Success Story: Devin Bloodworth

From left are Casey Barrentine; her husband, Michael; her daughter, Lucy; Lucy's boyfriend, Johnny Green; and Barrentine's daughter-in-law and son, Kate and Wood.

She said some participants told her that her teaching had helped them, but she was aware that others would backslide.

"All you can do is encourage them and pray with them," she said, "but at the end of the day it's ultimately their decision to become a better person."

Barrentine said she was motivated to start Gracefully Broken after meeting Devin Bloodworth, a young man who had gone to school with her son and was using multiple drugs.

"He was arrested on some different charges and was possibly facing prison," she said. "And so my husband and I took it upon ourselves to go get him and get him out of jail. We brought him into our home and just tried to get him on the right path."

He was sentenced to stay under their guidance for a time, and then he moved out to live with his grandparents. He now lives in Grenada, runs a business and volunteers to help others, she said.

"God opened that door the day I dropped him off at rehab, and he said, 'This is your ministry — addiction,'" Barrentine recalled. "And it's never stopped. It's just grown and grown and grown. And it's just amazing how God can take a sad situation and make it into such a beautiful story."

The ministry's name comes from Psalms 147:3: "He healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds."

Barrentine gave God credit for creating the nonprofit and connecting her with people who have helped, including Jeff Dunn, the director of Life Help's Denton House, and Amy Coyle, director of God's House of Hope in Kilmichael.

At God's House of Hope, a residential Christian discipleship training program for people with drug, alcohol, or emotional issues, she often visits to lead devotionals, craft activities and other gatherings for the women there.

"Just lots of opportunities for them to get involved and spend time with each other," she said, "because that's very important — gaining relationships with each other. And obviously learning about Jesus, which is our main goal."

She also speaks to men at a local treatment center about the love of Jesus, and Gracefully Broken provides new work boots for those who need them as well as hygiene items and gifts for Christmas, Easter and other holidays.

"Each individual person in the facility has the opportunity to receive a Bible, and we always give new Bibles to the individuals," she said.

Dunn said Barrentine has helped many people get into treatment.

"She saw that that was a group that was very broken, and she decided she was going to be there for them if they needed it — and she has been," he said. "And we think the world of her."

She is willing to help on short notice, he said: "We can call her and say, 'We've got a guy who who has nothing,' and it's freeing: 'All right, give me his sizes.' And the next thing we know, Walmart's delivering, or she has gathered all the things they have given her, and she will drop them off."

Dunn said Barrentine has also helped by arranging weekend gatherings and appearances by guest speakers. "She'll have folks come out here and tell their stories, and it lets the men know that they're not alone," he said.

Baylee Toler, a program director at God's House of Hope, said this of Barrentine: "If you need her, literally all you have to do is call her."

Toler said Barrentine sometimes pays the one-time fees that are required of people wanting to use the program. She makes also sure they have clothes and Bibles if needed.

"One year, she even put on a prom for our girls in Kilmichael," Toler said. "She had all these prom dresses (for) people that have never even been able to go to their own prom or gotten to dress up in a pretty dress. She's just really about being the hands and feet of Jesus."

"We really appreciate her and all of her hard work and what she does for the kingdom of God," Toler said.

Barrentine recalled one particular family she helped through God's House of Hope.

The warden in Grenada County called to ask whether her organization could sponsor a woman named Danielle

Kightlinger to attend God's House of Hope for assistance with addiction.

"We never say no, because it is not our time to judge if they are ready," she said. "We leave the judging to God."

Later, she was called to help a young man named Riley — not knowing he was Danielle's son — and said yes. He attended the Charleston center of God's House of Hope, which has four locations then.

Soon after, "all centers attended a revival, and God allowed Danielle and Riley to be in the same place at the same time," she said. "Definitely a blessing from God."

She said the two were baptized together and start working on building up their relationship. Later, a group of women collaborated to fully furnish an apartment for Kightlinger's daughter.

Danielle Kightlinger now works full time at Milwaukee Tool and part time at Dollar General. "We are so proud of her," Barrentine said, adding, "Jesus is super proud."

Barrentine coordinates the activities of Gracefully Broken with the help of volunteers and a board that currently includes Morgan Casco, David Bartlett, Collier Tillman and Bubba DeLeach.

"I work 7 to 4, and then, typically after 4, I'm full-time ministry," she said.

She is accustomed to receiving calls at all hours from jails, police, sheriffs or wardens. "I've even been called to scenes of individuals that were in a very bad place on others to help calm them down, to help reassure them," she said.

She spoke at Denton House once a week for a while and plans to resume that soon. Tillman goes there on Sundays now, and "we've had a very, very great experience with that," she said.

Barrentine is a member of Hill View Baptist Church, where she teaches Sunday school to 4- and 5-year-olds.

She said her first priority, after God, is her own family.

She and her husband, Michael, have been married 25 years and live in Carroll County. They have a son, Wood, who is 23, and a daughter, Lucy, who is 18.

They also are helping another family in which four brothers are being raised by a grandmother while their mother is incarcerated. Barrentine said they have particularly bonded with one boy, who is almost 2 and spends nights with them occasionally.

Barrentine said she has autoimmune diseases that make work difficult sometimes, but she monitors her health carefully.

She said it helps to have a husband who can do a lot of behind-the-scenes work for Gracefully Broken: "He's always building; he's always cleaning; he's always doing whatever needs to be done for the ministry that I physically can't do."

She said she has "zero hobbies" and is focused on the ministry, even unwinding when she's not at work.

With that level of commitment and compassion, though, she had to learn not to blame herself when someone in rehab became addicted again.

"I would try so hard to do everything for them, and in reality, that's the last thing I need to be doing; is everything for them," she said. "And learning the word 'no,' that's been very difficult."

At the same time, she has to remind relatives of addicts that they also need to say no sometimes.

"We are all made by Christ. We are all sinners. And to Christ, no sin is any different," she said. "And they're someone's child, someone's mother, someone's sister, someone's cousin. They are loved, but many times, strings have to be cut because individuals, many times, have to hit rock bottom before they'll see up."

She said she is very content with where God has the ministry but realizes she needs more help.

"God is really teaching me to reach out and ask for help and ask for volunteers," she said. "And that's a huge thing that's always needed for different events."

"I just leave it up to God, and He'll provide the people. If he doesn't, I'll do it myself. And that's just my mentality. I don't stress about it. It will all come to play, because if it's for His glory, He will make sure it's taken care of."