"I recall hearing gently softly-spoken words."

I cannot recall getting sick with pneumonia, the 911 response, emergency room visit, seven days in the Medical Intensive Care Unit at a major University, nor nine days of that time not being in the 'physical world'.

The 'journey' seemed to last for days, but perhaps it was only minutes or hours. I found myself going through a tunnel, almost floating or swimming through this tunnel. I found myself in a dark space, yet there were bright primary colors seeming to form letters that I cannot recall. This space felt 'hard,' like work. I felt tired. It seemed chaotic and loud. The space was unpleasant and I remember disliking it. I then slipped through what seemed like the same tunnel and I arrived in a tunnel-like space with a soft white and somewhat golden or shimmering light. As I was moved toward the light, I was not aware of my physical body. I recall a tremendous feeling of peace, calm, quiet, beauty, and a simply 'letting go' of 'tension' for lack of a better word. I remember thinking that I preferred this space over the chaotic space. I was happy. I was moving, without any effort on my part, toward the soft glow. I continued feeling the most incredible peace, accompanied by a gentleness and softness. I recall feeling eager to reach the light. yet did not feel rushed. I was getting closer.

I then noticed a very soft, yet worn-looking, flow and fold of a light blue and gold robe. I could only see the legs of the person wearing the robe. I knew He was God. I wanted to see His face as I moved closer, but I did not. During my travel toward the light, I recall hearing gently softly-spoken words. I somehow knew that I needed to remember the words. I recall feeling slight frustration that I was having difficulty remembering the words, but after a while, I had 'memorized' them and recall feeling relieved. The words I was told to memorize were: 'Seek not to understand so that you may believe, but seek to believe so that you may understand.' I then felt myself being pulled back and away from the light. I did not want to go and recall feeling sad. I tried to fight being pulling back. Yet, I continued moving backward.

I somehow found myself turned away from the light and knew that I had to quickly take one last look back; it felt so important, and I knew there was not much time. I quickly turned my head over my shoulder and saw the soft glow and flowing 'robe' one last time. And there, walking into the light was my beloved soulmate; my precious little teacup poodle Coco. He had passed about a year before this experience, and I have missed him terribly. I only saw his back end as he entered the soft light. I remember smiling to myself, feeling tremendous relief that I saw him and that he was o.k.

I was and am still happy that I remembered the words, yet I am confused. I did some research later and learned that these words were from the poet Pablo. I had NEVER heard these words NOR did I know anything about Pablo. Truly. I have gone over and over in my mind to try to remember hearing these words prior to this experience, but I believe they were new to me. Yet, as I think about it now, I was learning about so many different faiths before this experience, trying to understand, and trying to believe. The words simply told me to BELIEVE. I find that comforting.

I heard another message when I was close to the soft light, 'There is something important you must do.' It seems I heard this over and over. I have no idea what the 'important' thing is at present but am trying to BELIEVE that it will be shown to me. I feel transformed. Things just don't seem to be that important here on Earth. I'm calmer. I'm not trying to 'figure it all out'. I'm just taking one day at a time. I miss that 'oh so comforting' peace I felt on my journey; and, frankly, I am sad about being pulled back. However, I now believe there is a place to which I'll return one day, and that brings a smile to my face. 

NDERF.org, #7839

LOVE is the POWER of the universe

My near-death experience was actually two experiences in 1965. The second followed the first by perhaps 3 months.

The first was caused by falling several meters headfirst down a cliff and landing on sandstone rock. A small tree I was levering myself up on came away in my hands. I found myself traveling rapidly upwards into the sky. I had an immensely joyous feeling of lightness. I remember looking back at my crumpled body on the rock below and observing that ‘I’ was not my body. I could see everything below me very clearly. Below was the Hawkesbury River, with the beautiful bush surrounding it. I was heading towards some very beautiful cumulus shaped clouds. I had no fear, only joy. I looked back again and saw my boyfriend, who I was very much in love with, standing beside my body. In real time, this would have been several minutes after I fell, as he was quite a ways behind me and it would have taken some time to get down the steep cliff. I was a long way away by now and still traveling upwards, but I could feel exactly what he was feeling. He was very distressed. My heart filled with compassion for him, which I guess was what brought me back.

I am joining these two experiences together as I have always believed they are related. My (same) boyfriend and I were visiting a friend’s New Year's Eve party. The party was in the main room of a small house, and was packed with people. It was before midnight. I remember feeling vaguely discontent, as if I wasn't where I really wanted to be. I was standing about one meter from the only door into the room, looking across the room at my boyfriend. Suddenly I was no longer in this room, but facing an enormously tall angel. Surrounding both of us was radiant light. I knew this angel, and he knew me. I felt no fear, only joy and immense happiness. We communicated non-verbally. The angel was 'reminding' me of the power of LOVE that was actually THE power of the universe. It seemed that I already knew this, but 'he' was just reminding me. We communicated for what I would have estimated to be about 20 minutes, then with no warning I was abruptly back on earth, in the same place I had been standing when the experience first happened. The astonishing thing was that it was obviously hours later as there was no one in the room other than a sleeping body crashed on the couch. My boyfriend was not there, and when I eventually found him by calling out through the darkened house, he had been asleep upstairs as he had searched everywhere and not been able to find me. I had been physically removed during this experience.

The effect of these experiences on my life was profound. Overnight, I had become intensely empathetic. I could feel any pain or suffering and sense of isolation of people passing me in the street. I had an overwhelming sense of needing to DO something: my search for what this something is, has dominated the rest of my entire life. The sense of the reality of these experiences has far eclipsed anything else in my life. By this, I mean everything in comparison has been far less real. I could not use the words 'God' or 'Love' for many years as the reality of these words are so much greater than our 'normal' usage. 

NDERF.org, #7446

 

Conversation during his near-death experience

I must have been three or four years old when I underwent an eye surgery to correct the vision in one of my eyes. Before the surgery, I met with a priest who prayed with me because I was frightened of the surgery. During the surgery I underwent anesthesia and all was well until I felt my chest hurting. I thought to myself, 'Won’t the pain end? Won’t someone please help me? God, help me, when will this end?'

I was then suddenly rocketed out of my body and I could see myself on the surgery table. The doctors were all scrambling and I thought to myself, 'Why are they acting like that? I feel great.' I was then pulled upwards from my body. I thought, 'Well I guess this is it, good-bye body.' I was then taken into a tunnel by an individual made of light. I had seen the individual before the anesthesia was given to me. When I first saw this being, I thought, 'Who are you?' No answer came at that time. Nor did an answer come while I was led through the tube of light. Then, I was inside a void with the mysterious being. I asked this being, 'Who are you?' And the being said, 'Who do you want me to be?' The being then took on my mother’s voice and said, 'I can use this voice if it makes you comfortable.' When I declined, the being switched voices again and talked in my deceased grandfather’s voice.

I felt more at ease then. I was given a life review while inside the void. During this review, I told the being to pause. I wanted to better examine the parts of my life. I was then able to view these events from overhead. The life review did not last long because I asked the being something that surprised it. 'Can I plan my next reincarnation?' I asked. The being said, 'Usually people wait until their actual death to choose their reincarnation.'

I was persistent, because I already knew where I wanted to go: Japan. I was then taken to Japan via an overhead view. The being and I looked at various cities until we reached Numero in Hokkaido. I told the being that I wanted to be reincarnated here. Then, I was given a temporary glimpse into my next life. All I remember about this part was that I was Male and was wearing a dark colored coat that was accented by stylish autumn scarf while I stood in front of the train station. Then, I returned to the void.

I was suddenly dragged back into my body as the doctors restarted my heart. The revival soon failed and I was pushed back into the void. I was back with the being. The being asked me multiple questions during the reincarnation conversation and will allow me to be autistic during my next life as well. Near the end of the conversation I asked, 'Wait, can I see my grandfather?' And the being said, 'Not yet.' For the sake of my mother, I returned permanently to my body.

After the surgery I thought to myself, 'I saw an angel!' But did not speak about it to my parents. I strongly believe that I will be reincarnated in Hokkaido during my next life. I believe our souls get some choice during the death process.

Some additional things about the experience:

I was informed that I would develop mental illness during my twenties. So far this has been correct. I am typing this out during my most logical moments because I fully believe that this event will occur and that I will be reincarnated after I die.

 

NDERF.org #9193

Iranian's near-death experience

I was not feeling well and I wasn’t paying attention to my driving. I reached an intersection and looked to both sides of the street without much care. I did not see any cars coming, so I continued along my way. Suddenly, I heard a loud car horn followed by a loud crashing sound. At that moment, I found myself floating in a dark space. I was outside my body, floating in the air and just looking around.

I saw a body lying in the middle of the street next to a car. I was looking at it from several feet away. It took me a little while to recognize that it was my own body that I am looking at. I had no feelings for it; I was just an indifferent observer. I thought to myself that I must have died, but I was not sad at all. I didn't know where I was supposed to go from there. My thoughts and mind were the same as when I was in of my physical life, but I could not imagine the earthly thoughts.

After a short while, I gave up the worry of where I need to go from here, because I was enjoying the peace and silence. I was immersed in that moment. I was just watching from several feet up in the air as people were rushing towards my body from every direction. I couldn't hear their voices clearly, yet I was able to comprehend what they were saying. When I looked at these people, I knew their thoughts and what they were going to say.

Since there was a hospital on the same street where the accident occurred, it didn't take long for the ambulance to arrive. The medics put my body on a stretcher and transferred me to the ambulance. The driver turned on the sirens and sped towards the hospital. In the ambulance, the emergency medical team injected something into my body but it was no use. My body did not respond. Although I was detached from my body, I still felt like I was also somehow inside of my body too. Nevertheless, I was not feeling discomfort or pain. At the same time, I was feeling that I was going higher and higher each second.

I was floating like on a wave and felt so light. At the beginning and end of the accident, everything was moving so fast. When I exited my body, it was in another form, that was transparent and non-physical, yet it was similar to a human form. Although I saw the new form, I wasn’t giving it any thought. I was feeling pleasantly warm, could not smell or taste and did not have any bodily physical senses. I could not feel physical things, but my eyesight was greatly enhanced. I felt like I had turned into energy.

I was flying and entered into a gray-colored environment. I tried to reach a gray and dusty light that was moving in front of me. As I got closer to this light, it became brighter. The light looked like a vapor or smoke that is lit up under a street light. It was formless and had colors of blue, orange, yellow, and gold. I didn't know what it was. The light didn't bother my eyes and wasn’t blinding. I was pulled towards the light with great force. The closer I got to it, the more joy and peace I felt. After a while, I noticed Beings similar to me but they were more brilliantly colored and were moving slower than me. Then I was surrounded by my deceased relatives. I was feeling so much joy and lightness from seeing them. I felt they were there to help me. Their body was transparent and luminous. It never occurred to me to ask them questions like where am I, where am I going, what will happen to me, am I dead? They didn't talk to me either.

A halo of light surrounded me into itself. My life and all of its events started to play in my mind, but it was very clear, real, and alive. It was like a slideshow, but I experienced all the feelings in these events again. Everything was shown in chronological order. Although this whole life review only took minutes, it was pleasant and interesting to me. Once my life review stopped, my mind started to analyze my life and my actions. I felt that overall, I was relatively kind to people.

After that, I felt freedom. The halo of light left me and I felt like I have to return to the physical life. I was trying to avoid this from happening because I was experiencing new and pleasant things. But I automatically left that environment and moved into a grayish-blue environment and was put into a supine position and slowly, with no effort, returned back into the ambulance. The ambulance entered the hospital and they transferred my body into the intensive care unit. My floating Being could easily pass through the walls. It was like as I got close to a wall, it would go away. I could not feel any physical thing or barrier. I knew I was moving, yet I could not feel the motion. I entered the operating room, positioned somewhere close to the ceiling. Doctors and nurses were surrounding my body, but no one noticed me up by the ceiling. They were massaging my chest area. A nurse inserted a tube into my throat and used that to give me breathing. Another doctor injected something in my body. But my body was not responding. I heard a doctor shout, ‘code pink!’

Right then, as I was floating in the air, I passed through something fixed and light, which I felt from my side. An immense feeling of loneliness, depression, and fear engulfed me. I knew that my communication with others was cut off and I could not speak to people. I felt if I don't enter my body again, I would die forever. I was sad for my family and friends and how they would feel after my death. I could imagine and feel their feelings. On the other hand, there were important works I needed to finish and I thought I am too young to die. Nevertheless, I wanted to stay in this pleasant non-physical environment. I felt I need to decide quickly whether to stay in my body or outside of it. I felt that I cannot stay outside for too long or I would die permanently. So I decided to return.

During all this time the medical staff were trying hard to save me. Several times, they gave me an electric shock, but I didn't feel anything. However, I felt I am getting heavier and being pulled down towards my body. It was like their effort was working. When they shocked me again after several times, my body jumped up. I felt I entered my body like a solid object, with a jerk. I felt I am inside my body and heard the nurse shout, "Wow, it worked!"

When I was entering my body, I heard a whistle and felt I am in an open and dark space that is like a funnel and am entering my body from the head. After I entered my body, I felt lots of intense pain. I think I was out for 15 to 20 minutes. For several days, I was not in the natural state. When I healed a little bit, my doctor told me, "You passed a critical state." I said that I know and told him my entire experience from the beginning to the end. He was amazed and speechless.

Since that experience, my mind and soul is more important for me than my body. Some say that I have a healing effect on them. Now I feel I get along better with people and have more tolerance for them. I can better understand their feelings and what is going on inside them. This experience has changed my life and my thinking. I am no longer afraid of dying, as I have experienced it once.


From Gonbade Kavoos, Iran -Winter of 1996, NDE #16074

I hope Gabriel's trumpet might blow me home

 

“Slave Songs of the United States” by Charles Pickard Ware, Lucy McKim Garrison,
and William Francis Allen, 1867.

Agnostic scientist, Nancy Rynes, visits Heaven

In January of 2014, I experienced some things that promised to change my life forever. These experiences went from horribly terrifying and painful, to profoundly beautiful and soul-stirring; all within the space of a few days. On the morning of January 3, 2014, while riding my bicycle here in town, I was struck broadside by a truck. My injuries were so severe that I am still in recovery from some of them. By all accounts of the doctors who treated me, I shouldn't have lived. 'Most people die from injuries like yours,' my surgeon and primary care physician insist. They were right. I shouldn't have lived. In fact, I came very close to death twice during those first few days. During those brushes with death, I had two Near-Death Experiences (NDEs) that promised to change the way I look at life, the way I experience life, and the way I feel about the concepts of God and Spirit.

My first near-death experience happened when the truck initially struck me. In human time, this NDE lasted just a few minutes. As I was struck, I realized that my consciousness was in two places simultaneously. One part, very scared and animal-like, was firmly inside of my broken body that was stuck on the vehicle's axle and being dragged under the truck. The other part, a very calm, dispassionate observer, hovered out in front of the truck and off to the south, watching the whole scene unfold from a distance. This dual consciousness seemed quite normal to the observer part of me. The observer was calm about the whole thing, and I remember the feeling that this was all happening for a reason, that there was nothing to fear. The observer: me, watched as witnesses stopped, called for help, and as the paramedics arrived. When the paramedics started working on me, my two selves came back together. Once I was stabilized enough to move, they transported me to the nearest trauma hospital. It turned out that my head and spinal injuries were so severe that I'd need surgery. My lower spine would need reconstruction, but only after the bleeding in my brain stabilized. In the meantime, the trauma team admitted me to the intensive care unit (ICU). I pondered that initial split-consciousness experience for a few days in ICU while I awaited surgery. I had no explanation for being in two places at the same time, or for experiencing the accident from two different vantage points at once. In my scientific mind, I didn't know how consciousness could split apart with one part of me traveling outside of the body. Finally, I dismissed it as just an oddity of the crash and almost dying. It wasn't important, and it most certainly wasn't 'real.' Or so I thought.

Perhaps because the first experience wasn't enough to get me thinking about spiritual matters, three days later during surgery, I was pulled right into the thick of things. I had another NDE but this one was different. Instead of simply experiencing events unfold from outside of my body, my consciousness was ultimately brought to a place unlike anything I have ever experienced. The beauty and utter peace of the Place defies human words. I felt totally calm, loved, and whole. I also felt a deep, profound sense of LOVE permeating everything there. It was big love, as if the structure of this place was somehow made of love. Love was everywhere because there was nowhere that wasn't love. I can't explain it any further than that. I, already, never wanted to leave this Place. One woman greeted me. Although she said it was a form that 'she' took at that time to make it easy for me to relate to her. She was a stranger to me, although I was somehow not a stranger to her. She moved with me throughout the landscape, telling me things that I and the rest of the world needed to remember; things we'd forgotten or perhaps never learned. These things were reminders that would help us live a beautiful life on Earth. She said she was a spokesperson for everyone in Heaven.

Somehow, she was a conduit for the information I was being given because if I met and communicated with everyone who wanted to speak with me, I would be overwhelmed. It felt as though we were together for days, even weeks. The amount of information she passed on to me was staggering. I am still processing it. But eventually she insisted it was time for me to go back to my life. The thought of that made me weep like a child. I didn't want to go back: Not now, not ever. This Place was too beautiful and loving for me to want to leave. But she insisted that I had a life to live. It wasn't time for me to be here for good. I argued up and down and even yelled a few times. Can you imagine, arguing with a Being such as this? But I did. I argued and cried. I insisted I didn't want to go back to a broken body and all of the repercussions from this experience that awaited me. She watched me with what I felt was sadness, but she insisted that it was my time to go back. As I opened my mouth to argue again, I was back in the surgical recovery room. I was confused, weeping, and already missing that Place and the Being who I'd met there. No: I am no longer an atheist or agnostic, (although, at this point I don't want to put a label on what I am). I did have the good fortune to be shown Spirit in a way that made me realize that I can no longer deny It for myself. These experiences have opened my heart to all peoples, all faiths, and all beliefs in a way that I would not have thought possible. I will share a small bit of the first thing she taught me. We are primarily here to Love: to practice Love, to show Love, to experience Love. Hate is not the language of Spirit, nor is fear. Love is. It is a Love that has no conditions or strings attached. It is simply Love in all of its forms.

I was asked to share this with as many people as possible, so that is what I intend to do. That's what I promised, after all. I am not sure yet how I will get out the information. I think telling on a blog is a good start, but I expect that some larger form of publication will be in the works too. Yes, this is all real. No, I didn't make up or embellish any of it. I understand that some of you will think I'm crazy or hallucinating. Some of you may find any explanation to deny my experiences because they feel uncomfortable to you. Some people I have known for years may choose to distance themselves from me. This could cost me much. I was an agnostic scientist until just a couple of months ago, after all. But this is me and my life now. I trust that telling my story and all that follows will help more than it hurts; that it gives people hope, and that it brings people together. It may be that telling the story brings new people or opportunities into my life as well. All is as it should be. While my time on the Other Side (aka, 'Heaven') was brief in human terms, when I was there it felt as if weeks or months were passing. I observed an amazing amount in, at most, a couple of human hours.

The first wonderful thing that I experienced was the beauty of Heaven, both visually and in a feeling-sense. When I was there, a landscape of gently rolling hills surrounded me. Flower-filled grassy meadows spread out on the hills around me. There were huge, deciduous trees in full leaf. The trees were larger and grander than any here on Earth and surrounded the meadows. There was the barest sense of a light mist, as if it were a humid summer morning clung to the tops of the trees. The sky showed a very light blue, similar to what you might see at the ocean's shore, with wispy clouds and a very bright but somewhat diffuse golden light. That was the visual. But there is more to Heaven than what we can see with our eyes. Below the surface visuals was a well of feeling fueled by love, peace, and an abiding Presence that I will call Spirit or God. Through the landscape around me I sensed a profound feeling of peace, brightness, goodness, and love. The Beauty I felt really does deserve a capital B. It wasn't just pleasing to the eye: there was something deeper to it, more harmonious, more blessed, and more powerful.

Everything felt tied together by love and peace, and the beauty of the scenes around me was the product of this unconditional love. While the beauty of Heaven took my breath away, the sense of love completely ensnared me and made me want to stay there forever. I felt a deep sense of that love flowing through all things around me: the air, the ground below my feet, the trees, the clouds, and me. I felt the love flowing around me, flowing through me, and eventually capturing me by the heart. I felt supported by a loving Presence so powerful, yet so gentle, that I cried again. I had never experienced such unconditional love and acceptance in all of my years on the planet. It felt as though this place were built from love and peace on a very grand, cosmic scale. What I realized, and was later told by my Guide, was that love formed the structure or underpinnings of Heaven.

Each soul might see the 'landscape' differently, but all sensed and 'saw' the love that formed the basis for everything in the same way. That love and peace seemed to shimmer as glimmers of light beneath the surface, winking in and out of visual sight. It had colors and sparkle and texture. It seemed to take the form of what I saw, like trees, a meadow, but at the same time it was also separate from the forms themselves. The closest I can come to explaining what Heaven 'looked' like to my feeling-senses is to point you to the work of artist Ken Elliott. His paintings come closest to capturing what I felt underlying the landscape Over There. I'll share two pieces with you here with his permission, but please check out his website (www.KenElliott.com) for more examples. 'Soft Blue Progression,' comes closest to showing you what the visuals looked like for me as well. 'Yellow Wall,' as well as Ken's other paintings, gives a sense of the energy or vibration of LOVE and PEACE that build everything There.

NDERF.org, #7674 

Nancy Rynes, author of Awakenings from the Light: 12 Life Lessons from a Near Death Experience

 

While drowning experiences house of God

When I moved to Puerto Rico in 1994, I had no idea that I would live through a near-drowning, even though the island, surrounded by oceans and seas, scared me. I have always had a fear of drowning in deep water. A year and a half after arriving, on September 9, 1995, I was settled in my own home and busy working full-time. I was happy and having great fun with my local companions who had become family to me. One night after work, I gave a ride to some visitors of my friends, whom were visiting the island. I drove them up the west coast where I lived and worked. After some cajoling I was glad to take the drive up along the coast of beautiful Puerto Rico as I drove my local friend and his visitors up to their cottage where they were staying for a week.

It was evening by the time we arrived. I was going to stay the night and then drive home in the morning after shopping and going to the beach. Later that night, Maury and I went for a walk together, down to the beach. He was the handsome brother of the friend who had asked for the ride. We were getting along great. I felt invigorated and blessed, enjoying one of the most enchanting beaches in the world. This is the surfing capital of Puerto Rico and known world-wide by surfers who ride the huge waves along the pristine shoreline. The waves were gigantic and loud that particular night because of the post-hurricane weather, with another hurricane on the way.

We were playing by the shore with the beauty of the night sky off-setting the romantic ocean at our finger-tips; we were lulled into the ocean. While playing in the water, the ocean terrifyingly grabbed us in one wave! We were swept out to sea! Panicking, we struggled together to swim back to shore, but the waves were too big and powerful, plus the rip-tide had a deadly hold on us and we could not swim against it. Personally, I knew nothing of rip-tides or what to do if ever caught in one which is to swim parallel to the shore until out of the rip tide current. I did know I was going to drown that night and would never make it back to the beach. Due to the violent blasting of the waves, Maury and I were forcibly separated three times. He was not able to stay or swim me into the shore. I found myself alone in the middle of the vast, immense ocean, fighting for my life. I was able to prolong survival by timing the waves crashing on my head. I think I was out there for about thirty minutes, although it felt like forever. As the waves washed me under, over and over, I was able to tell when to take a breath, to sustain me underwater, until I swam up to the surface, to take another breath. This went on until I was too exhausted to move any body part.

Eventually the moment arrived when I became aware of exactly which wave would pummel me underwater to my death. As I inhaled my last breath, I felt an all-encompassing peace releasing all fears. The moment had come to get right with God. I was acutely conscious of the knowledge I would not make it up to the surface again. I was having my last view of the beach, the stars and the expansive, blue, dark ocean. As I took the breath that would sustain me for the rest of my life, I timed the wave falling on me. The ocean stilled and became very quiet. Stars began to fall on the horizon and dropped into the sea. When I looked up at the wave, it was suspended above me dripping droplets of water from its crest.

The next moment, I traveled to space. My spirit was taken in an instant to outer space and exploded into pure consciousness! I was acutely aware in my mind that I was traveling and had become an astral being. I was taken into the sky and into space. I was above the beach and to the right of the almost full moon. I was completely conscious of being alive without a body! As I began to comprehend where I found myself, my mental dialogue was the same as when I was in the physical realm. I noticed my mind was still thinking, hearing, and seeing. I tried to figure out where I had been taken. My spirit eyes felt the same as seeing through my body's eyes. My mind told me I was in a holy place. I was a visitor in a house of God.

The next moments were timeless, as I was gently informed about how I lived my life on earth. Completely non-judgmental, yet clear and precise was the voice inside my head. I learned why I was dying and how it would affect my loved ones. More information kept flooding my consciousness as I listened, learned, and understood profound life conditions of the past, present and future. I became my own proof of individual divinity, blessed with immortal life, by the infinite mercy of God's unconditional love. The revelations seemed to go on until I noticed a bubble of light, so to speak, to the right of where I was floating. Inviting and comforting, all my attention was eventually diverted to it. I knew without a doubt it was the entrance to heaven. I was happy to be going there, especially if what I was feeling is the norm. I forced myself to float towards it. When close, all of a sudden in an excruciating moment, I was rudely blasted back into my body!

The last wave had slammed me down hard as I began the descent into the dark, watery abyss to my drowning death. Then I felt a hand! Miraculously I was being rescued out of the last wave at the exact moment I was going to drown. Upon realizing I was being pulled to safety, I died and do not remember being pulled out of the water and laid on the beach. Upon resuscitation when I struggled to wake up, I was shocked to find out I was still alive and much to my chagrin, still in my body!

The only thing I could think about was my near-death experience and how much I wanted to go back to where I had just visited. Plus it made no sense I was on earth. The rest of the night and into the next morning became an extended fight to live. By the time the light of the new day dawned, I had actually lived through the first near-drowning, to almost die again from secondary drowning. Upon admittance to a hospital, I spent a long week in the Intensive Care Unit. Upon being discharged I went home a different person than whom I had been before that fateful night up the western Puerto Rican coast. 

NDERF.org #7516