Episode #231 — Behind the incredible music & the decades of ministry, there was a surprising truth inside Mike Weaver’s heart. For years, the Big Daddy Weave lead singer battled what he labels self-hatred. He knew God loved Him deeply, but he could never quite love himself.

Then, on an unforgettable evening in his garage, Mike had a conversation that changed everything.

“In my basement garage, I’m telling God everything I hated about myself. Then the Holy Spirit interrupted that hate session, and He just began to speak in a still small voice – which will absolutely rock you to the core of who you are if you really encounter God.”

“He says to me, ‘Michael. You need to let Me tell you what I think about you for once.’ And I’m like, all right! So I’m ready to hear the most grandiose thing I’ve ever heard potentially. On the yellow, legal pad of my mind I’m ready to write this down. And He says so clearly to me, ‘Michael, I like the way that you smile.'”

Those few words carried a massive depth of meaning.

“It was like He took a wrecking ball to this huge wall of self-hatred I had built. Because I never doubted God loved me. It’s that I couldn’t love me. But all of a sudden, I could see it. That’s the one thing in pictures I did like. That’s who God is! The King of the universe – dealing in intimate details with me, because He’s the One who knit me together. That is just amazing to me that God would care about that.”

“Then He just began to show me that for me to think in a way about myself that He doesn’t think, it’s like telling Him that He doesn’t know what He’s talking about! And that’s never true! So He began to speak to me, and said, ‘When I look at you, I don’t look at you by your standards. I look at you, and I see what Jesus has done for you applied to your life.’ So He sees the perfection of Christ applied to my life. And that was the day that little idea began that would turn later into the song ‘Redeemed'”.


Mike Weaver is the lead singer of the much-beloved CCM staples, Big Daddy Weave. Their latest record is When the Light ComesThe good man’s new book is titled I Am Redeemed: Learning to Live in Grace.

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On the Road with Big Daddy Weave's Mike Weaver