- There were times we'dcome home and mom was fine,

and there were times we'd come home

and we thought mom was dead

- [Narrator] From an early age,

Tom Blee tried to escapehis dysfunctional home,

with an alcoholic momand a workaholic dad,

Tom quickly learned toshoulder his own burdens

and keep his emotions in check.

- I mean, I can remember as afirst grader going into school

and one of the nuns comingup to me and saying,

"Tom is your mom's sick again?"

And even as a child thinking,you gotta hide this,

and that anxiety that was putinto my head at a young age.

I mean, that's thebuzzing, that's the claim,

that's the unrest.

- [Narrator] Tom felt more andmore pressure to be perfect,

so he projected an imagethat everything was fine,

yet nothing relieved hisgrowing anxiety, not even God.

- I can remember in church manytimes looking up and saying,

"There's the savior thatis supposed to save me

"hanging on the cross, whonever comes off the cross."

- [Narrator] At 16, Tomdecided religion was pointless

and stopped attending church.

It seemed to him

that he got better resultsfrom his own hard work.

- I do not need this God and this Jesus,

and I just need my books,and I need to pick my career,

and I need to get out of thishouse and get on with my life.

- [Narrator] Growing up inthe shadow of the Mayo Clinic,

Tom was drawn to the lifestyle

of the doctors and their family.

- So how come I can go to people's houses

and it's not dirty?

Research constantly tofind that area of peace,

the doctor's family seemed to have peace.

- [Narrator] So Tomdecided to be a doctor.

He did well at college and med school,

but the pressure to succeed

and keep up a perfectfacade, fed his anxiety.

- the uneasiness was there,

The need to succeed was there,

that buzzing in my head was there.

- [Narrator] Tom graduated medschool and married a nurse,

hoping to achieve the idealfamily life he never had.

- It just didn't work.

We were kinda the same people.

She grew up in badalcoholism with her father,

I grew up in bad alcoholism,

and we're very comfortable with chaos.

That's what we've grown up in.

- [Narrator] Soon, Tomfound himself escaping

as his dad had, working long hours

and isolating himself athome when arguments arose.

- If the heat was turnedup, I would run and hide.

- [Narrator] For over a decade,

Tom worked to maintain hisperfect image of success.

However, behind closed doors,his marriage was crumbling.

- And we had the house,

we had the cars, we had allthis stuff and it was empty.

It was exhausting,

and I don't even know ifexhausting is a big enough word.

- [Narrator] Then theevening of March 1st, 2014,

Tom finally faced his failures.

Overwhelmed, he called his sister

who had given her life to Christ

and she urged him to get to know Jesus.

- Then I hung up the phoneand I sat in this chair

and this kinda dimly lit room,

and I looked up and said, "Idon't even think you exist."

And I said, "I'm so done with this,

"everything that's happening,

"that I'm gonna give You one more shot."

And I got on my knees andI said, "If you exist,

"You have five minutes to show me,

"because otherwise I'm tapping out."

And I stood up andinstantly felt different.

Either was a presence in the room

and be that buzzing stopped.

There was finally lightness, so to speak.

There was something likelifted off my shoulders saying,

"Stop the struggle, you got help."

- [Narrator] That night,

Tom bought a Bible and started reading.

The more he learned aboutJesus, the more peace he felt,

and the more he realizedthat Jesus was much different

than the man he'd seen,

always hanging on thecross as a little boy.

- He came down as a helper, Hecame down as someone to heal.

He's completely differentthan the man on the cross,

because He's present.

He's here.

Gonna ask, shows up, alive, dynamic.

- [Narrator] Tom started attendingchurch and Bible studies.

As he grew closer to God, hestopped striving to be perfect

and so at God for help with his problems.

Even though his marriageended a year later,

Tom had hope in someonegreater than himself.

- 'Cause all I could do is say,

I have nothing right now, but you got.

Something is happening, and I trust You.

- [Narrator] Today, Tom's a trauma surgeon

at the seventh busiesttrauma center in the country.

Yet with all thatpressure, he doesn't worry

because he knows Christis the ultimate healer.

- My work as a surgeon isconstantly cheating death,

and I know someone out there that actually

can bring people back from death.

I mean, that's what Jesus is.

You are a new person.

You get a new life, you get asecond chance, you get hope.

Doesn't mean I don't have challenges

and trying times in some,but that buzzing is gone.

There's a peace there.

Everything is fixable through Christ.