Why SMI? The Varvels see 'the Body of Christ helping each other'
By Anna Moore · Jun 19, 2024
Member Spotlight: Brett Varvel, House of Grace Studios
Many scenarios went through Brett and Christina Varvel’s minds when they learned their unborn son, Damon, had a rare, potentially fatal condition called duodenal atresia.
The condition occurs when the duodenum, which is part of the small intestine, is fused shut during a baby’s development. Without being discovered, a baby’s food cannot pass from the stomach to the rest of the intestine.
By God’s grace, Damon’s condition was discovered during Christina’s second trimester with him.
“We were scared,” said Brett, who leads House of Grace Studios. “All of the ‘what if’ scenarios like, ‘Is my child going to live?’, were very much running through our minds. Then when you look at the bills ... being self-pay, it adds more worry.”
Damon had to have surgery less than 72 hours after he was born and was in the neonatal intensive care unit for three weeks.
“Samaritan Ministries shared all our bills,” Brett said. “We didn’t have to go into debt just to pay the hospital bills. That was amazing. And there was this comfort of having people all over the country praying for us.”
“Samaritan Ministries shared all our bills. We didn’t have to go into debt just to pay the hospital bills. That was amazing. And there was this comfort of having people all over the country praying for us.”
Brett Varvel
The Varvels joined Samaritan in 2013. Brett, who has been self-employed since 2009, knows the financial burden of health insurance and the flaws in the system.
“We felt like we were just contributing to the system, and we started praying for a better way to do this,” he said of their time before Samaritan.
After friends told the Varvels about Samaritan, they became interested in bearing burdens with other Christians.
“Our friends said it’s not insurance, but it reminded them of the concepts you find in the book of Acts, where it’s just the people of God sharing one another’s burdens, and we fell in love from the beginning with the whole concept of the Body of Christ helping each other,” Brett said.
All of their children except the oldest have been born since the Varvels joined Samaritan. Through two miscarriages, the couple has also experienced God’s comfort through His Body.
“Christina got to connect with other moms who had lost children or gone through something hard, and just them being able to love on each other and grieve with each other through all of that was amazing,” he said.