When Lottie Got Sick
Hope was my battle cry going into Charlotte’s open heart surgery. Even now, as she remains fighting for her life in the ICU, I stand on God’s promise of faithfulness, and cling to the hope that I will see her running with her sister, down our church corridor one day. Today what I see however, is an incredible display of love and prayer from those of you who care for our little girl, during her time of sickness. Clearly, God had more hearts than Charlotte’s in mind.
Lottie is on Day 11 in the intensive care unit. She is on a non-traditional ventilator, receiving treatments to shake free the secretions that prohibit her breathing. Her lungs are collapsed in several areas, mainly the top right. Medications to maintain her heart function have injured her kidneys. She has been taken off of breastmilk, due to having developed Chylothorax, fluid leaking in the space around her lungs. She has both a virus and a bacterial infection, the latter resulting in Pnumonia. Clearly, her journey to recovery will be longer and more challenging than what is typical, yet we are praying for complete, better than ever, restoration of health. We are not alone in lifting these prayers high.
God has been touching more hearts than our lovely Lottie’s through all of this. Friends, you have let us know where, when and in general that you are crying out to God on her behalf. It is overwhelmingly beautiful and profound to witness. First of all, I thank you. Secondly, I ask for your help.
When Charlotte is a healthy, strong, young woman, I will tell her about this monumental event taking place now. I will tell her how people accross the world prayed for God to heal her, against so many odds. She will always hear us recount the number of friends both known and unacquainted, whom joined us in this time. I will tell the story of her prayer warriors, and how God moved the mountains while receiving prayers laced with her name, from all of us together in unity. I can tell her, but only you can show her.
If you have prayed for Lottie, please take a photo with a sign simply reading, ‘I prayed for Lottie’. It can be a piece of paper, it can be a message written with a stick in a patch of bare earth. You can be in it, or your children, or your whole church, or even just the church building. I want you to post your pictures with #Lottieswarriors. Mention where you are from and tag DoublingDownMom so we can see you all...so that Lottie can someday see you all.
You are warriors, and I am so thankful that she doesn’t fight alone. Our battle cry is unchanged. Hope. This is where we see God work past our capabilities, on that which is so far out of our control. He is good, He is faithful, and His promise still stands. It is not unlike Him to use all circumstances, no matter the pain, in marvelous ways. You friends, your prayers, your sincere hearts for Charlotte to make it through this, have been just that- marvelous.
