TOGETHER by AGCI

Together by AGCI is a brand new podcast from the creative team at All God’s Children International.

        

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Episode 6

God Provides – An Adoption Miracle

Marisa Butterworth, AGCI West Coast Advancement Officer

[MS] You are listening to Together by AGCI. I’m Madi Salvati.

It’s pretty wild to work in an industry where you get to witness miracles every day. Our inquiry team at AGCI has many stories of these miracles that they’ve experienced with families as they walk through the beginning stages of their adoption journeys with them. One of the most common miracles? Finances. Today our West Coast Advancement Officer, Marisa Butterworth, shares her own adoption journey that is definitely nothing short of a miracle. I think her story is the reminder we really all need right now, especially during these crazy times where, personally, I’m just realizing that everyday life is such a gift. And you only get it for as long as you get it. So no matter what the circumstances, gratitude for all the miracles, big and small, is key to taking this one day at a time. Together.

One piece of housekeeping before we hear Marisa’s story: we have something we want your help with for an upcoming episode. So stick around until the end of this sweet story. You won’t want to miss this.

[MB] Our adoption was almost terminated.

We both felt a really crazy strong pull to start our own church. We had never… Like we, I didn’t think I married a pastor. I thought I married a musician. And so we’d never, it was not something that we’d ever thought of and we were both terrified of it. And so we figured that that must be from God because we didn’t want to. And we were really happy and comfortable at the church that we were at. And, so in the middle of our, um, adoption process, Jesse ended up losing his job. And we had a lot less like, time… Like a very short ramp to starting a church.

And, and so we called All God’s Children because we felt like we needed to, and said, like, We, as of, you know, this month we won’t have a salary coming in. What do we do? And they said, Well, like, you know, unfortunately there are rules in place. Like if we can’t… If you can’t prove that you’re going to have an income after that, like your adoption will be terminated. And so I of course freaked out and um, I felt like my daughter was dying and I was crying all the time and praying and… And I had really accepted that, um, our adoption was, like the process was going to end. And Jesse, um, hadn’t. And he, he shared with me, he’s like, You know, like… When things in the Bible happen and… Like, there’s always another path that you just don’t see coming. Like, it’s always something crazy and I’m just going to trust that God has another path for us that we can’t see right now. Like, he’s going to make a new way that wasn’t there before, that we didn’t see. And so I was like, Oh that’s great. This is ending, and you need to accept it. And… Very spiritual in that moment. I was very… just relying on God.

And, um, so like all, uh, towards the end of the month that we had before we lost our salary, um, we had somebody at our church, um, come up to Jesse and, um.. And say like, Hey, can I talk to you after the service? Which usually meant something was wrong. That’s like… For a pastor, you’re like, Oh great, what have I done? What did I say? What have I, you know? Okay. So he’s like, okay, well let’s meet after, between services.

And, um, so they go and sit down and meet and the guy said, It’s been so weird. My wife and I have been having dreams all week that we’re supposed to give you our stock grant this year. And, um, even our kids have been having like these strange dreams about it. And we just like, it’s like every night we’re dreaming that we’re supposed to give you the stock grant. And Jesse, at the time, is like, What’s a stock grant? Like, Oh, okay. Like, that’s so nice. And, um, he’s like, No, like it’s so weird cause it’s a very specific stock grant that we’re supposed to give you. Like in our dream, it’s this, this one that we have, and they worked at Microsoft, so apparently that’s a thing they have there is stock grants and, and um… So he told Jesse the amount of what was in this stock grant and it was to the penny the amount that we needed to keep our adoption afloat. And so, um… Like, by the next week they had pulled the money out… When the market was like, at its peak, they pulled the money out and wrote us a check, or wrote our new church that we had just started a check and that paid for our salary for the next year, that we could say like, Oh, we actually have the money in the bank account that proves that, you know, we’re going to get paid this year, so…

There’s something to be said for people… Like, there’s wisdom in knowing what you’re getting into and not doing totally dumb, crazy things, but there’s something about adoption that is crazy. And, um, I’m so glad that we were like, honestly a little bit naive and young enough that we took that leap. It’s the best thing we ever did. I mean, I just can’t imagine life without her.

[MS] That was AGCI’s West Coast Advancement Officer, Marisa Butterworth. If her last name sounds familiar, that’s because it is. Her husband, Jesse Butterworth, was one of our first guests on the podcast. If you haven’t heard his episode yet about how we can respond to fear in uncertain times, check it out now on iTunes.

When I first heard Marissa and Jessie’s story, I remember getting actual chills. It made me remember God’s goodness and how he performs big and small miracles every single day. Some miracles that are big, like Marissa’s adoption story, and many others that might feel small, like waking up to a new day every morning. You’ll find the link in our show notes. On a final note, in this time of COVID-19, we want to hear from you and take this opportunity to truly be together for an upcoming episode. We want to talk to you about… you. As a family. How have you had to do things differently during this time? What does your new reality look like? Your new routine, your new way to do life together with your kiddos? We’d love to hear all about it. Send us your thoughts and stories by leaving us a message at (503) 395-4595. Again, that’s (503) 395-4595. We look forward to hearing from you. Thanks for listening everyone. We’ll talk to you soon.