04/08/2023
Today we are going to listen to the Near Death Experience of a woman named Laurie.
Laurie’s story starts when she joined the U.S. Navy after graduating in 1985. “After boot camp, my first duty station was the Naval Facility at Coos Head, in Oregon”, Laurie says. “I had struggled during boot camp with activities that required swimming and now here I was, with my shipmates, ready to stake my life on a lifejacket and a small inflatable kayak on the Rogue River in southwestern Oregon.
As I listened to the guides’ instructions, a menacing premonition nagged at me. All of the Rogue River rapids, except two, fell into Class I, II, and III difficulties. These two challenging sections of the river were Rainie Falls, Class V rapids, and Blossom Bar, a Class IV designation.
As soon as I started paddling toward Blossom Bar, I knew my apprehension wasn’t misplaced and my kayak slammed into the rocks. I was thrown into the cold rapids. Wedged between rocks in the frigid water, I flailed my arms before I was sucked down deep into a gray-green abyss.
Now, I have to tell you, I believed in God before this incident but I didn’t feel He was particularly concerned with me. However, as I desperately tried to find the water’s surface, I pleaded with Him; ‘God, please help me! Please help me!’
That’s when the darkness all around me as I was submerged between these rocks gave way to an incredible dazzling light. The cold and pain ceased and I seemed to zoom horizontally through a narrow tunnel. As this happened, unconditional love enveloped me completely.
I exited the tunnel into a room formed from pure white clouds and before me hovered three glorious beings, each appeared as a shimmering, translucent crystal, some six to seven feet tall. As if sensing my distress, the beings transformed into familiar biblical angels and light and love radiated from their iridescent eyes. For the first time in my life, I felt I belonged. It was a beautiful feeling.
“You have arrived too soon,” they told me. “You must go back and finish your work. But since you are here, we will show you some things.”
The angels then produced a book, from which snapshots of my life flashed rapidly by. Then I saw my future: a man, whose face I could not see, but I could clearly see that he had two children.
The angel on the left spoke to me, “I am Yasha’el. I have been with you since the beginning, and I will be with you for eternity. You must go back—you have to be there for them.”, he explained. “But I didn’t want to!”, I cried. I don’t want to!” What I was experiencing was too beautiful.
Then, he took my hand and the two of us floated upward horizontally. Above us, a huge ball of warm light shone on everything, making me feel more loved and completely known by God than I had ever felt and I yearned to be close to God.
Yasha’el then led me to a huge waterfall, where I sensed the presence of loved ones who had passed on. I saw an enormous tree whose leaves morphed into vibrant, iridescent birds and I saw a lake so transparent that I could see people I loved on Earth in it. I was amazed that I could see them, but I sensed the lake was a boundary between the heavenly and earthly realms.
“You cannot cross the barrier,” Yasha’el clearly said to me.
“Please,” I begged. “Please let me stay.”
“When it is time, I will come for you,” he said.
Then I found myself at my grandparents’ estate outside Vichy, France. Their house was at the top of a hill, surrounded by wheat fields and stone walls dating back to the fourth century, and my favorite pastime was picking wildflowers at their estate. I could wander for hours, lost in my own little world of picking flowers. The stalks were so tall that they brushed my shoulders.
I remember the delicious dishes that grandmother worked so hard to cook every day. And at night, I often get cuddled by her before I went to bed.
Now, my heart broke when I saw my grandmother again. She looked lovingly at me, her granddaughter, and said, “You did very well” and she told me that she always followed me every step of the way. “You have been very brave on your recent journey”, she proudly declared “but this is not where you need to be”, she said and she gently kissed my forehead and then disappeared.
I called out to her in vain but she simply told me to “come back."
Next, I got lost in a field of flowers fragrant with butterflies fluttering about and birds chirping all around me. Strangely, I found this place so familiar and close to my heart. I stretched out on the green grass under the magical light that I was experiencing. I felt like I was surrounded by loving rays of light and I quietly remembered my past and my passions. That’s when someone whispered in my ear, breaking my train of thought, and asked “Why are you here”? I looked everywhere but I saw no one. The voice asked again, “This is my house. Why are you here?” Then I was told, “You need to go back to learn the lesson of altruism and love”.
This experience of Laurie’s reinforces to us that God’s intention is that we show altruism and love in all we do. He showed us this intention when the earth was created and all things in it were made by Him. Genesis 1:1 tells us that “God created the heavens and the earth in the beginning. Now the earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters.”
What is sure and what we hold to be true is that God was there from the very beginning, the author of all things, and He was intentional about creating us as loving beings on this earth. It was His intention all along in how we shine our light and showcase ourselves.
2 Corinthians 4:6 says, “For God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ made His light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.”
Shinning our light for Jesus means that we are a good example, and when other people see our good examples they know that we love Heavenly Father, and they, too, will want to honor Him. As we become more like Him, we develop the loving spirit He intentionally put in us. We do this by knowing Him and living His Word. Daily.
Philippians 2:14-16 tell us to “do all things without grumbling or disputing, that you may be blameless and innocent children of God without blemish amid a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast to the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I may be proud that I did not run in vain or labor in vain.”
Shining our light also means considering other people’s needs and helping meet them: Encourage instead of criticizing. Be patient. Give others the benefit of the doubt. If you hear gossip, distance yourself from it or simply change the subject. When you encounter a difficult person, remember that they were made, and are loved, by God. Remember, above all else, treat others the same way you would want them to treat you. God intended and designed us to be altruistic.
Genesis 1:28, which has often been called the “cultural mandate” declares, “And God blessed them; and God said to them, Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
We can genuinely be as altruistic as He intentionally created us to be. God has also given us great models of altruistic behavior like Gandhi, Mother Teresa, and Nelson Mandela, to name but a few. We may not necessarily be one of them, but being altruistic in our leadership and in life starts with us living God’s intention for us to be as altruistic as we can be in all we do.
Then why did you, God, create the wicked?, we ignorantly ask.
God created the world good, and He created humans to do good. However, He also gave humans the ability to choose. This is known as free will. This means that even though humans were created to do good, they can also choose to do the opposite of good, what we have termed “evil”. We cannot blame God when humans choose to do the opposite of that which they were created to do.
So then we might ask, why did God create humans with a free will? He did it so that humans could truly love Him and love each other freely without force. If humans had no choice but to love God and love each other, then that wouldn’t really mean much at all. Humans would just be little robots performing actions they were programmed to do.
However, since humans have the choice to either love or to not love, it truly is love that is conveyed when humans choose to love God and love each other. Therefore, it would be impossible and illogical for a world to exist in which humans with free will exist without the potential for evil. The very existence of free will produces the potential for good and for the opposite of good.
Laurie continued with her near death experience:
After she was told by the voice that “This is my house” and that I needed to “go back to learn the lesson of altruism and love”, she was taken to a room full of options she explained.
“I learned that here, in this room, children are able to choose the life they want and that memories in heaven will be forgotten when they go to earth. I was really surprised that they were all eager to experience life on Earth and that they are brought to Earth as pure souls and begin their journey with a cry.
At this moment, I suddenly remembered my mother. She gave birth to me and she raised me. The day I left she cried a lot. She hugged my father and cried because she was worried so much for me.
As I was experiencing this, God gently put his hand on my shoulder and said, “You need to come home”. Then, He put his hands on my shoulders and pushed me backwards. I fell at the speed of light, and my spirit wrestled back into my body. His push freed me from the rocky crevice that held me underwater and I floated to the surface, where I was pulled from the water. The memory of what had just happened in this afterlife to me began to vanish.
A few days after the accident, I developed bronchitis, and the doctor put me on bed rest. That’s when the dreams began: A tunnel. Three triangular prisms that became angels. An angel who whispered, “I’ve been with you since the beginning . . .” Over time, more images appeared. A book flashing images from my life. A faceless picture of the man I would marry. Two children. An angel saying, “You have to go back for them.”
After two years at Coos Head, I transferred to a U.S. Naval Facility in Wales, where I met a man named Phil. One evening, Phil asked me, “What’s the weirdest thing that has ever happened to you?” And that’s when I told him—I told him about the kayaking incident, about the dreams and everything. More specifically, I told him that although I couldn’t see the face of the man in the book in my dreams, I felt he was there with me. Well, long story short, Phil and I married in October 1988.
Thirty-six years have passed. Phil and I have two children, just as the angels showed me. I no longer fear death. I have worked for many years in hospice care. Because of my NDE, I knew I could reassure my patients that something beautiful waits for them on the other side.
Every night, I used to hold my child in my arms and tell him stories about God and faith. I have always believed that wherever we are and whoever we are, God still surrounds and protects us in many different ways.
You know, this moral compass God intentionally gave us allows us ‘not to stop to think before we rush to rescue’. It allows us to be the person most of us would like to be. Altruism is a beautiful thing and inspires us when other people act on it and it makes us feel good about ourselves when we act upon it ourselves.”
Now, that you know how intentional God was from Laurie’s near death experience when He created our altruistic nature, we will explore in part two of this series where we learn how Christ modeled this behavior; teaching us the true act of altruism.
Well, that’s all for today. Remember, we do not encourage you to experience near-death experiences under any circumstances. If you are having psychological or emotional problems, we encourage you to see a therapist. They can and will help.
As always, if you enjoyed this NDE, please give it a thumbs up, share it, and leave us your comment so we can read and listen.
Thank you.
And, God bless you.
