THOMASVILLE \u2014 Celebrate Recovery of Thomasville welcomed special guests Renee Napier and Eric Smallridge on Tuesday night to honor 13 years of freeing others from life\u2019s hurts, habits, and hangups.<\/p>\n
Napier and Smallridge\u2019s story was one of forgiveness, something they hoped those in Celebrate Recovery could learn to do, first by forgiving themselves.<\/p>\n
On May 11, 2002, Napier\u2019s daughter, Meagan, and her friend Lisa were killed in an accident by a drunk driver. The driver, later identified as Smallridge, crashed into the back of Lisa\u2019s vehicle before hitting a median in the road. He was later forgiven publicly by Napier. Her gesture of forgiveness helped lead Smallridge on a path to redemption and a life with Christ. The duo now travels and speaks at public events about the dangers of drunk driving, the importance of forgiveness, and the power of making positive choices to prevent future tragedies.<\/p>\n
Growing up in the church, Napier was taught to \u201crepay no one evil for evil,\u201d and to \u201clive peaceably among all men.\u201d<\/p>\n
Still, she felt an unimaginable pain the day she received word from her sister-in-law about Meagan\u2019s passing.<\/p>\n
\u201cI remember this horrible cry from the depths of my soul came out,\u201d Napier said. \u201cI did not want to believe that. I wanted it to be a really bad joke, and I kept looking at her face to see if it was, but it wasn\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n
Napier then asked if the driver was drunk, and she was informed that authorities did believe alcohol was involved.<\/p>\n
As Napier began to process the loss and grieve, she attended Smallridge\u2019s hearings and eventually his sentencing in October 2003.<\/p>\n
During his sentencing, Napier read her victim impact statement.<\/p>\n
\u201cI had it all typed out because I didn\u2019t want to forget anything,\u201d she recalled. \u201cAs I looked into his eyes and told him what I had lost, I said, \u2018Eric, I forgive you.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Napier said this moment was freeing for her.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m so thankful God laid it on my heart to forgive,\u201d she said. \u201cI struggled with some things, and I had to block out what everyone else thought about me, but God had to take care of that, because that was too big for me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Napier admitted that one of the struggles she faced was wondering if she was betraying Meagan, but she felt as if Megan would want Smallridge to experience an act of God\u2019s love through her mother\u2019s forgiveness.<\/p>\n
Even though she forgave Smallridge, Napier said Smallridge still had to accept the consequences.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe only consequence for something like this is to go to prison,\u201d she said. \u201cForgiving someone doesn\u2019t mean what they did is erased. He is a good person who made a bad choice.\u201d<\/p>\n
Upon seeing Napier\u2019s public forgiveness, friends and other family members joined in and forgave Smallridge, feeling the power of freedom.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you forgive someone, it\u2019s like it sets a prisoner free, and that prisoner is you,\u201d Napier said.<\/p>\n
Napier\u2019s words can now be heard in Matthew West\u2019s song \u201cForgiveness,\u201d based on her and Smallridge\u2019s story.<\/p>\n
This song has not only been an inspiration to Napier, but it has also served as a tool for Smallridge, who now ministers to those imprisoned, after his sentence was reduced due to Napier\u2019s public forgiveness.<\/p>\n
\u201cGod does not want you to live in shame and isolation,\u201d she said. \u201cThat\u2019s the enemy. God wants to set you free from that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Smallridge appreciated that sentiment.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen the world said yell at him and tell him how much of a disgrace he is to his family and society, she just spoke the words of Christ,\u201d Smallridge said. \u201cThat changed my life.\u201d<\/p>\n
Smallridge explained he grew up in a traditional family with a father in the military, but he had a Superman mentality and believed nothing could touch him.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was a happy, go-lucky soccer player, but I wasn\u2019t serving Jesus,\u201d Smallridge said.<\/p>\n
Throughout his life, Smallridge said he did not allow Jesus to lead the way; he continued to run from Him, feeling the \u201cfiery darts of the devil.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe devil wants you to fall down and give up,\u201d Smallridge said. \u201cWhen you give the devil a foothold, he\u2019s going to climb on up, but never lose sight of God.\u201d<\/p>\n
For Smallridge, the devil found a foothold the night he drank and drove, but through Napier\u2019s apology, he was able to see himself as still a child of God.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn my brain, I didn\u2019t think I was worth anything to God,\u201d Smallridge said. \u201cI knew better than to drink and drive. I was given every opportunity to succeed, and I blew it. Not only did I victimize two beautiful girls, but I victimized their family and friends and victimized my own family.\u201d<\/p>\n
Smallridge went on to say his family taught him well, but he was too busy running with the world to heed their warnings.<\/p>\n
He realizes that many of the individuals who end up in prison are guilty of the same exact actions, but not all of them are afforded the opportunity to be forgiven by those whom they hurt.<\/p>\n
\u201cSome victims don\u2019t forgive, but that\u2019s between them and God, because the ones they are really freeing are themself,\u201d Smallridge said.<\/p>\n
Napier\u2019s forgiveness also allowed Smallridge to forgive himself and become a vessel for the Lord.<\/p>\n
Smallridge now leads a prison ministry at Jefferson Correctional Facility, where he was an inmate from 07-08.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s only by the grace of God that I\u2019m able to do this,\u201d Smallridge said. \u201cI go there and see men sitting on the same benches I used to sit on, having no idea what God would do in my life.\u201d<\/p>\n
But for every person, God has a plan and a purpose.<\/p>\n
Smallridge said volunteering in the facility where he was once imprisoned was never something he imagined, but through God, all things are possible.<\/p>\n
It was only through Napier\u2019s connection with the Warden at Lowell Correctional Institute that Smallridge was paired with a prison ministry known as Pain to Purpose.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll things are possible through Christ,\u201d Smallridge concluded.<\/p>\n
Napier and Smallridge then shared that they wanted to pray for those in attendance who needed forgiveness and to be set free from all the pain they\u2019ve been carrying, ending the night with \u201cForgiveness\u201d blaring over the speakers, as one by one, more people came to know God\u2019s love through one simple act of forgiveness.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"THOMASVILLE \u2014 Celebrate Recovery of Thomasville welcomed special guests Renee Napier and Eric Smallridge on Tuesday night to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5525,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[232,234,233],"class_list":["post-5524","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tallahassee","tag-tallahassee","tag-tallahassee-headlines","tag-tallahassee-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5524","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5524"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5524\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5525"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5524"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5524"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5524"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}