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So many people who have had near-death experiences have spoken of seeing two distinct places where the souls of men end up after they leave this life in death. I would like to add my witness to theirs. I have not died and come back, but I was taken to see these two places and give my validity to their existence.
Many have asked, How can anyone know that there is a heaven? To this, my response is simply this: Have you ever had your father pass away and then come back to visit you a few years later in your room at night? Well, I have, and this puts me in a unique position.
My father passed away back in 1998 from Leukemia. It was a difficult time for my family. Dad was always the stalwart in the family…. He was the “go-to” whenever you needed something. He could fix anything, and he always seemed to know what to do.
As he was starting to get older, I could tell that he was slowing down a bit, something that seems to always come with age, but Dad never seemed to show any sign of stopping… He was a workhorse and always was, never taking time off if he wasn’t feeling good.
One day, he said to my mother that he wasn’t doing well and that he was planning to just stay home for the day. This was not only unusual for Dad, but completely unheard of. To my mother, that signaled that something was wrong, and when the second day came around and he still didn’t want to go to work, that was like sending up a fireworks signal…a big red flag!
Not having super great insurance, my mother took him to see my Brother-in-law, who owned a chiropractic business and shared his office with a blood testing facility, so my mother took him in to get his blood work done. After looking at the results, she was told to immediately drive him to the hospital, where 12 hours later, he slipped into a coma, was placed on life support, and never woke up.
I never did get to see my dad awake or speak with him after that. It was sobering. Dad and I had some rough patches growing up, which we did seem to somewhat fix before he passed. I am grateful for that!
He used to talk about how when we were all little kids, we couldn’t wait until he came home, and we would all flock to him like a magnet. Dad would play with us, and it was always fun, but as we grew older, things seemed to change. We began to grow distant, and Dad noticed it. He began to try and change his tactics and go back to working on relationship building instead of parenting. For the younger ones, that seemed to work, but for us older kids, our clay was a little more set, and it just wasn’t there.
For me, it was mostly because I didn’t like doing my chores, and it seemed that when he got home, completing chores was his only focus. I was kind of a hot head, and it was difficult. I tried to help my mother with everything since dad was always working, and because he was always gone, that didn’t seem to help with an already strained situation. We just didn’t talk, and as long as he stayed in his area of the house and I stayed in mine, we tolerated each other.
After about a week in the hospital, the medical staff began to speak with my mother about thinking of letting Dad go…. This was so hard! Mom said that she couldn’t make that decision on her own and asked the entire family to pray, and that we would make that decision as a family. This was difficult for her. It was difficult for me…
Being a type “A” personality, I stood as a stalwart, not letting my emotions show, but it did affect me. I remember leaving the hospital and asking the Lord for help. This was not only a curveball, but it came out of nowhere like a shock and awe to everyone in the family. We were not ready for this. As I walked out into the parking lot towards my car, talking to the Lord in prayer, I heard an audible voice say, “Everything will be Ok.” That was my answer, and when the family got together to give our input about what we should do, my answer was held up, and everyone agreed.
When that time came, we all stood around the hospital bed as they pulled the plug, and we watched the equipment as everything slowed down and then flatlined, but I knew that he was already gone.
Life was never meant to be easy, for if it were, we would not do anything but sit in cruise mode. God wants to push us so that he stretches our souls and we learn to rely on him, and if life were easy, most, if not all of us, wouldn’t grow.
Several years later…I had been working on repentance of some things in my life that I needed to get rid of. After some time in prayer and fasting, I felt like my request had been granted by the Lord, and I left this huge burden come off my shoulders as the energy had shifted. It was at this time, after I had repented, that my Dad came to see me. He showed up as a spirit being.
The first thing out of my mouth was “Oh, hey, Dad!” Like he was stepping in from the other room when I lived at home all those years ago, back in high school.
Due to my repentance, he said that he had come to show me some things, to which I readily agreed. He took me to what I would call a portal, and he asked me if I understood what I was seeing, to which I replied, Is this like a car? He laughed and said that was a good enough answer. He then told me that there were some things that I was not allowed to see until we got to our destination, and so he was going to place a helmet over my head that would prevent me from seeing them. It looked like a motorcycle helmet, nothing more, but I couldn’t see anything once it was placed over my head. Then, off we went. I don’t remember much about the portal, but it took like a second until we arrived at our destination, and he took the helmet off my head.
We were in a beautiful place that was filled with light. There were spirits of the deceased everywhere, and they all glowed with a bright light that radiated out from them. It was as if light radiated off everything, including the souls of the spirits that dwelled there. It was the glory of the lord, and it shone whiter than our noonday sun. It was a place of paradise, which is the best way for me to describe it. Joy and happiness were everywhere. My dad then took me to meet some of my ancestors who were there. They were rejoicing over me because I had repented of my sins and was in a state where I could return. I stepped into what appeared to be an amphitheater, and it was loaded with spirits, so great was the number of people that it never ended as I looked off into the distance. They were there to celebrate my return to God, and my shy self was slightly embarrassed to be the focal point of their happiness at that time of rejoicing. Luke 15:7. I don’t like a lot of attention, I never have, and I shrank back a bit from all the press of the crowd.
What I didn’t do was focus on all the things around me, so I missed so many details. I was so focused on my Dad and seeing all these people, that I don’t remember any of my surroundings. I would have liked to have had more time to just absorb the scenes around me, but my Dad was determined to only show me certain things, and I didn’t get the time to see all the details that others have seen in their experiences. He had a certain amount of time to be with me, and we were following that time frame.
Is there a place of Paradise or Heaven, as it is called? Yes, it does exist. I saw it. Do love and the feelings of love abound everywhere, like others have said? Yes, it does. I have felt it. This place does exist, just as the scripture tells.
There were many other things that I don’t remember, as my mind was so fixed on seeing certain things, but shortly afterward, Dad dropped me back off at my room, and then I woke up.
I thank God for giving me this experience.