Dr. Shonda Reynolds Christian
The extraordinary story of a Murfreesboro woman who beat addiction and overcame great adversity is being transformed into a feature film.
Local minister Shonda Reynolds Christian is the subject of the movie. The film, titled Still Got Joy, is focused on Christian’s journey of overcoming a drug addiction. She said that she began smoking marijuana laced with crack cocaine in her early 20s in Pulaski, Tennessee, her hometown.
“Doing that was overbearing for me,” Christian said.
As she fell victim to a deep addiction to drugs, Christian’s life spiraled out of control.
She said that she lost all respect for herself and lost any desire to do anything. Christian was also married to one of the most notorious drug dealers in the area at the time.
“It just started cycling,” Christian said. “I started writing bad checks and just things you wouldn’t do when you’re in your right state of mind.”
During this time when everything seemed lost, Christian said she had an out-of-body experience. She said she went to speak to a local pastor in the middle of the night.
“It was so real,” Christian said. “I went to this pastor (in the middle of the night), and I said. ‘I’m outside of my body and I can’t see it.’”
After this experience, Christian moved to Muncie, Indiana, where she didn’t use drugs for a time.
“I was trying to get saved and was doing good, but then I went back to Pulaski,” Christian said.
Christian fell back into drug use and her life fell apart once again. She lost her job, her car, her place of residence and the life she had attempted to build. Other victims of this addiction were Christian’s two children, both of whom were often left alone.
“During that time that my children were exposed to things they shouldn’t have been exposed to,” Christian said.
Christian said that she was eventually rescued by something she had heard years ago. In middle school, her basketball coach took her aside and said that she would one day be a leader and that she could do anything she wanted to do.
“I happened to go through despair at the age of 29,” Christian said. “During that time, when I was just crying all the time, I could hear the words of [my coach]. During that moment of insanity, I heard those words that brought life to me.”
Around this time. Christian decided she needed to go to rehab. Shortly after, she was able to distance herself from her addiction and went back to school to earn a degree.
Christian graduated from Middle Tennessee State University with a Bachelor of Social Work in 2003. She then earned a Master in Public Service Management from Cumberland University in 2010, a Doctor of Ministry degree from Andersonville Theological Seminary in 2013 and a Master in Training and Development from MTSU in 2017. In 2013, Reynolds published her first book, Dying to Live, based on her life story, and later published her second book, Dying to Live (A New Beginning).
After the story becomes a film, Christian, who is working as the executive producer and co-author of the script, hopes her story can help more people who are going through problems similar to her own.
“Sometimes when you’ve been beat down, you don’t think you can get up,” Christian said. “But when there are people willing to share their story . . . I believe that gives encouragement and it empowers.”
Richy Ivy, the founder of media production company Highly Favored Studios and director of Still Got Joy, has been working very closely with Christian to bring her story to life. He said he has been corresponding with Christian through daily phone calls, and she has worked with him on cast, production and every step of filming.
“It is a bio on somebody that went through a lot of tragic events, and I decided to bring their story to fruition,” Ivy said. “It was a new challenge for me.”
Ivy said that when he first heard Christian’s life story, he knew he had to do it justice.
“It kind of makes you be on edge because this is someone’s baby and you want to do the best job you can,” Ivy said.
Still Got Joy is currently in the editing process and the filmmakers plan to release it in late spring or early summer 2019.
For more information, visit stillgotjoy.com.
