by Ronnie Shelton
From 100 years to life sentence, I would do over 30 years throughout California prisons. Through a combination of positive programming and laws changing, I was granted a parole date on December 10, 2021. This true story would not have been possible without the spiritual warfare I had to endure “within” which got my life in order and taught me how to be accountable.
Once I was able to put the complex pieces of the mysterious puzzle together, it hit me like lightning that God was there for me to break down and to build me back up.
Tears of Blood, Salvation expresses this experience. It leads the reader to 80 poems and six illustrations.
Sit back, relax and enjoy this page turner.
Excerpt of Tears of Blood: Salvation
I was in a bad tailspin which my life was in a crisis. My Lifestyle was completely out 
of control and unmanageable. It was in and out of being incarcerated my entire life. Literally, the same ol’song like a scratched record. I needed a change, a path that would have the pure power to transform the inside of me down to my deepest existence. I needed my destructive human nature to be ripped apart to its foundation and then built back up stone by stone. To the point of having “The White Stone” on the very top with my name written on it. There had to be a way to escape the black hole of pain.
It was because of this “deliverance” that is written about in these following pages, that I was able to gain my life back and get placed on the right path that was always meant to be for me. I was born innocent. God had removed the scales from my eyes so I could see. I was thinking more of the writings and teachings of Jesus. Also, I was getting more mail from family and friends who supported me and wanted to see me change my way of living.
My family wrote me very beautiful Christian letters spreading The Great Word of God. We even had opportunities to speak about the Holy Book during our visits when Biblical Scriptures were brought up. Although, most of the Christian preaching came through the letters filled with God’s abundant love, joy, grace, and peace, just to mention a grain of sand from the divine Creator’s seashore of free gifts which are infinite and unlimited throughout the universal spirit.
I started seeing the importance of how God works in and through the human race as well as other ways of his awed creation. It was also the extremely bright light I saw as if it was the sun shining directly into my being totally illuminating my face and heart. It was as if I was extending ,y arms and to embrace the blazing sun and guiding it gently into my heart saying “come back home” repeatedly I was able to feel to spiritual sun feeling all areas of my heart, the deepest chambers, every nook and cranny.”
Tears of Blood: Salvation (A Book Review)
By Marcus Rogokos
In July of 2022 long-time Mule Creek resident Ronnie Shelton received the final version of his poetry book, Tears of Blood: Salvation, from Midnight Express Books. He began writing the compilation of poetry in 2005, and decided last year to add a prologue describing his journey of life transformation. Shelton has been incarcerated [on this term] since 1990, and in 1993 during deep introspection, realized that his path in life wasn’t how he wanted it to be. The change from longtime criminal gang member to his authentic self is documented in the prologue, Ronnie say:
“During a difficult time in my life when I was experiencing numerous emotional changes due to poor changes and not being accountable as a human being, I was in a bad tailspin. My life was in crisis. I’d been in and out of incarceration my entire life, it felt like the same old song scratched into a record playing over and over. I needed a change; I needed to find a path that would provide the power to be able to move who I was into who I knew I could be. I’d dug myself into a deep pit, and from the bottom of that hole I knew there had to be a way to escape that bottomless abyss of despair and pain.”
Since the time of his decision, which involved dropping out of the gang and leaving that whole lifestyle behind, he dove deep into rehabilitation; education, and committed his life to recovery and personal transformation.
This has included three Coastline College degrees, with a fourth on the way with Feather River College, and preparing for a bachelor’s program with Sacramento State in spring of 2023. Involvement in fifteen to twenty groups over the years, including narcotics Anonymous, Criminals and Gang Members Anonymous, Alternatives to Violence, Victim’s Awareness, Guiding Rage into Power, Breaking Barriers, several correspondent courses, and many others, has provided a wealth of information that has given Ronnie deep understanding into character development, and insight into personal issues that entangled him in a cycle of destruction. These studies and insights allowed him to escape the hopeless life he had begun, and have brought him onto the path of right living, and authorship.
Ronnie received a grant of sustainability from the board of parole hearings (BPH) on December 10, 2021. On day 148, [of the 150 day waiting period] he received notice that the governor had reversed the findings. His next scheduled BPH will June 2023, and Shelton says:
“I’m ready to go back. I know it’s a process, and a test. I just keep working hard to earn my freedom and try to be an example of what true redemption is. This journey has been my salvation, and all the tears of blood I have been responsible for, and have shed myself are not in vain. It’s all for a higher purpose and I’m willing to accept that.”
Tears of Blood: Salvation is available on Amazon and is free on Kindle to Amazon Plus members.
To contact the author, go to GTL “gettingout.com” for texting or write:
Ronnie Shelton K-77012 M.C.I.C -E-19-C-104-2L
P.O. Box 409090, Ione, CA 95640
