Redeemed and Freed to Live Life Fully
Ty remembers, “I didn't know how many times that he had been shot at that time. I remember myself pulling the trigger three times. I was worried about if he was okay. I really didn't want to hurt him, I just needed him to stop hurting us.”
Ty Washington was headed to prison for the next 20 years of her life. One split decision she made sealed her fate. A decision driven by a need to simply be loved. Something that seemed to always elude her.
Ty says, “I would always seek that type of affection and attention and acceptance, and worth through other people, even if they were not even for my good.”
Ty was raised by her single mother. She never knew her biological father. When her mother married, she thought she would get the family she always wanted, that is until the physical and verbal abuse started.
Ty shares, “It would really make me feel like I really didn't have value. I was angry with my mom for allowing us to stay in that situation. I was angry with the abuse from my stepfather, I was an angry kid.”
At 17 years old, Ty started seeing an older man. She would do anything to keep him happy, that included smoking pot, drinking, and having sex with him. Then he broke up with her to see other girls. Once again, she was left with feelings of no worth or value.
Ty recalls, “It really threw me in a deep, deep space. I was very depressed.”
Over the next 12 years Ty went through several abusive relationships with men, one which resulted in having a son, Deangelo. Then she met a man she dated for five years before they married. By then, they had a daughter, Kennedy. Unfortunately, he was an abusive drug user. Their fights turned into volatile all out brawls. However, she still wanted their relationship to work.
Ty shares, “I could not get the strength to just stop going into this vicious cycle because I was always thinking there may be hope to make it better.”
After only a few months, Ty kicked him out, filed for divorce and was in the process of getting a second protective order against him. By then, he was breaking into her home and stealing things to pawn for drugs. He was also physically abusing her son and their daughter.
Ty says, “I knew he was doing drugs and I wasn't sure if he had other people that may be coming over there trying to get stuff along with him, and I felt unsafe for me and my children to live alone.”
One day, he ran into her open garage to steal her car. Ty tried to stop him so she could at least get her purse out of the car. By then, Ty had bought a gun. When he wouldn’t let her in….
Ty recalls, “I said, ‘If you don't stop this car, I'm going to shoot you, Jason, cause I have a gun.' The car moved and the door jerked. I pulled the gun and I shot at him, and I said, ‘You're going to hurt me.’”
Then after pinning Ty between the car and garage door, she fired again. He got out of the car and ran, and Ty followed him. Suddenly he turned and started running towards her. She pulled the trigger a third and final time and he collapsed. By the time the police arrived he was dead. Ty was arrested and later found guilty of 2nd degree involuntary manslaughter and, at the age of 40 was sentenced to 20 years in prison.
Ty says, “My lawyer said I blanked out because I just couldn't believe I was going to be gone for twenty years from my family and my children.”
One day was especially hard. It was her first thanksgiving in prison, and her children, mom and stepdad had come for a special visit. After they left, Ty felt alone, depressed, and hopeless.
Ty remembers, “And I cried out to God, ‘I want to die.’ I said, ‘I can't do this, God.’ I told God, ‘I can't do this without my family.’ I needed Him if He existed, I needed to know if He was real. I had pain meds for my back condition that I have, and I was going to take all those pills and just go to sleep. But I didn't. I fell asleep before I could take the pills. So, I knew God had to have held me in that moment. That's when I knew that scripture was real that says, ‘When you're in prison, I'll come visit you.’ When He held me, I gave my life to Him then, sincerely and He promised to be there with me. I surrendered everything to Him then.”
Part of that surrender was asking for God’s forgiveness.
Ty says, “I asked God to forgive me for that incident, for my bad decision-making. I repented because I wanted to be better. I wanted to not hurt. I wanted to heal. To be a part of someone dying, it takes a lot out of a person. I had to forgive myself and stop hating myself. He told me that I needed to find my self-worth and love in Him and His word.”
Ty would continue to learn more about herself and God in the years to come. In 2014, she was released on parole serving only four years of her 20-year sentence.
Ty recalls, “When I walked out of those doors, I knew I was a redeemed woman. Parole didn't set me free; God had set me free.”
Ty is now married to George and enjoying her adult children’s lives. She’s a master seamstress in her business called, ‘Flipped Kouture’ that she started right after she was released from prison. Ty has also written a book about her life and shares her journey with other women in the same prison she was once incarcerated.
Ty shares, “There is hope for you. There is hope that God will redeem you, restore you, and save you. Just cry out to Him, because He's there.”
