The Power Struggle, Sharing Hope in Hardship, & Marriage after Addiction with Alex & Dallas Johnson

Dallas and Alex have known each other since high school, and have been married for six years this July. They grew up in the same college-mountain town in Arizona, where they love being outdoors and staying active during the seasons. They recently got two new additions to their family, two sweet golden retrievers, Faith and Texas. They love traveling whenever they can get away from their businesses. Dallas owns and operates a towing business, and until recently Alex was the bookkeeper for the company. While Dallas continues to run his towing business, Alex is designing a clothing line that will donate portions of profit to charity; to suicide prevention and sex-trafficked women in Cambodia, two things she’s most passionate about. Dallas and Alex also have YouTube channels: Tow Trainer and Hope With Alex. Dallas offers towing advice on active calls, and Alex encourages people to hold onto hope during hardships.

Listen in for a summary of Alex’s powerful testimony - how God miraculously broke her free from addiction to heroin, crack and alcohol. She shares how during that time she became involved in the adult industry and how Jesus broke her free from all shame tied to that. She also shares more in-depth on this month’s spin-off episode.

how they met - when the party girl meets the Christian boy

Dallas and Alex technically high school. Dallas saw a beautiful girl and would go out of his way in between classes to cross paths with her. She was only there for a week and a half. Little did he know, Alex had been sent to rehab. 

Albert, Alex’s brother who is now in Heaven, was the one who orchestrated their meeting and their getting together a little bit later on down the road. Alex shares, “It’s almost like a gift from Albert. After we lose someone we see that much how people impact our story. I’m so thankful because Dallas has been a gift from God”. 

saved and sober before marriage

Alex was raised Jewish, she knew about God but didn’t have a relationship with Him. Essentially she knew God existed but after her lifestyle choices, she thought, “I think He’s mad at me”.  Alex came from a good, loving family, there was a bit of friction like any family, her parents divorced around age 15 but she shares she was very insecure beginning in elementary school. Being raised Jewish made her feel different and contributed to her feeling very insecure. She was introduced to the party scene around 13, and her first time being drunk made her feel confident and that’s what hooked her. She said, “It’s the cycle of guilt and shame that keeps you and it’s also addicting. I was living this double life. I was an athlete, a popular girl but also going to rehab, addicted to cocaine, which led to heroin and crack, I got into the adult industry at age 19 and took addiction to the extreme, it’s a matter of running from yourself, anything that numbs you is what you do. Until there was finally a moment I was afraid of death for the first time, that combined with surrendering to God around that time is what ultimately got me clean at 20 years old.

“God had a plan, I made it out. Most people don’t. He healed me enough to share my story.” - Alex 

Dallas was raised in a Christian household, and even though he was interested in her they never did go too far in their dating relationship.  Saved and sober before marriage, Alex spent a year healing. They ran back into each other at the gym and Dallas said, “Once I discovered she was clean, sobered, saved, I thought, ‘That’s nice’ But didn’t think much else at first”. Until he started persistently asking her out….and she finally caved after about 11 months and said “yes” to coffee (because she just loves coffee that much!)

no more shame when you come to Jesus

With so much shame from the adult industry, Alex was afraid of what Dallas’ reaction would be to that when she brought it up. “His willingness to stay with me was huge. He said, ‘Jesus forgave you for that, essentially that’s water under the bridge. I know who you are now as a person and that’s who I’m more interested in’”.

She saw God in their marriage, through Dallas’s non-judgment. 

Dallas shares, “In the towing business, I see a customer’s life haunting them, losing their car for a period of time, a lot of the time due to poor decisions or because of addiction. I am able to share Alex’s story and encourage these people with her story. I see it in a different light, that God has a hope for them. And when they’re waiting to get their car back, they’re a pretty captive audience”.

who does the cooking?

Alex and Dallas honestly share about the power struggle and gender roles. Dallas goes out for a long day of work, and she’s been home but that doesn’t mean she hasn’t had different struggles. To have a hot dinner every night is an unrealistic expectation for every night. Having the new puppies Dallas has seen how hard it is to stay home…Covid helped with that. They were both home and realized there are a lot of distractions at home.

While Alex is at home even when having a productive day, she doesn’t always feel productive because she never left the house which she knows is a lie. Then Dallas gets home and she’s still working and she thinks, “Well shoot, we need to eat food”…and again, a benefit to last year was being home together and balancing the cooking duties. They say that is the hardest struggle for them…cooking. Alex says, “Cooking is where the talons come out for some reason. I have some weird feminist mentalities about this, one time I even walked out the door….”

Hope with Alex because of Jesus

Alex began her YouTube channel and decided to jump back on social media after a very heavy loss. She gets into that in her spin-off episode and shares more about her upcoming clothing line, which she shares will be a way to donate the proceeds to two things very near and dear to her heart…suicide prevention outreaches and safe houses for sex-trafficked victims..

You can connect with Alex on Instagram or subscribe to her YouTube channel and follow Dallas and his tow company on YouTube (for the husbands out there) - Dallas Johnson YouTube - Tow Trainer