Slam!
The final gate closed as Jonah Bates departed the place that had been his habitation for the past five years. Refusing to look back, Jonah put one foot in front of the other, feeling lighter with each step away from his past. It was liberating. The feeling was indescribable. Manchester Correctional Institution was a place that Jonah wanted to forget forever. For 1,825 days, Jonah had been stripped of his freedom.
He was imprisoned by man for the wrongdoings that he had purposely committed. His rights as a free man had been taken, and he had to do and say what others told him to do and say. Because of his choices, he had been enslaved for five long, dreadful years. Jonah had endured things that he vowed to go to the grave with, only he and the good Lord knowing the secrets of his heart.
Jonah went in to Manchester at the age twenty-four and came out at twenty-nine. He went in as an angry, bitter, violent young black man, and came out as a humbled Christian. Life had broken him, but by the grace of God, Jonah did not stay that way. He had been pieced back together, molded and reshaped by the hand of Almighty God. Jonah was a new creation. Old things passed away, and behold, all things were made new.
Today was the beginning of the rest of his life. Jonah felt like dancing and never stopping. The rhythm of his soul stirred to a triumphant tempo. His spirit tangoed to the tune of triumphant freedom.
No Longer Captive Description:
Released from prison, Jonah was now a free man. He did the time, paid for the crime, and yet the chains of the past still held him captive. Being on the outside was not easy. Family turned their backs on him. Friends misunderstood him. Society labeled him and wouldn’t hire him. Nobody wanted Jonah except his past. The lifestyle that had put Jonah behind bars wanted him back.
Kayla Lovett had everything most women dreamed of. Raised in wealth, everything she ever needed was at her fingertips. However, Kayla wanted something money could not buy unconditional love. Fearing that if she did not live up to her parents expectations, she would lose it all. The secret that Kayla carried made her fears that much more of a reality.
Can Jonah truly find freedom from his past and embrace the future that God has planned for him? Will Kayla defy her family to be with a man who her father despises? Can two captive hearts break the chains of their pasts to discover love and liberty? To be free or not to be free Jonah and Kayla must decide.
