UNSHACKLED! Audio Dramas

She gets pregnant but has the baby. Then she begins living with Gus and they slide into drug and alcohol addiction. Living in a shelter, she hears the gospel from a woman. After a murder in the shelter, Marquita prays for salvation. She and Gus marry, but testing comes. Marquita has a double mastectomy and sinks into depression. Gus gets saved. Her mother dies, and at last she is prepared for ministry. She is serving the Lord in her church.

Elise grows up in England but comes to the U.S. from Canada. She meets Bill who pursues her but feels unworthy of her. They marry just as the Depression hits, and jobs are nil. A daughter is born to them. They go to church but are not saved. Bill’s drinking leads to abuse. Elise goes to her brother but returns when she is unable to live on her own. Their daughter is born-again at sixteen. Elise & Bill find his sister and learn about his past. His drinking gets worse, and the first part ends when Bill pushes Elise down some stairs.

Blind drunk, Bill pushes Elise down the stairs and she separates herself, having him live alone downstairs. Feeling compassion one day, she helps him, but he tries to choke her. As she surrenders to the Lord’s will, Bill releases her. Diagnosed with cirrhosis, he quits drinking. They are reconciled. They retire to another state where Bill becomes active in church and commits to the Lord. When he dies, Elise recognizes her self-righteousness and God’s plan for their life all along.

Gary grows up in a Catholic family and always goes to church, believing God rewards good works and punishes bad. He continues going to church long after his peers quit, but his real gods are money and success. In college he uses drugs to gain acceptance and even sells cocaine. After graduation he lands a good job in sales, does well, but feels empty. Success isn’t enough. His boss invites Gary to Bible study, where Gary realizes he doesn’t have to earn God’s love; Jesus earned it for us. Now married with three sons.

Solomon is blinded and burned over all his body when he pulls a pot of boiling beans on himself as a child. His family abandons him, giving him to Emperor Haile Selassie, who supports the boy. Solomon is educated in a Christian mission school, but rebels against God and mocks Christianity. One day he enters a chapel to hear the music and goes forward to give his life to Christ. He goes to law school and marries; but they are persecuted by the Communist government in Ethiopia. Solomon comes to the U.S. on a Fulbright Scholarship and now serves with the mission that helped him.

Born in Quebec, Terry and his twin brother are adopted by an American couple. Terry is dyslexic and constantly ridiculed at school as stupid. His parents love and support him, but he withdraws into an imaginary world of fantasy. In spite of his father’s death when Terry is twelve, Terry graduates and completes training to be a mechanic. He hates the job, but a co-worker leads him to the Lord, changing everything.

Thelma’s mother, who often abandons her children, forces Thelma to quit school at age fifteen and marry. Thelma’s husband dies, leaving her with eight children and no income. One daughter runs away. Destitute, Thelma gives up three daughters for adoption. “Unshackled!” writer, Kennetha, comes back home however. Thelma manages to build her own house. Kennetha gets saved and witnesses to Thelma, who is hostile to the gospel but who prays for salvation before her death.

When Reuben’s parents divorce, he starts drinking at thirteen and running with the wrong crowd. Drugs and a bad attitude cause him to fail at school. Arrested for assaulting police officers, he joins the army, but gets in trouble there, too. He marries Coretta and fights in the Gulf War. When he returns, his sister visits and talks about Jesus. He finally goes to church with her, where he and Coretta are saved. After serving in Germany, he leaves the army for Bible college. His father is saved at the graduation. Now pastoring a church in Providence, home of his father’s family.

Tom grows up in a religious family, a descendant of Arab Christians. As a boy, he is fearful of God’s wrath. He discovers pornography as a teenager and becomes addicted, lying to his parents, hiding his obsession for x-rated movies. He marries Mary Jo but their marriage suffers because of his secret life. After five years, they begin going to Bible study with his cousin, and both get saved at a church retreat. They go to Bible college, then serve as missionaries to Arabs in Israel. Now a chaplain in a jail ministry.

Levi grows up in a large poor family in West Virginia. His dad has a violent temper, so Levi takes a beating for his brother at age sixteen, leading to a schism with his dad. He joins the army after Pearl Harbor, fights in Europe with Patton’s army and learns to forgive the Germans as the war ends. He is injured and hospitalized with blood poisoning, but recovers. Coming home, his dad still won’t talk to him. Levi and sister go to Cincinnati to school where another student takes him to a mission and Levi is saved. First part ends as he prepares to go home and tell his dad about Jesus.