'm here in Charlotte.
So and that's the year that during that six weeks
we went to the Billy Graham library and the Lord
spoke to me there and said okay it's now it's
time the change is coming and I'm going to want
you in the ministry full time you know so I learned
really what Psalm 46 10 was so I was still for
those six weeks and just listened. Because so
many times we like to pray and we never like
to listen to what the Lord's going to say. You
can't, you remember in John 10, Jesus calls us
friend. You can't have a friendship if you never
listen and all you do is talk. And I would also
elaborate and say it's hard to hear the voice
of God when you've already made up your mind
of what he's going to say. Oh man. I like that.
You are absolutely correct. So this all must
have been terrifying, like all these heart attacks.
Did you ever wrestle with like why God and why
were you able to trust him even in the unknown?
Yeah, I mean, yeah, of course. Of course I wrestled.
And of course he won. But yeah, I mean, obviously
I wrestled, but you know, I talked about, you
know, earlier, I mentioned that journey, you
know, since 1998, he'd had me on a journey and
yes, ups and downs and ebbs and flows to my life.
But through it, he never changed. He was always
consistent. He was always leading me down the
path that he knew that I needed to be on and
was going to go on. It's us that changes. So
yes. Questioned? Absolutely. But I mean, today
we only eat whole foods. We exercise on a daily
basis. It's on our schedule. We do different
types of natural remedies and like, you know,
cryotherapy and compression therapy, you know,
different things to really care for our body
colors. The word says that we are a temple for
the Holy Spirit. And I never treated my body
that way until now, you know since 2016 and I
shook I've lost 60 Well now it's up to 70 or
80 pounds. Well some of the 20 pounds this year
already. That's awesome. And Well, yeah. Well,
thank you and just just feel Tremendous and then
when you do that then the Lord can use you, you
know If you're not caring for your body, he may
want to use you but he's like you you can't handle
what I'm gonna give you So we have to make sure
we're ready physically mentally, spiritually,
and emotionally to do the work that he calls
us to do. Do you feel the second heart attack
was an attempt at God to humble you? Because
you thought you got the lesson from the first
one with God saving your life, right? That you
stood in a place of arrogance and he's like,
no, no, no. I will say yes to that and here's
why. When my cardiologist came into the room
on the second heart attack, he walked in and
said, I apologize. He said there were zero signs
and symptoms of you having a second heart attack
one year after your first one. He said, I never
saw it. There's nothing that we saw when we did
play substance last year that would even that
would even lead us to believe you would have
a heart attack a year later. So incredible. I
love the way God works, even though it's scary
sometimes. Oh, yeah. Actually, scary oftentimes.
Don't recommend laying in the cath labs ever.
It's not the best place to go No, and you mentioned,
you know our our bodies are a temple for the
spirit and As you know a first -generation Christian
from for many generations, you know the first
time I heard that I'm thinking like Indiana Jones
and temple of doom I'm thinking like there's
evil spirits. There's booby traps and and you
know I don't know what a good clean temple looks
like in my mind's eye. And so I always hated
that I always hated hearing your body's a temple
like wow, this is a pitfall That's true. That's
true. And it simply means we're to care for it.
So you faced so many physical battles and then
you were diagnosed with, of all things, multiple
sclerosis. How has that latest challenge shaped
your relationship with God? It drawn me even
closer. So what I skipped over was in 2012, I
was originally diagnosed with MS. And then they
came back after a test they performed and said,
yeah, we were wrong. You don't have MS. So we
fast forward 12 years to 2024 last year in January.
And they did an MRI and said, yeah, they said,
you know, MS causes white spots on your brain,
which causes the issues that it does. Yeah, the
lesions. And they said, Yeah, you know, I had
three or four back in 12. Now I've got 12 to
15. And well, they initially thought I had Parkinson's.
And then we corrected that. But I was on Parkinson's
bed for six months last year until I got to a
phenomenal physician here at the MS Institute
here in Charlotte and was diagnosed with MS,
went on the treatments. I get infusions. To treat
my ms, but I will tell you I am I am so blessed
There are so many people that struggle with ms
and struggle badly physically. Yeah Yeah, i had
a friend that she would have to be carried into
church and laid down on a pew in the back Just
so she could show up and she'd be laying on there
on looking up at the ceiling Yeah, and the interesting
thing is is god healed this woman But the brain
scan still showed lesions Wow That is what is
cool is that he just bypassed them. He just said,
here you go. So amazing. There is hope. There
is hope for you. I just want to let you know
that God is not done with you, that he is willing
to heal you 100%. Oh, anytime he wants to, you
know, if you see me walking into the store in
the church and my home, you won't think that
anything's wrong with me. You know, the occasional
stumble. You know, sometimes, you know, my recall
is not the best in my memory, but, you know,
God is so good. He has blessed us tremendously.
And I want to tell this because it's pretty powerful.
So last, you mentioned I'm a pastor with an executive
pastor here in a local church in the area. For
various different reasons, we had to leave the
church and move to a really good church we're
at right now. But I had to leave the church.
And at the same time, I was leaving my career,
you know, that I thought that I had done so much
to get to. So here I am in November and my career
is leaving and my church is gone. And I said,
OK, Lord, what's next? OK, I said, I don't understand,
but where are we going? And you fast forward
to today. And it's the story of job. I didn't
listen. He didn't pull. He didn't, you know,
have the I didn't have the devastation that job
had. But the Lord pulled things for me and has
given it back tenfold, tenfold. He has given
it back to me and blessed every single area of
my life, every single area. So I no longer question
the Lord what he's doing, why something's happening.
It's OK. Let's deal with it. And Lord, you got
this. What a very Abraham answer. I don't know
what this looks like lord, but let's go You're
calling me. I don't this is this is scary unknown
territory. I don't care. You're with me. Let's
do this Yep. Yeah I mean it's all his anyway
Yeah, exactly exactly Then I think we wanted
to lead into where I'm at today so today the
like I said the lord has and I was talking to
my wife About this the other day. I wake up each
morning and say, wow, because I'm on your podcast
right now, talking about something that happened
27 years ago that I've never talked about publicly.
There's only a handful of people in my life that
know what I went through back then. It's out
there now. It's just, yeah, it's out there now.
It's only around the world, so it's no big deal.
That's just your friends. But you know, I had
this career that allowed me to build in healthcare.
And I mean, he blessed me tremendously. And I
said, okay, you know, that's gone now. You know,
I said, I'm still consulting. But now he's moved
me. He allowed me to meet the leaders of C -suite
for Christ. And we just started having some conversations.
And last year, we had a huge worship night. They
called it Charlotte Crusade, because a group
of people came from another country. And they
said, we came to Charlotte because this is where
Billy Graham's home was. And we remember watching
on TV the crusade that Billy Graham had here,
his last crusade to Charlotte years ago. And
we want to do that again. So they went and they
rented an arena, the arena here locally. They
put 10 ,000 people in it, and there were still
thousands of people standing outside wanting
to get in. Wow. And they had this worship night
where they just worshiped the Lord. And I said,
that is so awesome. And I said, now what are
we going to do? You know, there's there's a lot
of Christian conference out there We have the
conferences, but then what are we gonna do because
people are on fire while they're there So what
are we gonna do? So I met the people at C -suite
for Christ and Their mission is covering the
world in Christ. Our mantra is to fulfill the
Great Commission Through the workplace, you know,
we're not gonna leave Jesus at the door. We're
gonna bring him into the workplace. What a novel
idea so We just launched last Sunday and we,
I mean, I mean the calls, the emails, the social
media post, the 15 ,000 people that have viewed
our post on LinkedIn, the phone calls, the people
wanting to be a part of this is overwhelming.
It is amazing. And we're just getting started.
That's awesome. We're just getting started. Yeah.
I never heard of it before you and Ben. So, and
now it's on the podcast. I got to give Ben props
here because Ben, even though Ben lives in Pennsylvania,
He's going to help the Charlotte market. So we're
working together on this along with a team that
we pulled together. And like I said, you're going
to be hearing about C -suite for Charlotte as
we go forward. The Lord is just doing amazing
things here. I believe it. That's awesome. It's
incredible because I think a lot of Christians
have a hard time. Bringing their faith to work
for fear of reprisal retribution Persecution
right up and it's funny to me not funny. Haha
funny peculiar That we would be afraid that we
were not given a spirit of timidity But a spirit
of boldness and that like it where I work. I
don't bring him in the door verbally But I bring
him in the door through my every action by every
interaction with a patient by every interaction
with my co -workers And if they bring him up
in any capacity, that's an open door for me to
either elaborate or set the record straight.
And I take those opportunities every chance I
get. If I have a patient in the back and they
just mentioned Jesus one time, well, we're praying.
You know, you open that door for me and I will
come in and I will sit on your fancy furniture
and we will talk and pray and have a good time.
There's many patients I have that are repeat
patients that I... I literally, they look forward
to having me in the back of the ambulance and
we talk about Jesus the whole ride up. Oh, that
is awesome. That is so awesome. I'm blessed that
I can speak about Jesus freely at work. And some
of them helped me start the podcast and yeah,
that's great. So thank you. Now for someone listening
right now who is facing a battle, whether it's
depression, illness, or a crisis of faith, what
would you say to them? Well, first, I would say
is you're never alone. You know, I just talked
about I was in a lonely place. I couldn't reach
out to anyone or I thought I put you're never
alone. The Lord is always, always there with
you, but you have to take that first step. You
have to trust him. You have to allow him to come
into your life. And when you do, I guarantee
you a 100 % guarantee he will change your life.
Okay, so that's the first step. The second step
is Don't learn from me. Okay, I've been to the
depression been to the suicide attempts into
all the health issues that you could ever imagine
now diagnosed with an uncurable debilitating
disease So there's no excuses. I have my accountability
partners I have my friends that I will reach
out to my wife is my rock here on earth My firstly
rock is my wife see the Lord gave her an extra
special dose of strength when he created her.
Because he had to. He was going to pair her with
you. Yes, that is correct. But ask for help,
okay? And that's different for everybody. For
some people it is professional. For some people
it's your pastor. For some people it's a family
member or a friend. And listen, let me say this
to those that are listening right now. If you
don't think you have someone, reach out to me.
I'll be your ring man. I'll just listen. Because
a lot of times that's all it takes. is someone
to listen. Okay? Absolutely. I guarantee that
God will put in your path somebody who went through
something you're going through and their experience
will help you get through it as well. Yes. It
could be a random stranger at a Kogo's handing
you a milk out of the fridge when you ask for
it. It'll come in the most unexpected places.
It could be a human. It could be an angel in
disguise. You have no way of knowing, but you
do have a way of trusting. Yeah. He will show
up. that's powerful he always shows up so if
you could go back and tell your younger self
at the lowest point one thing what would it be
just trust trust because you know i told you
when i tried to commit suicide i was a believer
but i didn't trust in the lord i mean and it's
such an easy word to say but it's very powerful.
You know, you have to, you know, rely, get out
of the way, just get yourself out of the way
because we cause problems when we get in the
way for ourselves. You know, when we don't listen
to our bodies, when we try to take the wheel
instead of allowing the Lord to steer, we cause
problems for ourselves. So trust and just move
out of the way and watch what He does in your
life. It's amazing. Do you think that our natural
relationships with people really hinder our trust
with God? Because people can be very untrustworthy.
They won't guard our heart like God would. They
won't protect our feelings like God would. And
you had gone over 18 years, and you give your
life to Christ in Florida, and you're having
this issue, this depression issue. If you could
go back and tell yourself to trust, would you?
Because we're shaped by our interactions with
people. No, that's a good question, a good point,
because we put our faith in people instead of
our faith in the Lord, and that's the problem.
You see it all day long. I try not to watch the
news, but watch the news, watch media. Their
trust is in those news anchors. Their trust is
in those politicians. Take the focus off of them
and put it where it belongs, on Jesus. Amen.
So good. So before we wrap up, where can people
connect with you and the work that you're doing,
Michael? So I'm on LinkedIn. I'm always on LinkedIn.
So if you check me on LinkedIn, I promise you,
I'm going to be one of the ones that responds
back. I'm on Facebook. I'm on Instagram. I do
have a website, it's still under construction,
but you can go to the website, you can contact
me through there. It's michaeljprice .com. So
pretty simple, michaeljprice .com. And reach
out, send me a note. And like I said, I respond,
and I'm here to help in any way that I can. For
those that are struggling, I would be happy to
listen or happy to give any input that you would
want, or I'd be extremely happy just to pray
with you. Because prayer is the most powerful
tool we have in our bell. Oh yes, amen. So would
you be willing to pray over our listeners especially
those struggling with depression illness or feeling
that they've lost their purpose? Yes, and a percent.
So let's go to Lord Heavenly Father floor. We
are humbled that you allow us to come before
your throne With our burdens our concerns our
requests and what we've talked about some tough
issues today and And I know that there are some
people listening today that are struggling with
all kinds of battles and I want to reassure them
that if they will reach out to you and put their
trust in you, that you will answer every time
according to your will and your timing. But Lord,
you always answer and you will give them the
strength to get through these battles. Your word
says that we can do all things through your strength.
So Lord, I just encourage each person to trust
in you, to seek you out, to trust you enough
to invite you into their hearts, Lord, to live
their life, Lord, according to your will. as
lord of their lives and they need not be unashamed
and unapologetically lord i pray that they would
go boldly out into this world lord lord and lead
the lives that you are calling us to lead we
pray and asking we receive these things in the
mighty and majestic name of your son jesus amen
amen amen well thank you for being with us michael
we appreciate your story and God using it to
help others through things they're going with
as well. I can't wait to the end when your testimony
is really hammering the enemy. Yes. It's been
my honor to be here and thank you very much for
having me. It's been a pleasure. Thanks for tuning
in to today's episode. Listen, let's stay connected.
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remember God is always working, miracles are
real, and your breakthrough could be just around
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don't forget to share this with someone who needs
hope today. We'll talk to you next week.