Happy Thanksgiving! is a message that’s being shared among family, friends and others throughout the world today? Everyone has so much to be grateful for as they witness this day and every day. The echo of chatter and laughter will permeate from dinner table to dinner table as people sit town to give thanks.
Among those millions of grateful individuals is Leola Strickland of Jackson, Miss. – also affectionately known as “Miss Leola.” Strickland, who was born and reared in Chicago, tells The Mississippi Link online news that, “Everyday is a day of thanksgiving” for her. However, she said the national holiday – Thanksgiving – has been a dual celebration for her since 1996.
Read her testimony as she shares it with the World Wide Web:
I am a living testimony. On Nov. 23, 1996, I was standing in front of the building where I worked handing out literature about God (calling it Good News) during my break. When returning to work from lunch, I started feeling weird. I looked up toward Heaven and said, “Lord, if you let me make it to the building, I promise I’ll go to the hospital.”
Upon reaching the building, I was terrified to enter the elevator alone, so I asked God to send his angel. When the door opened there was a young man on the elevator. After the elevator doors closed, he said, “Ma’am I don’t mean any harm, but you look terrible. Is there anything I can do to help you”? I asked him to just talk and keep me alert until I reached the fifth floor.
The doors opened and I went to my cubicle. Still feeling the same I asked one of my coworkers to take me to the hospital. I went in to inform my supervisor, he took one look at me and insisted that I go via ambulance and that no one in the office should touch me. The ambulance came. After giving me an EKG, they wheeled me to the vehicle, took me to the hospital.
After being examined by several doctors including a cardiologist, I was admitted to the hospital for further tests. I was given the test where they looked at the heart from the groin. They discovered that my main artery was 96 percent blocked. I was scheduled for the surgery the next day (one day before Thanksgiving). By noon my artery had closed another 2 percent.
I received a call from one of my sisters (a nurse) in Chicago; I told her that I was being taken to the operating room for the surgery. My sister immediately started praying. In all my years of illnesses, she never reacted in such a manner. That’s when I knew the operation was serious.
Let me back up, the surgeon didn’t want to perform the surgery until Monday; the cardiologist told him that I would not live until Monday. Around 4 or 5 days, later I saw the surgeon; he stopped me in the hall. He told me to stop, don’t move, he had to touch me, because I was a miracle. He informed me that he’d worked hearts that were not as bad as, mine and the people died on the surgery table. He said, ‘You are a miracle.’ The cardiologist told me later that the veins they put in my heart would last approximately seven and a half to 10 years.
Look at God! They’ve lasted 14 years and I am still here.
The Thanksgiving holiday and Christmas season that year was one I will never forget. The people in Mississippi, my family, bowling leagues, coworkers and church members were just awesome. God is an awesome God!
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EDITOR’S NOTE: Strickland and her family are celebrating her life today, among other things, as they give thanks. What are you thankful for, today? Please share your thanksgiving comments and/or testimonies with our online visitors by signing up to comment below. Happy Thanksgiving!
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