Michael W. Smith was a prodigy. At five years old, he could pick out rhythms from the radio and replicate them precisely on drums. He wrote his first song at the same age. He joined the choir, felt the call of God in his Baptist church, and only ever wanted to pick up the guitar and worship.
Descent into Drug Addiction
But something went wrong.
"I got deceived. That's just the bottom line," Smith has confessed. "I made bad choices. I was stupid. I thought I could play with fire and not get burned. Being young and immature, it almost cost me my life."
After high school, Smith moved to Nashville to become a songwriter. "I was playing in after-hours bars from 1:30 to 5:30, just in a bunch of trouble." From 1975 to 1979, the young man who had sung in church choirs descended into alcoholism and drug addiction.
Then came the overdose. Smith nearly died. "When that happened, I knew that if something didn't change I was going to die."
God's Kitchen Floor Encounter
But it was what happened next that changed everything.
"I had this nervous breakdown, beyond, honestly," Smith recalls. "It was just that God came and He laid down beside me on the floor in my kitchen as I wept and convulsed for three hours, from midnight to 3:00 in the morning. I haven't been the same since I got up off the floor."
It was November 1979. On a linoleum kitchen floor in Nashville, the prodigal came home.
"It was a massive rescue," Smith has testified. "I haven't been the same since."
Throughout his four years of wandering, there was one constant: his parents' prayers. "Thank God for a praying mom and dad that never gave up on me. I'm convinced that it was their prayers that saved me."
Musical Ministry Born
After his encounter, Smith met Mike Landon and Dan Herald, who introduced him to Amy Grant. "I saw what they were doing with Amy and I just fell in love with these guys. I started writing all these songs and they took an interest in me."
A record deal followed. Tours with Amy Grant. Then his own arena-filling concerts. Over four decades of music. Countless lives touched.
"I am a testimony of one who was dead and got brought back because of my Savior and my Jesus and what He did for me," Smith has declared. "It's propelled me. I could have never orchestrated this for four decades I've been making music."
The five-year-old boy who wrote his first song and felt God's call almost threw it all away. But on a kitchen floor, in the darkest hour of the night, God came down and lay beside him. And nothing has been the same since.
