Mallorie

***Update***
Mallorie is stable! After a really rough night in the NICU the night I first posted, requesting prayer, she has remained consistently stable. The doctors have removed her from paralysis, and she is now beginning to wake up and move around. She is still in need of prayer, especially when it comes time to take her off the vent, but for now, praise God she is stable! Thank you so much for lifting her up. God is always working, whether it is in the form of a miracle of healing or not. But getting to witness these particular types of miracles is something I will never get tired of.

Several months ago God sent one of His greatest blessings of encouragement to me in the form of a lady from Texas who had a living, thriving little girl with trisomy. She's shy about having her name out, so I won't share that detail, but I want you to know that I have hardly ever come in contact with someone with such a natural gift for saying what I needed to hear on a daily basis. She has prayed for me and each one of the girls in my life going through the same thing, and even though her plate has been more than full with the things going on in her own life, I have known that I can count on her like clock work each and every step of the way.

Mallorie, her youngest daughter, is amazing! She was born with a cleft palate, spina bifida and trisomy, yet she has blown away the doctors by the way she has grown and developed in such a short time. Mallorie turned one on Wednesday. I celebrated with them right here from Memphis, praising God for what He has done in her life. I love that beautiful baby, without ever haven gotten the chance to see her or hold her myself. She has been a tangible sign of God's power. He is the one who holds all life in His hands, and He will not be dictated by a medical diagnosis!

On Thursday, Mallorie went in for a corrective surgery for her palate. She has already undergone one palate surgery very successfully, but several were needed before the work was complete. Yesterday she began experiencing complications. I am not an expert on medical terminology, so I won't try and explain what is going on. All that I really know is that she and her family need prayer right now. I don't know what God's plan is, but I know that He has already used Mallorie to express Himself with an eloquence that words can't match.

I don't know how you have come to find this blog. Maybe you have known me all my life, or maybe we have never met and you simply found out about Poppy through some other means. Regardless of how you have gotten here, you now find yourself to some degree surrounded by the reality of sick babies. My prayer for all of you and for myself is that my heart never closes up and becomes resistant to hearing about even one more precious life. I don't want to fall into the trap of apathy or numbness when it comes to praying for "the least of these." I think it's not possible, but I know it is. I know that I have watched stories on the news or read articles in the paper, and let the mass suffering of the world slide through my mind, absorbed on only the most basic level. I guess it's impossible to fully take on the hurt of the world, but it's not too much to take the time to open your heart and pray for a life that God allows you to come in contact with, whether through a personal encounter or through something like the internet. Please pray for this family today.