I'm Thomas Butler, an incarcerated artist, author, Certified Peer Support Specialist (CPPS), and founder of G.R.O.W.T.H. Life. I was put up for adoption at birth. As a result, I lived the first thirty five years of my life as a lost little boy with no sense of purpose, value, or identity. My blindness and hunger for acceptance and validation led me to the streets, where criminal activity became the means by which I illegitimately sought what I was missing. By age 25, I'd been stabbed, shot three times, and sentenced to life without parole under three strikes for robbery.
Eight years ago, however, God transformed my heart, identity and mindset. With His help and much self-inspection, I stopped perpetuating a destructive lifestyle and started living with purpose, discipline, and integrity. Prison ceased being a place of punishment for me, and became a place of preparation.
I now live my life and do my time with purpose, defying expectations and limitations by creating and facilitating self-improvement initiatives, creating inspirational artwork and music (as T-Lazarus), and publishing the faith-based mindset manual, Why You're Not Winning...Yet, a book I hope will help others - inside and outside - identify unhealthy and counterproductive thinking habits and replace them with positive, winning growth.
My faith-centered mission is to encourage and inspire people to avoid the mistakes I made in life, help them get free on the inside, and empower them to live on purpose with purpose.
I created the book and artwork with the primary objective of adding value to those who read and view them. Purchasing my work will help me establish a financial platform that will enable me to support my family while incarcerated, and increase my likelihood of success upon release.