Conviction to Correction: Behind the Walls

By Takasha Stevenson

I started out as an innocent bystander, and I ended up suffering to the Bureau of Prison system. Because of Wesley's prolonged disobedience to the law, I've allowed myself to become a victim for accepting child support without the use of the court of law. With courage and faith in God, I filed an appeal with the help of my mom, Pokey, Shay, Cynt, and Tonio purchasing me a private attorney; but I still lost. My wrongful conviction gave me insight as how to deal with unfair circumstances in my life.After being taken from my family and friends, I now realized God had another plan and purpose for my life, one that did not involve a drug dealer taking care of me or retiring from Mercedes Benz, but going back to school to practice law to help the next person. I did not use my incarceration as an excuse for continued failure. Instead, I now live my life trusting in God, and more determined to do his will. Because of my faith and courage in God alone, he did not only deliver me from this difficult circumstance, he is also using me by telling my story so that other young ladies will not fall victim to the prison system by becoming involved with a baby daddy, boyfriend, or husband who's a drug dealer.With the knowledge and wisdom I have learned, I want to help prove God's existence and power to others as well. We need people in our justice system who will create wise solutions toward the various problems of our justice system and in our community such as more schools, rehabs, and just simple counseling, to transform and redirect our minds. I can never sit back and accept whatever has been handed down to me again. I will put up a fight so that the human race can start being treated more justly.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Jan 25, 2021
• ISBN: 9781645696971

Book preview

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Conviction

to

Correction

Behind the Walls

How I Changed My Ways by

Simply Changing My Thought Process to the Correct Way of Thinking

Takasha L. Stevenson

ISBN 978-1-64569-696-4 (paperback)

ISBN 978-1-64569-697-1 (digital)

Copyright © 2020 by Takasha L. Stevenson

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods without the prior written permission of the publisher. For permission requests, solicit the publisher via the address below.

Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.

832 Park Avenue

Meadville, PA 16335

www.christianfaithpublishing.com

Printed in the United States of America

To my beautiful grandmother, Dorothy Doll Billingsley, you are my rock, and I will always love you.

To my mother, Henrietta Stevenson, and father, Lee Curtis Billingsley, you two will always be loved and honored by me.

To my daughter, Wesleyana Tubbs, and my son, Richard Moore Jr., no one on this earth can bring me more joy than you two. You both are blessings to me, and I love you both unconditionally. It was my duty to raise you, but because of my incarceration, we were separated two and a half years. Thank you for never judging me or giving up on me, but instead, you continued to support, motivate, and encourage me on this journey. I must say that you both have demonstrated through my absence that you were always there for me.

To my one and only granddaughter, Akiylah Camille Moore, who was only two months old at the time this book was written. Words cannot express the love I have for you.

It is all because of you all that I hold myself to a higher standard now. I am very appreciative because I never would have made it without you all.

To my incarcerated sisters, brothers, sex-offenders, felons, ex-felons, juveniles, and those who have been cast out by family and friends, don’t let anyone tell you that God can’t turn your life around and use you. If he could reach down and save a sinner like me, I know he could do the same for you. I send up special prayers to God for each of you daily and I pray to God to continue to keep you safe and that he continue to free captives.

Empathy today is missing in the Federal Bureau of Prison. There’s no level of understanding in today’s society and no separation between non-violent and violent criminals. Therefore, this has caused a mass incarceration, and there are people who are locked up and serving long-term sentences for crimes that don’t fit the punishment.

To my knowledge and understanding, God arrange it for us to have correction. Jesus corrected the disciples, Pharisees, and scribes, but I know that sinners can be changed also through Jesus Christ himself. So let’s open our hearts and mind to sympathize and empathize. Future generations depend on this. One day, this could be your child, sibling, parent, or grandparent.

To all the victims who have overcome any obstacles of fear, guilt, shame, addictions, injustices, imprisonment, etc., I congratulate each of you for not giving up and persevering through life.

Prayer

Dear Lord Jesus, I admit I have known of you all my life, but we never had a personal relationship. I will say with honesty that I have wandered far away from my religious background, and I have been living my life according to the laws of society and not Christianity. I do believe you sent your son, Jesus Christ, to die on the cross. So as I acknowledge you, Lord, I am asking you to come into my life. In Jesus Christ’s name, I pray. Amen.

Prayer

Dear Lord, I now put you first place in my life. I know if I follow you, everything else in my life will fall into place. Show me where I’m wrong by revealing to me the things I need to know. Correct me, then instruct me and guide me on what I need to do. In you, God, I trust these prayers are answered according to your will. Amen.

Preface

This prison sentence has changed me.

As I was sentenced to forty-one months in prison, I was broken, but it changed me for the better. I had to lay down, rest, and ask myself some very hard questions. I had to come up with answers that made my life still meaningful. I had to find the strength to get up each day to live and walk into my destiny because it wasn’t all about me anymore. I had remembered there were two beautiful kids, ages eleven and seventeen, out there who still needed me.

We have different trials in our lives that we go through, and we all hope and pray that we make it through whole, stronger, and better than the person we were before we endured them. Life is precious and holds great value, and so is the heart. We must guard, protect, and honor them above anything else. It hurt me so bad because I had to let go of someone whom I loved very much and held so close to my heart (Wesley Tubbs). But I had to learn that love wasn’t always enough.

I believe that there are certain things in life that come to tear us down and certain things in life that will come to build us up. The Bible teaches us on how to make it through each of them because someone in the Bible has already experienced whatever we’re going through. The saying that there’s nothing done under the sun now that has never been done under the sun before, I do believe this is true. Everyone we meet in life comes as a lesson or a blessing.

I had now learned from my failures on how to grow, better myself, and I then built myself up and discovered my self-worth. Your self-worth is your value. Your value is something precious that you should hold close to your heart, and it’s important that you hold it at a high rate!

This sudden lost in my life at first made me think I had hit rock bottom, and there was no chance at getting up. It made me lose my hopes, dreams, and contact with certain friends and family; but one thing I held onto my entire imprisonment was my faith in God. There were times I wanted to give up, but I knew that God was behind the scenes, working things out for my good. I had many friends and family to write and answer my calls. They advised, counseled, comforted, prayed, and cried with me to help me regain back my strength. This is what real friends do for one another during hard times. They got highly involved in my life, checked in daily or when they could. It was those moments of encouragement that made me strong again, and I felt like a superwoman, one that could conquer anything.

When I received this kind of help, I then began to help others around me. I sucked it up and made peace with my past, and I made a vow to let no one or nothing hold me back from anything again. I learned to be grateful for what was still in my life, and I was headed in a new direction. I had to realize I was accountable for my own life. I was looking at the people who had hurt me, and I felt sorry for myself. Life is a journey, and it’s never too