I was asked by a long standing member of this esteemed

[Ecumenist]

forum to tell a bit about the NDE's I experienced in 1998. I told them I would and I only hope that it serves a purpose and opens a few door to a few questions that you may have about the other side. I look forward to someday returning,(in God's good time), to that wonderful place again and reuniting with my dear mother, grandfathers, Aunts, uncles, friends, cousins and my chatty sister Raine who actually chose my husband for me and continues to make her opinion known whether I want to listen or not. :shrug: I always hear conversations going on and if someone spends enough time around me, they'll start to see, hear and feel the People who seem determined to spend my life with me, not that I'm complaining, at least, not most of the time. In any case, here's what happened to me:I knew I was going to die about 20 months before the actual date I crossed. November of 1996, my sister, who crossed in 1972,had come to me and let me know that things weren't right in my body. I have had Rheumatoid Arthritis since I was 12, (that's another story all together) and consequently, I thought that the nagging pain in my upper left back was a symptom of my arthritis secondary to a car accident I was in in 1994. In January of 1998, A friend of mine, an EXCELLENT astrologer, gave me my yearly chart reading and she told me to watch out for August 7th because I would have some issue with blood, (no pun intended). Now as that year went on, particularly starting in March of that year, I started to really get stronger pain BUT it wasn't constant. I was getting periods of weakness and lightheadness BUT it wasn't enough to impact me that much. That's neither here nor there, the fact is that come august, I wasn't eating alot but again, that wasn't completely abnormal. Late night August 6th , looking back on it now,. I realised that that deep and irresistible call to sleep was the first time I passed out. The next day, I felt fine so I went on my merry way. I was on the phone with this same astrologer friend when I passed out again. when I came too, I told her that I needed to got to the restroom. My mother and brother realised I was in there too long. turns out that I was haemorrhaging from a perforated ulcer, that I didn't know I had and it had started eroded into the arteries supplying the liver. The came into the restroom to see me sitting, fully dressed and blood everywhere. Of course, they called the 911 and I was transported to hospital. ONce again I phoned my friend the astrologer and very calmly told her that I was going to die. I started to bleed out once again and told her( I swear this is exactly what I did), "I've got to go, I'm going to die now". The next thing I know, I was in the operating theatre where doctor and the entire surgery was rushing about trying to save my life. The weirdest part of this is that although I had NO BLOOD PRESSURE, (blood volume was on the floor), I was conscious, talking, lucid and VERY warm. The doctor kept asking me if I could hear him, following his request to the nurse to take my blood pressure and give him the reading. Each time she told him that I have ZERO blood pressure, he would say, t"that can't be right" and then ask me if I could see him. This happened 3 times until I finally said in an exasperated way, "I can see you, alright?!!" I knew that I was about to cross, even before the next strangest thing happened. As you can well imagine, there were a number of conversations going on in the theatre, yet I could hear and understand each and every one. I heard one nurse tell another that that I had less than a 5% chance of even waking up with a functional brain, yet it didn't matter because I had already said the Lord's prayer twice. One of the nurses came over to ask me what she could do for me. I asked her to pray for me and I'd be alright.It's real strange how calm I became. I knew that no matter happened, I would be okay. Now, I have to tell you that that I remembered my NDE's backwards. Putting things into as best a chronological order I can, I was in a meadow playing with children a game that I only describe as "ring around the rosy". However, instead of falling down, they would leap through air, leaving a trail of fairy dust behind them. I was having a ball UNTIL I realised that the meadow was disappearing and what I can only describe as a white marble floor becoming more and more apparent. I then found myself in the presence of what can only be called God. He told me that I had to go back, This is where I started bargaining. I told him that I didn't need a house, that I could just sit there at His feet. Then I said that I was finally here and I never thought that I would make it. He replied, "The only one you thought that was you." I then said, with tears, "but it will hurt" and He told me "It won't hurt very much." ( Even when I awoke from surgery and during my long convalescence, I NEVER HAD PAIN TO SPEAK OF). However, I then did something that I' never done, even as a small child. I jumped up into the air, spread eagled and slammed in to the floor. I laid there screaming, snotting and sneezing all over the place, like some that was going to change the outcome.The heaviest thing is that the Creator of everything, (EVERY SINGLE THING IN THE UNIVERSE!!!), knelt down and picked my dumb behind off of the floor, put His arm around my shoulders and told me that "when it's your time, I WILL CALL YOU." Evidently, that wasn't enough because that next thing I remember, I was trying to tiptoe <<<<TIPTOE, For crying out loud>>>> into "arched entrance that lead out to the meadow again. Now mind you, I was tiptoeing through the room where first met God. AND HE WAS THERE with His back to me. Now, even if God didn't know I was there by some crazy chance, the two light beings FACING ME MIGHT HAVE CLUED HIM IN!!! He was speaking to these two beings, which for all the world were made of light, His back to me, them facing me. Just as I was about to take that last step back to paradise, the kids, the meadow, etc, He turned around and said to me, "You're back". I started to cry and he told me what my reasons were for having to go back. I don't remember what he told me but I know that there was a myriad number of things that I was going to have to do. He told me that when it was my time to cross, He would come for me, that He would call me. Apparently, that wasn't enough because the next time around, I found my self in I believe was the tunnel. My sister Raine and a friend of ours that passed in 1990 from AIDS were literally glassing me in the tunnel, because I was trying to find a way to get back to Heaven. I was plastered on that "glass" barrier like a giant Gecko. I can tell you the last part of Heaven I saw was the most beautiful tableau. A perfect green meadow in the foreground that gradually elevated into the rolling green mountains in the background that had trees in the gorges and everything had an aura, Golden and they were actually moving in response to some sort of music that pervaded everything. Now, when I looked straight down, there was a void that was composed of swirls of black blacker than anything you've every seen, trust me. I, however was so certain that I would do anything to get back, that I was willing to leap into that void to make it back to Heaven. I then heard my sister tell Leonard, "We'd better hurry because she's going to get out of here. I was sped back to Earth and HELD IN MY BODY TO MAKE SURE I STAYED!! when I woke up in ICU , I couldn't understand why I was on a ventilator. I asked for a pad and pen to write to the Respiratory therapist that I wanted that damn thing out of my throat. It was removed and that I I went back to sleep. The next time I woke up, ALL of the nurses on the ward were crowded around the room, (the walls are glass), and pointing at me,like I'd just been dropped from a spaceship from Mars, with a third arm growing from my forehead. Within minutes, a couple of nurses came into the room as asked me why I was still there. You see, they were SHOCKED that I not only awakened but I wasn't brain damaged. A virtual impossibility considering that I had completely lost my blood volume twice and stopped breathing once. I responded to their question by telling them that "someone prayed for me, that's why." I'd told my mother when I'd awakened earlier that I had been on a bus and later on, realised that that was the tunnel. Later on, doctor, came in and asked me why I was there and going on to tell me that God had a plan for my life. My doctor was an Iraqi named Dr Al-Salti. I told him the same thing. But it wasn't until 11 days later that I learned that I'd died on the table twice and stopped breathing once. My mother used to asked me about heaven alot and I believe that the main reason was sent back was to tell everyone that needed to know what I'd seen and experienced. I have a lot more tell, if you need me to but I figured that this is a good place to start.

[Cleita]

1. Thanks for posting.

Your story is much like others who have had NDE's. Not every one's is the same because experiences are individual, but yet they seem to follow a similarity. Please post more when you feel ready.

From someone who has never experienced anything like this, it has to be something that you are bursting to tell and yet hesitant to.

[Ecumenist]

2. Not really....

I have to be honest and tell you that I'm a woman that can talk you to sleep and I believe that he reason I was sent back to let everyone know that there really isn't anything to be afraid of. MOst people think that they are afraid of death and the truth is that we are afraid of what it takes to get there, whether it involves cancer, murder, debility, AIDS, etc. Right before you cross, there is a calmness that is so profound which allows you to understand that soon, nothing will ever hurt you again, you'll never be sick nor afraid. at risk of sounding macabre, it's actually VERY comforting and wonderful. No matter what happens, nooone EVER DIES ALONE, ever!!

[lady lib]

3. I also want to thank you for sharing your experience.

I've read that when souls cross, their initial experiences are based on what their beliefs and expectations are from when they were in their bodies. For example, if someone was raised to believe that they would be met by souls in white garments waiting for them at pearly gates, then that's what they initially experience. If they've always envisioned heaven as a beautiful natural surrounding, then that's what they experience. So my question is did you see what you had expected to see, or was it different?

[Ecumenist]

4. Not completely.

Strangely, outside of my sister,( who by the way died in infancy), I didn't see any relatives. I summarised the NDEs because I didn't expect the crystal city that sings, the best way I can term it. I didn't expect the colours there that DO NOT EXIST HERE and the wonderful animals that I'm sure have never seen any earthly incarnation. When I saw my sister, girlfriend had a PANTSUIT on with a BEE-YOU-TEE-FULL bejewelled collar and no shoes. She appears to be about 30 years old, simply lovely. I am a Christian, rather orthodox but raised to believe that people have the right to believe the way they do, regardless of whether it jives with my belief or not. I DO NOT believe that NDEs are a product of an oxygen starved brain, there are too many incidences where people have described things that they could not have possibly known that happen during the NDE. It had parts that were in line with what i though one would see BUT the last thing I thought I would experience was playing in a meadow of flowers with children but I was having fun.

[vanboggie]

5. Fascinating

Thank you so much for sharing your glimpse of the other side with us. A dear friend nearly died recently and was changed by the experience. Her relatives were with her giving her the strength to hang on. I became fascinated with NDE's when my father passed several years ago. I had to know where he was and what he had gone through (he died alone on a terrible hospital's floor). I was comforted when he returned to me once shortly after his death. I was sobbing with grief and he was suddenly there - behind me. He came to comfort me and tell me he was OK. I could feel the love and a "hug". That convinced me there really is life after death. I was very lucky since not everyone experiences those visits. Accounts like yours are so helpful and comforting to anyone who has a loved one on the other side. Thanks again.

[Punkingal]

7. I had a similar experience....

I was extremely fond of my husband's grandfather, since I have almost no memories of my own grandfathers. After the service, we were at my husband's uncles house, where we had so many family gatherings, and it was the place I had spent the most time with Gramps. I went downstairs to get away from everyone, and I was standing looking into the backyard swimming pool, and thinking how Gramps would never be here again, and all of a sudden, I heard him say, "I am here, Faye." It was such a comfort, and it was as real as anything I have ever experienced. I know he was there, and I know life continues.

[Ecumenist]

13. You can't begin to imagine how common this is

Most people that experience this feel uncomfortable talking about what I term confirmation calls, very similar to what people get from friends and family members when they're travelling to let them know that they arrived safely. My family always asks me, (when a loved one crosses), if I've seen them yet.
I like to term it to people like this, if you've ever watched Star Trek, there are times when various characters are posted to different planets in other solar systems. There are times when these same characters can't get back to earth because of the distance but are very much alive. I look at death as them moving off the planet and living on another very far away but very much alive, more so than we are. in fact, I've been told that they consider us the dead ones because if we fail to any of a number of things, we die. If we stop eating, we die; if we stop breathing, we die; is we allow ourselves to be exposed to the elements, we die and the so forth. But as They told me, they don't HAVE to do any of these things andthey will still live. They can see us, hear us, touch us but we can't usually feel them there and certainly can't them or touch them. This is why they come to us in "dreams" and often meets us in what I call the "the Meeting Place".

[Ecumenist]

12. Van, I'm so sorry that your father had such a harsh time in

his final days... Please, please please believe me when I tell you that your daddy DID NOT DIE ALONE. Noone ever does. I speak to the People each and everyday, all day,(much to the amusement and interest of my husband. We've been married almost 5 years and he still answers me when I'm talking to someone else,that he USUALLY can't see). :D The only reason that people aren't aware of the People around us is because we can't see them with what most term "regular vision" BUT if you've ever seen what looks like shadows moving VERY FAST in the peripheral vision, you'll have a somewhat of an idea of what it is to see what I see. I say that if most people could see what I see ,Prozac would outsell salt with thorazine bringing up the rear. Your father was never alone and God never allows us to come to him alone.

[vanboggie]

21. But I knew he was OK then

I will never forget his comforting after-death hug. My mom died in recent years. I had the privilege of being with her when she passed on. Her home is near ours and my husband's adult nephew saw her there one day after her death. He is from out of state and didn't know it was her, but was surprised to see someone in the yard since he thought the house was not then occupied. He described her to a "T" right down to the clothing she would be wearing while working in the yard. On another occasion I was visiting with a daughter in law who also didn't kow my mom. There was a sudden very strong scent of roses and we both acknowledged it. I did not connect that to my mom, but when I told my daughter her eyes got wide. She went to her room and brought out a perfume bottle of my mother's that she had kept - Roses. I think that was my mom's way of asserting that she is still here with me. I don't remember dreams, so I guess my folks had to go the extra yard to let me know of their presence!

[Ecumenist]

24. that's lovely and isn't it a sweet thing that.......

God allowed your Mom and Dad to let you know that they're okay so that you wouldn't worry? I'm telling you this is more common than not. It's just that people don't feel comfortable enough to talk about it without the idea that others will think that they are cracking up. I have a friend who's grandmother called her two weeks AFTER she died of liver cancer. My friend didn't think anything of it and in fact, upon waking the next morning, first thought that it was all a dream until she looked over and realised that she hadn't hung the phone on the carriage. Her Grammy told her that she as doing fine and was actually giggling and laughing about how wonderful it was over there. I had another acquaintance whose mom died quite suddenly in a tragic and traumatic manner. She was already devastated when two weeks later, her dog which meant the world to her, died. She was worried about both her mom and her dog. One night, about 2 1/2 weeks later, the phone rang. HER HUSBAND groggily answered it and handed it to her. It was between 2 and 3 am. She said hello and sure enough, it was her mother.
She said that she was calling to let her know that she was alright and she VERY happy but wanted her to know that although she was unable to respond, due to the coma she was in, she heard everything she said and that loved her enough for all eternity. She'd met up with her grandma and her husband, (the friend's dad) and they were all together again. AND...... "don't worry about Peanut, (the golden retriever), because I have him and he has friends here, running and playing ALL DAY and playing in the water @ the beach that is near her new home." She was on the phone about 6 minutes and the conversation was witnessed by her husband. Her mom actually told her to give the hubby a kiss for her and that she loved him too. She was so blown away that the very next day, she told me with tears rolling down her cheeks that her mom and Peanut were fine, just as I told her they would be. It was lovely and much more common than we know or aware of. O8)

[vanboggie]

25. That's amazing

What great stories. After recounting the story of my dad's visit to a co-worker the next day, her response was, "Oh that's just because you wanted it to happen. It was your imagination." It wasn't that way, and I knew it. It happened and I felt very blessed.
My dad's visit was over 25 years ago, and the memory of it is as vivid today as it was then.

How interesting it must be to have them talking around you all the time. I'm jealous, LOL. Thanks again for discussing your experiences.

[mrgorth]

6. Thanks so much.

[Love Bug]

8. Wow, Ecumenist, what an experience!

What an amazing experience! I've never had an NDE myself, but I know a few people who have and what they describe is similar to your experence (well, except for the tantrum and having to be thrown out of heaven part ;-) but wow). I'm sure we all would love to hear more about it when you get the chance.

[Ecumenist]

14. Love Bug, I prefer to say that I was escorted back to

my body by the "heavenly bouncers".LOL!!:eyes: I'm sure that when my grandfather, mother and aunt who passed away in November arrived, the others couldn't wait to recount (and probably show a video), of what happened, saying that noone has ever acted like that in front of the Boss. I can just imagine my face plastered on HBC(heavenly broadcast company), on the episode, "when Humans Lose the Everlasting Minds and Act Like Fools".

[davsand]

9. Sharing this is a profound act of love. Thank you.

I lost a very dear friend a few years ago and she came back to gift me with the knowledge of continued life after this body ends. At the time, she told me that I was not to worry, that she was ok, and it all continues after we pass. She loved me a great deal and her gift to me was sharing that knowledge of life's continuation. I have carried that with me from that point onward.

In many ways, knowing that it doesn't just END makes the process of grief a lot easier to deal with for me. We are left sad when those we love pass away from us here--but that sadness is more a matter of missing that physical presence rather than a final parting. I miss her still--but for me it is now more like she's gone to someplace on an extended vacation rather than GONE. I know she's ok, and she is ok with it, and that makes all the difference to me.

One of your gifts to the world is easing people's pain and fear, it seems. Thank you so very much for coming here and sharing this.


Laura

[Ecumenist]

15. Exactly, Davsand....

She just moved to another place that you'll be going to as well someday.. Death is not the end, not at all.

[Matariki]

10. i hope i don't seem like an asshole for asking -

but my eyes are a bit strained on the computer and i'm wondering if you could repost this with paragraph breaks?

i've been doing a lot of work with my ancestors, which is truly an amazing thing, and i'm very interested in your post. Unfortunately, I get a few lines down before i just can't focus on it anymore.

[Ecumenist]

16. Not at all, Kineta

I'll send it to you in an email in the manner you can read it before the day's out, I promise.

[oxbow]

11. "There is no Death. There is only change."

I've been dealing with a lot of mortality issues the last few months, and your experience reminds me of this, one of the messages I've received on this journey. Reading your story, I can almost remember that completely perfect peace of being with God again. I don't know if the memory is from my dreams or from before this life, but I thank you for the reminder anyway.

I hope that everyday, you continue doing what you came back here to do. God bless and take care :hi:

[Ecumenist]

17. Thank you Oxbow....

I will be certain to continue to do whatever I am told to and I'm asked to do. I look forward to returning to that place but while I'm here, I want to do whatever it is God and my family,(both my blood and the greater human race), needs me to do.

[onecent]

18. Thank you so much for your post!! I lost my best friend back in 1988 and

I keep looking for signs every day. I do dream of her often, and when I do I feel so warm and fuzzy for the entire day!

Your post meant alot because I am 60 years old, my husband is 68, and I DO find that age does do something to your mortality/immortality button.

I have so many loved ones here...and over there...but I totally 'FEAR' that I will never see either side again.

I "FEAR" this is "all there is"....and it scares the hell out of me.

I don't WANT TO EXPERIENCE anymore loved ones leaving me....and i definitely don't want my husband to leave my side.

I worry about everything....mastering panic attacks all last year....

So THANK YOU for your post...it is reassuring.!

Hugs to you

[mother earth]

19. Thanks so much for posting your experience!

It gives us all hope.

[japple]

20. Thank you, Ecumenist, for giving this story of hope and

reassurance to us. I lost my mother 4 years ago and my husband 1-1/2 yrs. ago. I have felt my mother's presence from time to time, but not my husband's. We had been married almost 25 years, but were going through a rough patch when he died very suddenly. I did a ceremony with two candles, which represented the two of us, and asked his higher self and mine to forgive each other for the hurt and pain caused during our marriage, to release each other and ourselves for any lingering guilt. At that point the candle that represented him started to sputter and flicker, so I took that as a sign that my message had been received, and I felt better about things.

BTW, I loved the bit about your trying to sneak around in heaven. I laughed out loud over that.

Thanks again.

[rumpel]

22. Amazing...welcome back and thanks for sharing. I bet you HE was

giggling with affection for you, when you finally did come back.

tiptoeing - you're funny

:hi:

[NMDemDist2]

23. oooo geez, I'm gonna have to print that out in double spaces

my old eyes just can't track that much unbroken text...

I look forward to reading it.

[loudsue]

26. LOL!! You'll be glad you did, AZDem.

It's well worth the read! ((((Hugs! ))))

:kick::kick::kick: