When they finally wheeled me from the labor room into the surgical delivery room, the pain had reached such monumental proportions, it was no wonder I welcomed that gas mask with open arms. The moment I breathed deeply into it, something very strange instantly happened to me. I found myself in the presence of something so awesome, it is impossible to describe or put into words. All I knew was that I was somewhere else. As my earthly surroundings were dimming, I heard this overwhelmingly profound presence say, “At last we finally have her,” and seemed pleased about it. I quickly learned that communication in the spiritual realm does not require words. I have no recall of other things that were said. I did then hear the following statement spoken directly to me, “It had to be now since this is your last child.” I thought this might be some divine appointment of sorts.
Unlike the electricity dreams that could be so frighteningly powerful, I would at times try to wrestle my way out of them; what was now happening was no dream but an actual unfolding event. There was no electricity, but I was still flat on my back unable to move and knew there was no way I could possibly get up and walk away from this one. Apparently, my conscious and subconscious minds had merged because I could still hear the doctor and nurses chitchatting and see the nurses plop my limp legs about while I was out cold. I did not think this was an out-of-body experience even though as my body lay on that table I had become part of that on-going eternity and knew my spirit had left this world. I was probably beginning to experience what happens to people when they move from this life to the next. This in itself did not frighten me. It was just eerie knowing I was in a place other than earth.
A symbol of the devil then appeared and it felt like I was in a weird war zone. I did not know the fighting now going on all around me had anything to do with me, but I soon found out that the moment of truth concerning my life had arrived. There I was in the middle of a battle between the forces of good and evil, with my soul at the center of their contention. I was very bewildered and thought, “What is going on? Who brought me here and why?” An old adage says, “We cannot know who we really are until we know where we really come from.” I would add, “… or WHO we really come from.” We come from God and shall one day return to Him, as it says in Ecclesiastes 12:7b: “...and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.” I was not familiar with those Scriptures and at that moment, I had no thoughts of anything other than the emotional chaos of finding myself in the midst of the strangest place I had ever encountered. However, I was now about to get the answer to those age-old questions we ask at one time or another about whom we really are. I still remember the day this overwhelming curiosity hit me as a little girl and I asked my mother how I got here, where I was going, and where I really came from.
As I traveled deeper into the eternal realm, I noticed I was no longer in the middle of that battleground scene, and all the distress associated with that fierce struggle was now gone. Instead, a sense of tranquility and elation surprisingly started to fill my emotions. To my delight, everything became so intimately familiar, I suddenly realized… this is where we really come from. I was ‘home’ – really home! I never felt so comfortable in my own skin (so to speak) in any situation on earth. Like most of the communication problems in trying to relate this event, here again is another moment very difficult to put into words. The only thing I can liken this to, but to a far, far greater degree, is how one feels after getting back from a trip, walking in the front door and saying, “Boy, it feels so good to be home.” Now that I was back to my moorings, I could look back at life on earth as a mere drop of water in the vast ocean, and my time there seemed like a two-week vacation. At the same time, one thing started to become desperately clear. That short span of time we spend on earth is of vital importance because we will one day all have to give an account, and the decisions we make while we are still here will determine where we will spend the rest of eternity. That fleeting thought did not take away from the heavenly euphoria I was flowing in. I found it hard to believe I had forgotten where I came from and that this was what real life was all about. It was as if I had awakened from a case of amnesia. This now familiar sensation of comfort and contentment continued to astound me and I could not help but say to myself, “Wow! – I can’t believe this is where we really come from.”
Times of Testing All at once, that happy mood gets jarred when this heavenly setting completely changes. Flashing in front of me now were a variety of historical pictures. Seeing pyramids and hieroglyphics – the types used in various cultures throughout the ages – made me think what was scrolling before my eyes had to be a review of life from the beginning of time. I was dumbstruck watching all of this and the quick overview of my life that followed, which I now can hardly recall. Certain things, however, are very clear and detailed, like the difficult times of personal testing that came on the heels of that amazing panorama of the world...
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