The Storms of Life

When you align yourself with God’s purpose as described in Scripture, something special happens in your life, and so it was with the Baggetts. When Dr. Kevin Baggett met his wife Christie, he knew he had found someone very special. They worked diligently to get their degrees and then, as a team they labored to move Kevin on through the difficult years of his medical training. They worked well together. Christie used her skills to manage the office, and Kevin helped his patients with their health needs.

Extended education and establishing careers takes time. Lots of time! So, as it is with many married professionals, starting a family had to be put on the back burner for the Baggetts. When the time seemed right, they worked on growing their family. For a good while it looked like their efforts were going to be in vain, but then God’s grace intervened and they soon had a healthy, and beautiful baby girl who they named Caroline. She grew into a healthy toddler, meeting all her “milestones,” All seemed well until her left knee began to swell resulting in a diagnosis of Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis. Wanting the best treatment possible for his daughter, Dr. Kevin read, studied, and investigated the latest information on this debilitating disease.

While they dealt with Caroline’s health issues, Christie was dealing with a condition of her own known as ankylosing spondylitis, a type of arthritis in the spine. Once again, Dr. Kevin’s physician instincts kicked in as he reviewed medical options for her treatment.

Their family now numbered three, and both Christie and Caroline were living with chronic conditions. Dr. Kevin was the physically healthy one, and yet he knew that something was not quite right with him. The Spirit of God was at work revealing to him that something was amiss in his life. Could he have a spiritual need? He was aware that Christie had become a Christian many years previously but had drifted away from the Lord over the course of time. Searching for something to fill this spiritual void, they started attending Southside. While listening to Pastor Matt speak one Sunday, he became aware of his need to make the life changing decision to ask Jesus to be his personal Savior. And that is exactly what he did. What a wonderful change in his life began that day!

As time passed, Kevin and Christie decided to try and have a second child. That was when a new storm blew into their lives. As Christie went into labor she developed a fever, causing the birth to happen so quickly that she had to have the baby natural. It was a terrible struggle and a very difficult delivery. Because she was approaching forty years of age, it was advised that she should not get pregnant again. Having watched his wife’s painful struggle, Kevin was totally on board with the idea that the Baggett family was complete.

And there she was! Charlotte, a beautiful baby girl who had come through this difficult birth ordeal with flying colors. Kevin, however, secretly struggled with the question of why God would allow these difficult situations. As a newly born again and baptized Christian, he began checking the Scriptures for help with his questions.

Baby Charlotte had all the outward appearance of a healthy little girl. Everything was fine, but all the while a physical storm was working inside her body. It was a problem of incontinence. Her diaper became damp within minutes of a nice fresh change. As she grew older and faced potty training, it became an issue her parents had to work through.

The Baggett’s had experienced success in potty training their first born daughter, Caroline, but this situation with Charlotte would be different. Her pediatrician examined her in the light of her incontinence that extended far past the normal age for these things to be accomplished and could find nothing physically wrong, yet, the problem continued. She would need to use the restroom many times each hour, and still ended up wet. Special arrangements had to be made at school for her with bathroom privileges and pads and extra clothing left in the office. This situation caused a great deal of extra work for Charlotte and her parents.

This continued until she was six years old. Both her pediatrician and her family agreed that it was time for the help of a pediatric urologist specialist. To make things more difficult, this was during the time of Covid restrictions, and only one parent could go with her to Atlanta. These trips were long! The need to constantly stop for bathroom time turned the two hour trip into three hours, until they worked out an in-car portable system. Yet no matter what they did she was continually wet. What a miserable feeling for this beautiful little girl.

Dr. Kevin Baggett struggled with the health situations of both his wife and two daughters. He was a highly trained physician who was frustrated that he couldn’t help his youngest daughter with her problem. Only the grace of God could give peace to his heart. Although he didn’t know it, God was at work providing grace that would calm the storm.

As the specialist examinations were in progress, it appeared that the solution was elusive. Exploratory surgery was planned to closer look at her system. This would mean that if they found the problem, it would take planning and then a second surgery to correct the issue. Kevin was uncomfortable with the possibility of two surgeries and spoke up about his concerns. He felt there must be something they were missing. He spoke to the surgeon and he agreed to postpone the surgery and take another look at the tests of their lovely little girl.

This time he saw something that he had not previously noticed and had never seen or heard of before. He researched it and showed it to his colleagues. They had never seen this condition before. It was a one in many millions type of condition. Check out on the images above and below. She had three ureters coming from her left kidney. They had seen two in other cases but never three. Two of the ureters emptied into her bladder which was no problem, but the third one was attached directly to her urethra. This one was sending urine out of her body continually. In other words, it made her wet constantly. God’s grace was at work for this child and her family.

Unless this condition was corrected, she would be incontinent for the rest of her life. The discomfort, the need for special garments, and the odor would have never ceased. What they did was re-plumb her system. In a relatively simple procedure, they connected the rogue ureter to one of the other ureters that emptied into her bladder, and ‘voila’ problem was solved. Years of failures were corrected by the skillful hands of a great team of surgeons, the watchful eyes of her parents, and the faithful prayers of many others. And, oh yes – a great dose of God’s grace.

Isn’t God’s grace a wonderful thing!

Roger Allen Cook

I love to write stories about God’s grace.  If you have a story I should consider, please contact me at:    roger.cook@southside.church    

Other stories can be viewed at Southside.church/grace