FROM ASHES TO FIRE: OUR STORY OF RESTORATION & CALLING

(As told by Marcel)

Fabi and I were both born in the vibrant land of Brazil. I came from a background marked by hardship and pain. Fabi was raised in a home where dad was almost never present. He had too many mistresses, and his time was very divided.

I immigrated to the United States in 1989, chasing a better life. She came in 1994, after her parent’s separation, to start a new life with her mom.

We met at her grandmother’s house during a prayer meeting. I almost didn’t make it that day. I came in late… But the moment I saw her, something deep inside me knew—she was the one. Two years later, on March 23, 1996, we stood before God and said “I do.”

We were young. Passionately in love. Full of dreams and plans for a “happily ever after.” But dreams don’t prepare you for the weight of real-life wounds. The trauma I carried from years of abuse began to poison our marriage. What started as passion quickly turned into chaos. Arguments replaced affection. Distance replaced desire. By our 8th anniversary, I had made up my mind— I wanted a divorce.

BUT FABI HADN’T GIVEN UP

While I was planning to secretly leave her, she was bending her knees in prayer. She cried out to God and made a vow: “If You restore our marriage, we will give our lives to restore others.”

Trying to escape the pain, I buried myself in work. I ran faster, worked harder, hoping to outrun the brokenness inside me. But it finally caught up with me—and that’s when it happened.

I HAD A LIFE CHANGING ENCOUNTER WITH THE LIVING GOD

It’s important to mention that I was very actively involved in my church. I served and held multiple positions of leadership but had no relationship with God.

So one day, Fabi & I went to a prayer meeting and it was in the silence of my despair that I completely surrendered to the Lord. And there, for the first time, I can truly say that I met the God I had only ever heard about. Just like Job said, “My ears had heard of you, but now my eyes have seen you” (Job 42:5). The scales fell of my eyes. That hardness cracked. My heart was flooded with a love I thought I’d lost—first for God, and then, miraculously, for my wife.

When Fabi saw the change in me, she too pressed in to seek the Lord for her own transformation. We started to pursue God together, wholeheartedly. Little by little, our marriage was healed. Our family began to thrive. Our business started to prosper. We even had a financial breakthrough beyond what we had imagined.

We thought—this was it, the fullness of God’s plan.

BUT THEN CAME THE TWIST WE NEVER EXPECTED

In 2008, during a powerful time of prayer, God spoke again. This time not to increase us more financially—but to call us away from it. He was asking us to leave it all: our home in New York, our flourishing business, our community, our comfort.

IT MADE NO SENSE—UNLESS YOU’VE HEARD HIS VOICE.

So, with trembling faith, we packed our lives and our four kids and moved to Tampa, Florida, to attend Bible School. That decision was the real beginning of our calling. For three years we studied, we served, and we burned with the fire of God. We graduated in 2011 with degrees in Theology—but more than that, with hearts on fire for the Kingdom.

THEN SOMETHING EVEN MORE EXPECTED HAPPEN…

God called us not just to Restore families—but to to also Revive and Reignite purpose within the family so that families can build strong churches that will impact and change the world.

He didn’t just give us our marriage back. He gave us a mission.

In the years that followed, He opened doors across nations. We ministered in churches, on the streets, in homes, and in nations. We’ve had the honor of serving under powerful leaders, and helping to raise up passionate, Spirit-filled men and women of God.

But here’s the part of the story that many people miss:

FAMILY IS OUR FIRST MINISTRY

Before we ever pastored a church or led a ministry, God taught us to first minister to our own home.

Our children were our first disciples. And today, every one of our five children is serving the Lord and impacting lives in His Kingdom. There is no greater joy to see our children walk in the truth.

AvivaFire Ministries International was birthed not from strategy, but from encounter. Not from ambition, but from surrender. It was forged in the fire of brokenness, restored by Gods’ goodness and grace, and ignited with the power of the Holy Spirit.

Our passion is profound and yet simple: to see what God did for us, happen for YOU.

YOUR LIFE AND FAMILY REVIVED & RESTORED

YOUR PURPOSE AND PASSION REIGNITED THROUGH THE FIRE OF THE HOLY SPIRT

Because no matter how lost things may seem, no matter how far you’ve fallen…

God writes the best stories from the ashes.

AND HE’S NOT DONE WITH YOURS!