No Longer Bound: Introduction

Welcome to my No Longer Bound blog. And honestly, it has been a long time coming...

Before we get down to the more serious stuff, I thought I would do a little bit of a intro (for those who may not know me personally).

My name is Natalie. I am not a minister or a preacher. And I have never attended a seminary. I am an internet sales consultant and receptionist. 

But... I am a Christ follower, too! (Hence, the blog.) I love Jesus Christ and I want to share His love with the world.

Before you start asking me, no. I have not always been so outspoken about my love for Christ (even though I should have been).I grew up learning about God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit, but I was never "truly connected" to the Lord as I should a been.

As a child, I went to church with my family and with my schools. I was even active in some of the services by singing in various choirs and doing various readings. But that was it. It almost became ritualistic to me and I never felt connected to any of it.

When I was a junior in high school, I switched schools. By then, I had stopped going to church with my family; I stopped going to church with my school when I transferred schools. I did, however, continue to go to church with my local youth group. I even attended several retreats and conferences with them.

But even that came to an end when I graduated high school.

As I started college, I found myself lost and drifting rather far from God. And that's where I stayed for the next 6 years or so. I always thought that there was a God and I always believed in Him, but I thought of myself as "too busy" to even be bothered with God or church.

I foolishly believed that I didn't need God (it still bothers me to write that).

In one of my first semesters of college, I met a very sweet friend in college that tried to save me by inviting me to her church. She tried to show me how desperately I needed God in mu life, but I was still in denial and really stubborn to the revelation. (Now I clearly see how God used her to reach me and I can't thank Him enough for sending her to me.)

I later found out how much she prayed for me. She prayed that God would save me
and that I would start going to church with her full time. She even prayed that God would reveal Himself to me (though I don't think that she prayed that God would reveal Himself in the way that He did).

I finally graduated from college in 2013 with my BA in English-Creative Writing. (It only took me 6 years and 2 different schools!) While finally being out of college was a relief, more stress came when I couldn't find a job. I had already started working on a non-fiction book for a lady that I met right before I graduated college, but I wasn't getting paid. I still needed to get a job to pay for things that I wanted to do.

Thankfully, my dad had ran the same car dealership for a number of years (he's still there actually). At the time I was looking for a job my dad was looking for a receptionist. I took that job, which soon led me to getting a "promotion" to the Internet sales department. (I ended up staying in that position for 3 years.)

That was the good part of the year.

Now, this might sound odd, but the BEST part of the year was when God decided to reveal Himself completely to me. Because I had denied God for so long, He has to resort to an extremely bad car accident to get my attention.

Long story short: I was hit on my driver's door of my Nissan Altima by a pickup going at least 65 mph. When he hit me, my car was thrown across 4 lanes of traffic and spun completely around (facing the wrong way of a busy state highway). All of the glass was shattered, all the airbags deployed, and I was knocked completely unconscious.

I suffered from a TBI (traumatic brain injury), a displaced collarbone, and a broken rib. I went to 3 hospitals in 3 weeks, with the first hospital being small enough not to have enough resources to treat me. I was "air-meded" to a bigger hospital about 20 minutes away. I was there in the brain trauma ICU for a week before I was reevaluated and was transferred to New Orleans for inpatient rehab.

I was released from the hospital a few days before Christmas and my 26th birthday. My parents had a giant welcome home/birthday party for me. It was so nice to be home!

I didn't know it at the time, but God truly used this accident as my wake up call.

A few months after the accident, my friend's prayer was answered I started to go to church with her, my oldest friend from grade school, and my other friend from high school. It was because of them that I started to learn about God and Jesus with a passion.

It's been a few years since all this happened (in November, it will be 6 years since my accident). I don't attend the same church anymore. Actually, I don't even live in the same state either.

I am now married to a wonderful and loving man. He has helped me grow in my relationship with God so much in the almost 4 years of being together (almost 2 years of marriage too). My faith is so much stronger because of him. It really has opened my eyes in ways that I never thought possible.

And it's the same faith and love that has brought me to this point. To openly proclaim my love for God and for Jesus. I want to proclaim His faithfulness for as long I can. Even if that means that I lose friends who are non-believers, I will proclaim Jesus Christ is my Lord and Savior.

I don't care if you believe what I post. That's between you and God. I will ask that everyone on this page PLEASE BE RESPECTFUL. Any and all negative comments will be deleted and you will be banned. Other than that, all I can do is follow where God leads me. He will take care of the rest. 


I will continue to answer God's call and I won't be shaken. 

God bless you, dear reader! Welcome to No Longer Bound!