On June 5, 2002, in the middle of the night, fourteen-year-old Elizabeth Smart was abducted at knife-point from her home in Salt Lake City, Utah.
"I grew up in a family that instilled a very strong sense of faith in me. During the next nine months of my kidnapping, I had no idea just how much I would have to rely upon that faith."
For nine months Elizabeth was kept chained up, starved and raped daily.
"I will never forget the first time I was raped. I will never forget how broken and shattered I felt. I felt like I had been a vase that had been smashed far beyond repair.
"And as I sat there I began to think about my mom. And all the different things she used to say to me came back to my memory, things that gave me hope...
"I remember her telling me that she would always love me. And then I remember her telling me that God would always love me. It was in that moment that I realized that I still had value, that this was something that nobody could ever take away from me.
"And it was that faith and that knowledge in God, that He would always love me, that helped me survive the next nine months and it continues to help me survive to this day."
"I have come to a place in my life where I'm not sorry for what happened and I don't pity myself. I believe 100% in happy endings." ~Elizabeth Smart