The horrors occurred in 2002, when Elizabeth was just 14. The young teen was kidnapped from her Salt Lake City, Utah home and taken to an obscure location where she was greeted by a woman and informed that she would now be ‘servicing’ her abductor, Brian David Mitchell.
The wicked man called himself a ‘prophet’ and used Elizabeth as a sex slave for 9 months.
The Aftermath
But it’s been leaps and bounds for Elizabeth since her rescue.
“I may always be known as the girl that was kidnapped,” she said in a Facebook video.
But Elizabeth refuses to allow that nightmare to define who she is or to dictate the course of her future.
Instead of allowing her dreadful, traumatic experience to destroy her, Elizabeth decided to follow her mother’s advice:
“The best punishment you could ever give them is to be happy … by holding on to the past … that’s only allowing them to steal more of your life away from you.”
Captain of Her Destiny
Elizabeth gradually recognized that nothing could be more true. She took her life in her hands and decided she would forgive what had happened to him — not for the sake of her captors, but for herself.
“God made us so. He gave us the ability to forgive,” she said. “To leave our past behind. To look forward instead of back.”
And that’s exactly what Elizabeth has done. In 2012, Elizabeth married husband Matthew Gilmour. They had their first daughter in 2015, then a son in 2017. Now the couple has welcomed a third beautiful child into the world, Olivia.
Elizabeth is also an author and a motivational speaker. She runs the Elizabeth Smart Foundation to “prevent future crimes against children” and help victims of crimes.
Watch a most inspirational talk from Elizabeth in the video below.
What an inspiration Elizabeth is! The fact that she was able to overcome such a traumatic experience really helped put my own life into perspective. Let’s share her wisdom with everyone we know.