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I had just graduated high school when Elizabeth Smart was kidnapped. I remember my best friend’s mom demanding that we go search for her in the mountains. I went, obviously begrudgingly- it was the summer before college and I had a bucket list; yelling someone’s name in mountain was not on the list.

But honestly, it’s what I remember most from that summer.

9 months later, I remember walking into my mom’s house and my sister-in-law excitedly exclaiming, “They found Elizabeth Smart”. We watched the news for a little bit and I remember being totally shocked that she had been found!

Aside from a few other random details, I never really followed what happened to her while kidnapped or afterwards.

If you had some sort of similar connection to this news story- I recommend you read this book. Because it will impact how you view surviving terrible experiences and forgiving other people. Not that anything I’ve experienced can compare to those hellish 9 months. But still, all of us could use a little sunnier perspective in how we view out lot in life.

That is not to say this book is sunshine, happy moods, and a walk in the park. Rather, it’s a little depressing. It makes you very conscience of the evil that exists in this world. It is a walk up a steep mountain to a place of abuse and fear.

But in the end it is worth it. The last few chapter were amazing to read.

So, if you read it, I recommend you read it fairly fast. I read it in 2 weeks. It is not too long, only 40 chapters and about 300 pages. The first 35 chapters are difficult to read. I remember telling my husband that I felt like she was being raped on every page of the book (which, is probably true to her experience, frankly). But I’ll say this too- it is not written in a detailed manner. While it mentions these terrible things that happened, it does not go into great detail. So you don’t have to worry about graphic details beyond what is needed to be written to convey what truthfully happened.

There are a lot of Mormon themes throughout- in fact I dare say the foundation of survival was Smart’s testimony of the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ.

On the flip-side, I anticipated that her captors would have been more mainstream LDS. Instead, they are just twisted pedophiles- common criminals that I see day in and day out. The only difference is that instead of using candy or a childhood game to manipulate a child into doing what they want, they used Old Testament religion.

When I look back at the whole experience from searching for Elizabeth to her being found, the end of the book was quite touching. I cried. I am pregnant, so there are excessive hormones running through my body, but I think I would have cried not being pregnant. Nothing is normal and ordinary about her experience, and I dare say her ability to recover. There were times I questioned or doubted if it could all be true. But I kept reading and, in the end, I believe her story. I think it’s a miraculous one that needs to be told and heard to help us all gain a brighter outlook on life- despite the darkest of times or experiences.

*Book is available on Amazon
*But I checked it out from my local Texas library (I was the 3rd person to check it out!)

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