My Deep Truth

by Margie Stone

The deep truth about why I am willing to devote time to Truth Be Told now, is because I spent thirteen years out on the streets helping people destroy their lives and now I would like to devote some time helping others restore their lives. I love planting those seeds of hope that prison doesn’t have to be the end of someone’s story if they are willing to do the work and promote change not only in their lives but within themselves.

For thirteen years of my life I sold drugs on the streets of Tarrant County not caring about where the money came from or whether children were provided for. I saw many people lose their jobs and homes to their addiction but all I cared about was that they were paying me, their supplier. There used to be a sign hanging on my gate to the garage (which was the place to hang out), that stated caution you may lose your job, your wife and your home if you enter, but you are welcome. Today I think about how awful and how sad my life must have been not to care about the mental, physical or spiritual state of another human being, but most of all I must have been really lost in my own mind that I could not see the destruction in others’ lives.

Truth Be Told came into my life and introduced community building, something that was foreign to me but at the time it was something I was interested in enough to seek it out once I was released from Lockhart. I found my communities among the place I grew up, my home town, the place I ran from in my youth searching for something I never found. I began by becoming part of a church community, then part of the recovery community, which is where I found my calling, so I stepped out on faith and became part of a college community.

I found being part of a community and being accountable to others who only had my best interest at heart was what my saving grace became. I no longer felt like I didn’t belong anywhere but accepted for who I was even though they knew where I was coming from; they showered me with kindness and listened to my needs. I learned to communicate with my new found community, which was another tool Truth Be Told taught me communication skills. I was caring for myself by becoming a part of a community and communicating, which was helping me create myself a life worth living. The 4C’s were actively teaching me how to return to the person that was buried under all the rubble of my past and I found out I was worth knowing and quickly becoming a vessel God could and would use to help others.

I returned to Truth Be Told to become a participant in their training five years after they had touched my life, feeling like I had something to give back to them for what they had done for me. So when I was asked; what was my deep truth for wanting to be part of this training, I simply stated I spent thirteen years out there willing to do the wrong thing so now I would like to step out there and do the right thing, spreading the seeds of hope for other incarcerated women. I would like to tell my story to others so they can see that if they are willing to do the work prison does not have to be the end of their story.  I will be graduating college with an Associates of Applied Sciences degree with an emphasis in Chemical Dependency on April 27th. I am graduating with honors, a 4.0 GPA and having the privilege of wearing the honors regalia. All things are possible through God and nothing is possible without God.