08/26/2026
✨ Now That Was God: Mirella’s Story ✨
“The fact that I am alive and walking today? Of course, it had to be God.
Let me start at the beginning. In July of 2018, I suffered a subarachnoid stroke. During an angiogram, a piece of plaque from my heart embedded in my brain. If that wasn’t frightening enough, I was told I needed open-heart surgery, or I wouldn't survive. While doing tests to prepare for the surgery, they discovered the stroke.
I spent a month in the hospital, with everything on hold as my medical team tried to shrink the plaque so they could safely operate. The stroke left me with ataxia on my left side—my arm, hand, and leg would jump on their own, and I had to learn how to walk using a walker.
While waiting for my heart surgery and growing weaker by the day, I hit another roadblock. My blood levels were simply too low to operate. Finally, days later, I was prepped for surgery. They successfully bypassed three arteries in my heart.
But my battle was far from over.
A week after my surgery, I developed a MRSA abscess in my chest cavity. MRSA is an incredibly dangerous, antibiotic-resistant infection that takes thousands of lives each year. The odds were heavily stacked against me.
But my faith was bigger than the odds. 🙏
That was the day I truly learned to say, 'Your will, God, not mine.' In that moment, I was at total peace and ready to go home to His kingdom. But He had other plans!
I underwent an emergency surgery to remove the infection, leaving me with a chest tube and a drainage bag. The physical toll was massive. I stopped eating and lost 55 pounds in a single month. At 5’9”, I went from 295 pounds on the day of my surgery down to 218 pounds. My body was shrinking due to severe muscle atrophy.
I had a central line placed in my right arm to receive Vancomycin three times a day. Typically, this strong medication is only given for a couple of weeks because it can severely damage your kidneys. I had to take it for three months.
My family was gently told that I didn’t have a chance of surviving. I was told I would never walk, smile, or talk correctly again. I just continued to shrink in my wheelchair.
But then, God spoke to my heart. He said, 'I am not done with you, so get up and out of that chair. Live life, because I say so.' 🤍
I started physical therapy in incredibly bad shape. One arm was stuck in place from a shoulder injury, my ataxia was worse than ever, and I couldn’t even hold a cup of water. The left side of my face had collapsed, my speech was slurred, and I had lost so much muscle mass that my legs felt like toothpicks.
But God reminded me: 'Trust your physical therapist. I need you to be a servant.'
It took almost a year of grueling work, but on July 23, 2019, I walked out of that wheelchair! 🙌
Today, my speech is no longer slurred, so I can praise God loudly. I smile big when I sing His songs—and yes, I can sing! Everything I do is because God has been with me every step of the way. I still have some lasting complications from the MRSA, but God heals even when man says it's impossible.
I am not supposed to be here. Remember that heavy medication they said would destroy my kidneys? My doctors still don't understand how my kidneys are perfectly fine and working properly today. 🩺✨
So, please listen when I say... Now That Was God! I am still here, I am walking, and I praise Him every single day.”
