Michael W. Smith Reveals How God Saved Him From Addiction
By Movieguide® Contributor
Although Michael W. Smith always knew that God had a purpose for his life, it would take a dramatic encounter with God during a nervous breakdown before he started living out that purpose again.
Smith recounts music and worship being part of his life from a young age—he even wrote his first song when he was five.
“[M]y heart was really after the Lord. All I wanted to do is just pick up a guitar and sing praise songs. God had a call on my life, and music was supposed to be a part of it,” he said in an I AM SECOND video episode. “It was a beautiful time of my life. It sort of anchored me.”
By the time he was seventeen and moved to Nashville, he started to get into drugs and alcohol while playing in a band in the after-hour clubs.
“I just lost my way. I thought I could play with the fire and not get burned, and all of a sudden, I’m trapped. I’m literally trapped.” Smith told Matt and Laurie Crouch on TBN.
Smith said that even while living as a prodigal son, he couldn’t “shake’ the knowledge that God had something better for him.
“I never totally disowned Him. Just partying, just doing crazy stuff, you know, making bad choices,” the singer-songwriter said.
His life continued to “spiral” out of control until a near-fatal drug overdose in 1978 when he cried out to God.
“Lord, do whatever you have to do to get my attention, car wreck, break my legs, just don’t kill me,” he recalled praying.
Then, in November 1979, he had a nervous breakdown.
“I ended up on the linoleum floor in my apartment in Nashville. And I wept and shook for three and a half hours,” Smith said. “And then at 3:30 in the morning. I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that Abba was lying on the floor with His arm around me. And I haven’t been the same since.”
The West Virginia native said that it was the prayers and love of his parents that helped bring him back to the Lord and out of depression and addiction.
“I knew my mom and dad were on their knees every single night,” he said.
“I was always welcome home. I know it hurt my mom and dad. That’s what hurt me, and I could tell on their faces that they were grieved. They weren’t mad; they were grieving for me,” he went on to say of that dark time of his life.
Soon after that encounter with God, doors opened to him, and his music career started to take off.
“One thing led to another. Eight months later, I got my first songwriting contract and was getting paid 200 bucks a week to write songs. [A]ll of a sudden, I found myself getting a record deal,” the multi-Grammy award winner said.
But despite all of his success, he keeps grounded in his faith.
“God’s faithful. I know now what the real deal is, and I know now that selling millions of records doesn’t bring you peace. And I know where my hope lies. It’s not being a rock star. The greatest peace that I have is I know who I am,” Smith said. “I am a son of the High King of the universe.”
Smith said he considers his career a calling and a platform to reflect God.
The 66-year-old said in another TBN interview, “I’m not guaranteed tomorrow. I can’t change yesterday. I have today. What am I going to do today? How am I going to reflect the heart of God to people that I know and people that I don’t know.”
Movieguide® previously reported on Smith’s view on how music is a powerful tool that can connect people to God:
“When you project [authenticity] then people can follow you,” he said. “My role is to change the atmosphere and to create a space where God meets people. And then, you never know what’s going to happen at that point, especially when there’s a shift in the atmosphere, you feel it, there’s a breakthrough; you just kinda sense it in your spirit. And then, sometimes I feel like I’m not in control, I’m not even hanging onto the reigns, this thing takes off, and it can literally wipe you out emotionally, and I’ve seen it happen not only here in America but all around the world.”
Smith believes that his songs are powerful because they remind listeners of who God is.
“I feel like [I] don’t need to tell very many people something new, because it’s already there,” Smith said. “I’m a pastor to all these people that come. I’m just reminding them what the book says, and really, that’s it.”
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