Some might be quick to dismiss grandfatherly advice. Not Nathaniel. The wisdom of his elder forebear spared him from a life that was drowning in alcohol, hooked on drugs and separated from the ones he loves.

With his stability gradually slipping away after a breakup with his live-in girlfriend and mother of his son, and the subsequent loss of the apartment where the three of them lived, Nathaniel found himself reaching for a bottle and his stash of methamphetamine just to get him through the day. It wasn’t until his family life shattered that he decided enough was enough. “I couldn’t see my son every day,” Nathaniel remembered. “I was drinking to self-medicate, to numb the pain. I started doing meth and it became an addiction. I was living in my car, going to work every day, but just couldn’t seem to get my act together. I was a functioning alcoholic.”

Whenever the stress and depression was too great, Nathaniel would take a swig of booze. The occasional drink soon became several times each day. Others began to notice that Nathaniel wasn’t falling-over drunk but he wasn’t completely sober, either. It was suggested he needed to be supervised when visiting his son.

That was the final straw for the 32-year-old Indianapolis native. Nathaniel asked his grandfather what he should do. Instead of taking his grandson to a rehabilitation center to dry out, Nathaniel’s grandfather dropped him off at Good News Ministries.

Nathaniel wasn’t sure what to expect when he took up residence in the Men’s Shelter. “Sometimes the rules aren’t the easiest and a lot of guys don’t make it, but if you’re actually here to change you’ll do just fine.” Nathaniel was desperate to change, so he decided to give Good News a chance. In the months since he arrived on campus in mid-May, he’s been doing better than fine. He soon enrolled in Faith Recovery, a Bible-based program that helps people overcome harmful addictions and habits. Good News provides transportation to and from the group meetings at Faith Baptist Church in Avon, and it was at one of those meetings that Nathaniel committed his life to Jesus Christ.

“I’ve always said I believe in God, but that was basically ‘just in case.’ If there is a God I don’t want to go to hell.” Of course, believing there is a God isn’t the same as having a personal relationship with Him through faith in His son Jesus Christ. Nathaniel realized the difference in accepting God’s gift of salvation.

Today, Nathaniel is growing in his faith and taking the necessary steps to get his life in order. He’s regularly attending church at Faith Baptist, has been baptized, talks to God frequently as he goes about his day, and even wears a reminder of the One who set him free: a cross on a chain.

As for the alcohol and meth? Gone. “I haven’t done that since I got here,” he said. Good News has been a “second chance at life” for Nathaniel and it’s a message he intends to share with his son. “One day I’ll be able to tell him that I was on the brink of losing everything, but I found God here. The people here truly care about you.”