Natalie Broyles Share

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A once trou­bled Texas native has a true home in Mar­i­on after turn­ing her life around from drugs, and becom­ing a bea­con for oth­ers. Born in Bryan, TX, Natal­ie Broyles faced an impov­er­ished upbring­ing. Her father died when she was 9. She remem­bered not hav­ing elec­tric­i­ty or run­ning water. Natalie’s moth­er worked hard, but due to strug­gles, she was tak­en in by her grand­moth­er. Tired of her life, Natal­ie ran away at age 16, aim­less­ly find­ing Grant Coun­ty, Indi­ana. Not know­ing any oth­er lifestyle, she was drink­ing and using drugs at a young age which quick­ly got her into trou­ble. She was in and out of jail into her 30s. Rest­ing her head in friends’ homes, in jail, even under trees, Natal­ie nev­er had a home. In 2018, her then boyfriend, Sean Broyles, was also strug­gling with addic­tion and checked into the Grant Coun­ty Res­cue Mis­sion. Mean­while, Natal­ie was again arrest­ed. Sean sent her a let­ter say­ing he had been saved through the Res­cue Mis­sion, and she should do the same when she was released. Dur­ing a high-risk pro­ba­tion, Natal­ie made the most dif­fi­cult choice of her life on July 7^th, 2018. She walked into Open Heart Women’s Shel­ter wear­ing the same clothes she was arrest­ed in months pri­or, and was ter­ri­fied. But, with wel­com­ing arms of the GCRM fam­i­ly, and Sean being there, she knew it was meant to be.

“I didn’t know how big of a change it was going to bring to my life. I didn’t know He was going to set me up to be hap­py and com­plete­ly sober. At that time, I could have walked five blocks to get drunk.”

Natal­ie was giv­en new clothes, sham­poo, and a lov­ing home. What one would take for grant­ed were things she didn’t have. Natal­ie cried for a week, feel­ing unde­serv­ing and over­whelmed. She began a GCRM life-change pro­gram. After going to Chapel many morn­ings feel­ing unwor­thy, Natal­ie was giv­en res­onat­ing words from the Bible that God had already for­giv­en her, she is His child, and no sin is greater than the other.

She began work­ing in the Mission’s thrift store. ​“I start­ed to feel pur­pose­ful. Miss Kay would say, ​‘This is you work­ing for a roof over your head.’” She start­ed to real­ize she was help­ing oth­ers. Natal­ie is now a thrift team leader. She min­is­ters to women who come in as well as vol­un­teers. She also helps with all GCRM events, and is active at Cen­ter Chapel Unit­ed Methodist Church help­ing cook meals for res­i­dents of Open Heart.

Her rela­tion­ships are being restored with her moth­er liv­ing with her and Sean, her now hus­band, and 3 boys…in their own home. Natal­ie is faith­ful that the rela­tion­ship with her 4^th boy will be restored in time.

“God can see you through any­thing. Fall to your knees and He will scoop you up. If I hadn’t, I wouldn’t be alive.”

The GCRM team sees Natal­ie as a Cham­pi­on and an over­all spec­tac­u­lar human being.

“She gives 110% to those around her, and will sac­ri­fice her needs to help oth­ers. She is a pro­tec­tor of young peo­ple, and would give her coat or her din­ner to a stranger.” – Rick Berbereia, Exec­u­tive Direc­tor, GCRM

“Natal­ie is a ray of sun­shine, a giv­ing heart when any­one is in need, a hope giv­er to the hurt­ing, and makes oth­ers smile and laugh which reminds us that the Joy of the Lord is pow­er­ful med­i­cine to our soul.” — Deb­bie Berbereia, Direc­tor of Thrift Oper­a­tions, GCRM