What The Movie Captive Meant To Me…..

Most of you all know that this past year we spent much of it with my Sister In Law incarcerated. I posted HERE and HERE about our journey with that.

I would say it was about a month after she was incarcerated that I was given the opportunity by Propeller Entertainment to go see the Premiere of the movie Captive. During the viewing I FINALLY got to meet the lady behind a lot of the wonderful opportunities I get to share with y’all! Laura Beth is amazing to work with, I have been truly blessed over the years to get the chance to do many opportunities for her, meeting her in person was an even bigger blessing!

Anyway, I had heard the story of Ashley Smith but had not really followed what happened to her. The movie premiere came out at such a vulnerable time in my life with my sister in law just about a month into her jail time. At that point we had no idea how long she would be in jail and were still awaiting more specifics on her charges. What I did know was that she had been addicted to meth and one charge was based on this addiction.

As I had previously posted about my Sis In Law in other posts her incarceration was extremely hard on our whole family. When a person has an addiction, the whole family suffers honestly. I was upset this had happened to her kids. I missed her. Part of me wanted to yell at her. The other part of me wanted to just hug her and pray over her! It was a very conflicting time.

During my Sister IN Law’s incarceration she began to attend church and Celebrate Recovery.

When the movie started one of the first scenes is of Ashley dealing with her recovery from her own addiction. I am a crier. My husband will confirm this. So this hit me hard. Her talking about loosing everything hit me hard as well. My Sister in Law was in the same exact boat. This movie became very personal for me in a lot of ways YET it was totally different because my sister-in-law was not held up in her apartment by a maniac! I enjoyed so much getting to be at the premier of the movie, it was wonderful!

Fast forward to now. Recently my Sister in Law got out of jail. It was honestly a Christmas miracle. My nephew had come into town on leave from Army basic training and we picked him up, headed to my in-laws to celebrate Christmas with my niece and the rest of my husband’s family. We picked my nephew up right behind the jail where my Sister in Law was. This was VERY hard, to know that we had to leave that town without her.  I am not kidding you, as we were pulling OUT of the parking lot my phone rang and it was my SIL. her attorney had called her—-she was able to get out of jail!!!! There was some things that had to be taken care of first though, so I did end up having to leave her there that day. Monday morning we found out all was well and we were going to not only be able to get her out, we were going to be able to bring her to Ohio! As I had said, it was truly a Christmas miracle! I jumped in the car and drove straight down and picked her up with my niece. It was one of the best moments of my life!

(The day my Sis in Law was released)

(First Meal after being released. She had to have McDonalds. :))

(Our crazy family with my Sis in Law the next day after her being released)

Right after getting her getting out I was asked to review the DVD for Captive. I immediately said YES! This movie had meant so much to me while she was incarcerated. I sent Laura Beth the news of my Sis In Law being out of jail and she sent her a stash of books and the movie too! I told you, Laura Beth is the best! During my SIL’s incarceration as I posted earlier she began to attend church. Actually the truth is she went everytime she could go, the same with Celebrate Recovery.  She got saved in jail and wants my husband to Baptize her! So Laura Beth wanted to help her get started on her new journey with Jesus!

(Part of her Swag, she was reading The Purpose Driven Life)

Y’all, this DVD is fantastic too! I watched it again today with my oldest. He is twelve. He loved it as well. We have not shielded our kids from what their aunt went through. We have been very open and honest because we want them to learn from what she endured. We also want them to truly understand the grace of God which is shown in Captive.  So even at his age, he was able to easily relate to the movie.

I love Rick Warrens book The Purpose Driven Life which plays a huge role in the movie. I also love Celebrate Recovery! For those who do not know it Ashley Smith was going to Celebrate Recovery when she was held hostage. She was still battling addiction. Since then she has continued to be involved with Celebrate Recovery speaking all over. You can read more about what Pastor Rick Warren says about Ashley HERE.

You can order a copy of Captive below:

I am doing the giveaway a bit different this time, so sign up for this website so you can find out more details about that! Just go to the top and click SUBSCRIBE. Make sure you confirm the subscription and you are good to go! 🙂

( My Sis in Law and me at my nephew’s “Turning Blue” ceremony last week)

In Christ,
Laura

PS. After writing this my Sis in Law also watched her copy of the DVD along with my niece. She said the movie was so well done. She loved how helpful this movie is for those who have had a drug problem or love someone who has one. She said “This is a must see movie, one that everyone should own to watch over and over.”