Second Chance

By Martha Preston

Indicted on 23 counts and convicted of four, multimillionaire Martha Marie Preston faced 40 years in federal prison! Just how her life of Rolls Royces and golf course living had come to this, she wasn’t sure. But she knew she had to find a way out. And so began her Second Chance.

Martha Marie Preston’s story is about more than hard knocks and tough times. It’s a story of redemption and inspiration as she uses it to share spiritual principles gained from her experiences. She also shares the spiritual truths that helped her not only make a successful comeback, but also to exercise her passion for helping people by reaching out to touch the lives of others. The principles she discovered can help you on your journey to a fulfilling life of purpose and satisfaction.
Whether you’ve been behind bars or are bound by the shackles of poor decisions, this book can help you.

In this book, you will learn:
• Why you must recognize where you are now before you can make a true change
• How to rebuild your life after losing everything
• Why a spiritual foundation is essential to helping you
overcome tough times
• How to see yourself from a new perspective

Second Chance: The Martha Marie Preston story will inspire and equip you to live a better life — no matter the mistakes of the past.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Martha Preston
• Release date: Jul 11, 2012
• ISBN: 9781476047492

Martha Preston

Martha Marie Preston travels across the country, helping others overcome challenges through faith. Having faced a 40 year federal prison sentence on four drug-related counts, she speaks on faith, empowerment, and redemption. Martha also works with Elite Ladies of Expression, Inc., the 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization she founded in 2007 to help former inmates make a successful transition from prison to restoring and rebuilding their lives. A native Houstonian, Martha continues to reside in Houston, TX. To book Martha for your next event or to learn more about Elite Ladies of Expression, Inc., call [phone] or write to her at 2656 South Loop West, Suite 140, Houston, TX 77054.

Book preview

Second Chance

Martha Marie Preston

Copyright Martha Marie Preston 2011

Published by Quintrell Public Relations at Smashwords

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be resold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re-reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return it to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Dedicated to my father, Clarence, for instilling in me faith, hope and love; my mother, Pearlie Mae, for believing in me; and my daughter, Cheryl, for being the apple of my eye.

Contents

Acknowledgments

Introduction

PART I • My Story

1. Making a Way

2. Put Away Childish Things

3. There Is a Way That Seemeth Right to a Man

4. Do What You Can ... to Get What You Want

5. Nothing Lasts Forever

6. Consequences Produce Tough Lessons

7. Where Do I Go From Here?

8. Redemption!

9. Old Things Have Passed Away

PART II • My Change

10. You Start to See Life With New Eyes

PART III • My Keys

11. Seven Keys to Spiritual Freedom

About the Author

Acknowledgments

First, of course, I want to thank God for giving me the strength to endure the adversities in my life and the courage to share my story of redemption. Also, I want to thank my family and friends for their support and love during the writing of this book.

Special thanks to my brother, Jesse Preston, and friends Dorothy Cook, Dorrise Jenkins, Angelas Mosley and Sabra Waddy for encouraging me at every turn. In addition, I want to thank Gloria Robinson who worked tirelessly with me to complete this book.

Thanks, also, to Hilda Lewis Hodge, Lluvonia James, and Madeline Alexander for being such great resources; to Pastor T. Leon Preston II for his prayers and guidance; to Rose McQueen for being such a wonderful ally; and last, but not least, to my brother-in-law, James Daniels, for encouraging me to tell my story.

Introduction

I had finally run out of options. Good luck had evaporated and those I turned to had no answers. Yet, there I was. Locked in a tiny jail cell staring into space and wondering how my life had come to this: A forty-year sentence for a drug crime.

Everything had happened so fast. Not long ago I was a respected churchgoing citizen contributing to the less fortunate and living a life of luxury. It never dawned on me that the double life I was leading — upstanding citizen by day and drug conspirator by night — would come to such an abrupt, disastrous end.

And yet, it had. Stripped of my status, emptied of my money, and removed from all I had treasured. My future seemed bleak. I’d grow old behind those bars; maybe even die there. But that is not where my story ended. It’s actually where my life began.

If you’ve picked up this book, there is a good chance you did so because life isn’t going so well for you right now. Maybe you’re looking for a glimmer of hope that your life can be different. That the mistakes you’ve made don’t have to define you, nor do they have to mean the end of your quest for something great. Maybe you’re just looking for someone to give you a thumbs-up or maybe you just love to read. If so, you’ve come to the right place.

I am here to tell you that even if you’ve made mistakes before — and let’s face it, we all have — you don’t have to let those mistakes stop you. You can overcome tough times and find a way to grow from them.

But overcoming a poor decision doesn’t just happen. It takes a lot of hard work, prayer, and a sincere desire to be better. If you’re willing to do that, then you can have a future — even when it looks like life has written you off.

Life looked as if it had written me off when I was sentenced to forty years behind bars. But I hung in there. And today, I am a living witness of the redemptive power of prayer, hard work, and a renewed spirit. I’ve learned that character is doing the right thing when no one is looking, that there’s no short cut to success, and that the only place success comes before work is in the dictionary. In this book I’ll tell you what worked for me, and what can work for you because no matter what obstacles you face in life, you can overcome.

This is not just another feel good story. Telling you my story is not just about airing my past. I’m doing it to encourage and to give hope to others who, like me, have made poor choices that may have affected their lives negatively.

This book is about a second chance.

PART I • My Story

Chapter 1

Making a Way

Life for me started as I grew up in a little country community in the eastern section of Houston called Royal Terrace. It was a quiet area where everyone knew everyone and children could run and play all day without the threat of being abducted. All adults looked after the children and if they told your parents anything you did, you were in big trouble. Although I didn’t realize it when I lived there, growing up in Royal Terrace was hard by today’s standards. The goal of most youth in Royal Terrace was to grow up and move to Houston’s inner city. We lived in a frame house with a space under it where we could crawl and play. We had no running water and an outdoor toilet. We cooked on a wood-burning stove. A well in our front yard took care of our water needs, but when it dried up, we asked the preacher’s wife if we could borrow water.

Royal Terrace has changed a lot since those days. Sometime I drive through to show my friends where I grew up. Unlike the days when I was growing up, a paved street has been cut through the community and the majority of the houses are no longer there. However, I’m still able to point out landmarks: where our house was located, where the hobos hung out, and other spots.

Church was a big part of my life growing up. There were two churches in our community. At the time it seemed one was for the well off and the other was for us, the poor people. But looking back, even those I thought were well off didn’t have all that much because ours was a community where most lived at or below the poverty level. The so-called rich people’s church really was just a church where folks may have been doing a little bit better than our family.

I was the seventh of 12 children. My mother had given birth to all of us by the time she was 33. And she was gone by the time I was eight. I didn’t know it at the time, but life with my father had gotten unbearable for her. But before I tell you about that, let me tell you about my beloved father and mother.

Our father went off to work early each day to bring in money to take care of our family. His name was Clarence but to us children, he was simply Paw.

Our mother’s name is Pearlie Mae, but we called her MaDear. Both were key figures in our lives. We didn’t understand our mother’s absence at first, or at least I know I didn’t. Why my mother left me, I didn’t know. Why she would leave my kind, wonderful father was a mystery. Understanding only came years later after I was old enough to see that relationships between men and women can be complicated.

In all this, it may seem that my mother did not have much of a presence in my life. But that’s not true. Even though she left us when I was young, I remember the good times we had when she was with us. She was a beautician and cook who prepared delicious meals for us children and made sure we were clean and cared for properly. I can still remember the wonderful bacon and hoecake breakfasts MaDear made before sending us to school.

Eat all your food so you won’t be hungry, MaDear would say as I sat down to breakfast.

I will, I said, breathing in the smell of fried bacon and eggs.

My siblings scurried around in various stages of preparation for school. Mimi checked and double-checked her book bag. Kenny swallowed the last bite of his hoecake. Others looked for shoes or pencils or homework. Finally, we made our way to school.

Life was good and no matter what came up, MaDear always had a way of making everything seem better.

That was the life we led, until one day we came home from school and MaDear wasn’t there. I could tell something had happened because she was always home cooking dinner when we got back from the day’s classes.

But that night, things were different. Paw called us all to our big, wooden kitchen table.

MaDear has decided to go live at her mother’s house, Paw told us and our eyes grew wide.

Are we going to live with Grandma too? We wanted to know.

Paw shook his head. No, he said. You’re going to stay right here.

But what about MaDear? I was only 8, but I wanted to know about my mama. How are we going to be able to stay here without her?

It’s all right, Paw assured us. I’m going to raise you by myself.

We were young and during those days parents didn’t talk with children about separations and other grown-up relationship matters, so we had no idea that the life we had known to that point was going to change forever.

From then on, we saw MaDear when she visited, but we stayed with Paw and he made all the decisions when it came to raising us. Although MaDear didn’t live with us any longer, she would always come to the house to bring cake and ice cream for our birthdays. We looked forward to her visits.

It was after my mother left that I began having bad experiences at school. No longer did I go to school with clean, ironed clothes and my hair combed. Aside from going to school many days with my stomach growling from not eating breakfast, my hair was uncombed and I wasn’t dressed in nicely washed and ironed clothes like my classmates.

You’re ugly! A male classmate said, flicking my ragged pigtail.

I am not! I shot back.

Yes, you are! Another classmate chimed in. You look like midnight.

The other students laughed.

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