I got to know a lady in my church; I will call her June. I had known her to be a really dependable, no-nonsense, and a rather private person. She was much older than me. I was in my 20’s and she was in her 50’s? She is a grandma. She often referred to a life-changing accident. It was a car accident in an intersection where afterwards she had endured traction in the hospital for months. We all knew this was a big trial she had overcome. But one night, we had driven together to attend a service project held by the young church-women for an old-folks home. On the way home, I admitted to her that I very much had been thinking about death and life after life lately. She did not know this, but I had been atheist for a time. This was years before and I was just in the process of nurturing myself back to spiritual health.
She really surprised me when she told me about her experience. Following her accident, she had risen up and saw an outstretched hand from Jesus. She said on the other side that they speak mind to mind or telepathically. She was given the choice to come back to her earthly life or go on. I don’t remember if she was shown her family or just thought about them, but from thinking of her family she concluded they needed her and she could not leave them. She did not give any details beyond what I just wrote.
She went on to say that she was in the hospital with no visitors. Her husband had strong bad feelings against being in hospitals, maybe because of his mother’s past. Anyway, she said she felt incredibly lonely, especially on Christmas. I was surprised to see her become quite emotional, since I had known her to be a pretty grounded, matter-of-fact kind of person. She started to cry a bit and told me that angels sang comforting Christmas songs to her through the lonely season of Christmas.
The rest of our conversation went other ways, I thanked her for sharing with me. I wish now I’d asked her more questions. But I’ve never forgotten her story. It became really important to me later, because a mutual dear friend of ours passed away in childbirth only months later. I very much needed that story to reflect on. Had I read it somewhere, I don’t know if I would have believed it so deeply like I did from her; mostly because I can attest to her character and easily rule out any motivation to lie or seek attention. I don’t believe everyone, but I believe her.