My name is Michaela Mendoza, and I was born here in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and shortly after my story takes a flight to Kanas City where one of many miracles would happen. The moment my parents convicted me they had hopes of having a little girl especially since they had already had my oldest brother Augustine a year and a couple of months before finding out they were having me. As I began to develop and the sonograms became a little more clear that I would be diagnosed with Spina Bifida (A vertebrae defect that causes nerves to be affected and sometimes not develop) and other complications that would cause me to have more complications during development and in the future. Doctors became worried for my health and soon my life span. A couple of months into my mom’s pregnancy they told my parents that my life wasn’t expected to make it and even if I made it to full term it would be a still-born pregnancy, and they were recommending abortion. Knowing all the significant risks and the reality of the situation through faith my parents decided to still bring me into this world regardless of what the outcome was or what would hinder me when it came time to start my little life. This is always how I begin my story because it wasn’t mine until the parents made the choice for me to live and the belief that every life matters no matter what the circumstance or the work ahead that would have to be done to keep me alive. With a little girl with no guarantee alone the way and a barely one-year-old living at home my family began the process of excepting what was to come without knowing what that truly meant, and on top of my existence, my parents had been moving place to place due to my dad’s job that seemed very inconsistent.
November of 1995 was the day I would come into the world even though I was a month too early it was time to start the journey outside the verbal doubts and become a physical example of what God is capable of doing even if at first it seemed and looked hopeless. Shortly after I was born they rushed me to the ICU to begin trying to put me back together and help me begin to breathe, but it did not take long for the doctors to realize that I needed extensive help that they could not provide in Tulsa which leads to another heart-wrenching decision that would fly me away across another sate away from my family. Doctors said that I needed emergency surgery to correct my spine and close my open abdomen that never fully developed and the best physicians were either in Kanas City or Dallas Texas that had the expertise of my rare case of operating on newborns that made it long enough to have the surgery A few hours later I had my first ever private plane ride cross states to start the first of many surgeries I would have throughout my life and to begin unknowingly showing that the impossible is possible with God.
The several surgeries made my family endure many long hours that turned into months of staying at a Ronald McDonald house for families with very severe children in an ICU and spent Christmas and New Years’ with me in Kansas City. All of these stories have been told to me because I would never have known all of this was going on but I can now say that sometimes our testimonies start with a single choice of living and faith that passes all understanding. Never in a million years would my family or anyone choose this life of expectancies or choices that have to be made to save a life, but through my parent’s faith and trust in God, this is only the beginning of the fight between life and death and the enemy verse God to take what God wanted to live and tell the story of who he is.
Despite all the negative words and the unbelief of physicians and after many grueling surgeries and recovery I left the hospital and began living with my parents and my older brother. One year later my mom would have another little boy come into the world and seven years later I would have yet another brother that made us a family of six. That is a lot of time to not get into too much detail but to sum up, a lot of time let’s say that most of my growing up life was not average by any means. Figuring out what I was able to do and what was said I was capable of doing never matched up because God liked keeping everyone who took care of me in constant surprise. First, it was that she would never hear or speak and I did that, then it was that she would never eat or sit up, and then I did that, and finally, they said she would be wheelchair-bound the rest of her life because she couldn’t feel her legs and guess what I did! One of my favorite stories to share with people is how in as a little girl I was so stubborn and driven to define the odds to anyone who said, “she can’t” and with that, I showed off to the world how that is nothing compared to our God. I was in leg cast most of my infant life which defiantly made it harder to move around, but that’s when big brother stepped in and had me crawling and squirming around from place to place just because big brother said I could and encouraged me to do it without needing a physical therapist to bribe me. I later would walk with leg braces only with no walker or cane to assist and become mobile and ready to start doing with everyone else around me to support and help me strive in life, but that does not mean it did not come with its challenges and feelings of defeat or having to start a process over because things happen outside of our control. Time passed and it was time for yet another surgery that would help me become more independent and enable me to do things, but it would be a much bigger process than any other surgery I would do and I was only nine years old. Knowing that it would be a long and painful process I can look back and remember the terror I felt and the hopelessness in my family without them even verbally telling game that it was a scary situation but had to be done. It took several days to prepare for the road ahead and traveling to Kanas City with both parents and leaving my three brothers behind to help me, but this is where I think my faith began to grow in the midst of all that was to come knew Jesus was with me.
As a child and to this day I can remember the smell of hospitals that always seemed so clean but not a comforting homie clean, the hot-cold flashes I felt getting changed into a hospital gown and putting on the hospital socks that felt like sandpaper, the alcohol wipes they use to clean your skin to put an IV port into your hand to keep you hydrated, and worst of all the NG tube (Nasal Gastro) that would make me gag so much it made me cry. Finally, after all of that, I would have to wait several days to make sure there was no food in my body before the surgery which felt like months and when the day came to finally do the surgery it was the most bittersweet memory of Jesus I would ever experience that would change my life forever.
The night before my surgery laying in my hospital bed feeling weak and completely defeated spiritually and physically it was time to try and rest before the big day ahead. My parents both kissed me goodnight and stepped out of the room to say goodnight to each other because only one parent could stay the night. The room felt so dark and cold at that moment and the stillness felt like someone paused the movie of my life and all I could do is sit there and listen to the noise outside my room. I could hear my mom and dad whispering and slowly turn into tears and sobbing. This was the first time I had heard my parents cry together since we started this journey and at that moment I questioned everything and began to bitterly cry but in the sorrow, I felt a sense of warmth cover my body and I raised my frail hands and asked God to comfort me. I declared that if he got me through this that I would surrender my life to him fully and not just know him because my family raised us in church or because they believed in him but to make him my Lord and savior. After that prayer the holy spirit began to speak to me and calm me from my fear-driven tears and nerves and the whole room felt different and with that, I was able to fall asleep, but not just any sleep a peaceful and completely at rest because of the presents of God in my room. From what I can barely remember is that I was supposed to be wakened up that morning to be prepared for surgery, but I remember none of it and the only thing I remember is waking up after my twelve-hour surgery was that night.
Reflecting on that night brings chills every time I talk about it and now even typing it gives me so much joy and thankfulness because I know for a fact that God places me under a supernatural sleep so that I could rest and be at peace and recover. I remember doctors saying that I recovered faster than most patients even if I didn’t feel that at the time it was all God giving me the strength to push through the pain and recovery to move onto more of my calling of pursuing him and sharing all that he’s done. Throughout my life, I have had thirty-five surgeries and I’m twenty-five now so I’m not saying that my life hasn’t had other complications or doubtful times of questioning God, but I can say that through every medical experience it grows me closer to God and he reminds me of that nine-year-old girl who gave her everything at the weakest most fearful time of her life with no knowledge of the outcome but she still trusted God at such a young age.
I have been transformed ever since the day I asked Jesus into my heart and I can’t imagine life without Jesus guiding every step of the way. He has been so faithful in every aspect of life and there are so many stories I want to share with others about how even if it wasn’t in a physical way he was helping me it was to teach me perseverance and to embrace everything he’s put in front of me the beauty and the ashes. Following Jesus was never going to be easy and the enemy continues to throw things at me to get me off the path God has placed before me, but with each distraction, dishonesty, and defeat God brings back truth and life into those places where I can put the armor of God on and replace distraction with destination dishonesty with truth and defeat with determination to keep proving the enemy wrong. Today, I am working on how I can continue to share my stories with others and throughout my life people periodically would say that I needed to write a book and get it out in public somehow and I have been working on it since 2020 and hope to have a good bit of it done by 2022 so that I can connect with people in a whole new way. In the spring of 2020 during the pandemic, I began an Instagram and building a blog title “Embraced Bravery” to get my short stories out and tell of the wonders and visions God has given me throughout my life to connect others to know Jesus more. There is still so much of this journey that has continued to be an uphill climb but I can say that with each step and with each scar because of falling along the way that I wouldn’t change my battle scars for anything. I am constantly reminded of the scars Jesus has in his hands, feet, and side and that through those scars people were lead to believe he was the Messiah and I hope that my story and my physical scars can show others that Jesus is the one true king and that he wants all of us no matter what we face.
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