Today, I had lunch with a lovely lady. We
met a year ago in the hospital where I work at. She was an inpatient and we had
a very interesting conversation about her near-death experience. Here is what I
wrote about her in a previous post.
. . .
This
lady is an inpatient, she had her injury only a few weeks ago. She is a new
comer from China, she doesn’t speak a lot of English. My colleague Ivan asked
me to translate for him and become her peer support. I will call her Lee.
Lee
told me that she was hit by a car while crossing the street. She had a head
injury, a spinal cord injury, a wrecked shoulder and a broken pelvis. The
doctor didn’t think she would make it and asked her husband to fly to Canada to
prepare for her funeral. Her husband took the very next flight and didn’t even
pack a luggage. As she was describing the chaos, I asked her, “did you see a
light when you were in the coma?” Her eyes were wide open, “Yes! I remember, for
a very long time, I saw this blinding light above my head, I was in this place
that was just so, so, so bright, to a point where my eyes were hurt.”
“Did
you see a colorful world?”
“No,
it was just a place that was really bright.”
I
asked again, “did you see a man?”
“I
saw a figure wrapped in light. I think it was a woman.”
“You
sure it wasn't a man?”
“It
was a woman.” (My Catholic friend told me that it was Mary)
“Were
you at peace?”
“I
had no fear, I just felt normal.”
What
amazed her was, for days, she had been telling people about this experience,
which she could not explain. Everyone around her kept on telling her that she
was in a confused mental state. I was the first person who told her what she
had experienced before she even brought it up
.
. .
We reunited for the first
time since her discharge. I could not even recognize her as she was walking
toward me without any aids. Though people might not be able to tell if she has
a disability, she told me that she still has a blood clot in her brain that can
potentially trigger a stroke. One of her arms is partially paralyzed and her
entire body is stiff.
We were having lunch
together. And very quickly, we began to talk about her supernatural experience
again. This time, she had even more to share. . . .
“When I first came to
Canada, I really didn’t have any friends. My roommates were Christians and they
brought me to a church retreat. At the time I didn’t have any knowledge about
God and I was an atheist growing up. During the first and second day of the
retreat, I was really bored and didn’t understand what they were saying. On the
third day, I wanted to head back home, but my friends said that the agenda on
this last day was the highlight of the entire retreat, in fact it was what
others came here for. We had a preacher from the States, she was about to pray
for everyone, one by one and she was going to give each person a prophecy of
their life. I wanted to leave early so I lined up early and sat in the front
row. Everyone had their phone out to record what the preacher was saying to
them. Out of respect, I pulled out my phone but I realized that my battery was
low. My friend used her phone to record my “session”.
The preacher is a white lady
and she only speaks English. Both of us couldn’t understand a single word she
was saying and she talked superb fast. We played the recording to another
friend afterward. Her English was a little better, but all she could understand
was the phrase ‘you will enter a deep sleep.’
At the time, I really didn’t
believe in anything like that and didn’t give much thought. The retreat
happened on the 2nd of that month, and I got hit by a car on the 21st
of that month. I was in a comma for nearly 14 days.
While I was in the comma,
my friend was completely overwhelmed by the fulfillment of that prophecy, she
asked her son to dictate the entire audio word by word, and over and over until
it was translated to its entirety. Basically, the prophecy was saying that I will
enter a deep rest, I will be placed in an uncomfortable situation, I will be
troubled, but I will be okay and I will rejoice again and God will protect me.
When I was out of the hospital,
my friend came to visit me and brought up the audio tape and told me everything
that she knew. That’s when I remember that when I was in that really really
bright place, I heard a powerful voice rumbling and said, ‘you will be alright,
you will rejoice again.’ Now that I have a better understanding about God, the “figure”
I saw in that bright place was an angel with giant wings.
My friend and I are forever
changed by this experience. Though I have so many problems with my health and I
might die any time because of that blood clot, I have no fear, I am happy every
day. My old friends in China always tell me how much they worry for me and how
sorry they feel for me, I am so tired of explaining to them that I am fine, I
am so joyful. They won’t understand it and I cannot even explain fully. ”
We had a superb long
conversation that the diners sitting at our neighboring table changed three
times. I also shared my experience with her and stories of other people that I know
of.
I used to refrain myself
from writing anything too “religious”. I don’t want to turn my readers off. But
now I think that this is something that I must share freely and widely. At the
end it is the most important aspect of one’s life and afterlife. If you are still
with me at this point, please continue to read to the end.
One of my Mom’s friends
made a very interesting comment the other day. He said that at his age, he has
no drives, no aspirations, no dreams and no goals in life. There is no point
fighting for anything, living for anything. The only thing that he hopes for is
a good death. He hopes that he won’t be so sick when he gets even older, he won’t
have to suffer before he dies, and he can die in his sleep. That is really sad.
If you think about it, if this life is all you have, if this life is all that
you believe in, then once you surpass the prime of your life, every day is a
downhill, every day is closer to the day of your death. But for us who truly believe
and live for God, we have hope in every life’s stage and situation. When we are
at the end of our life, we have even better things to look forward to. As I said
before, who cares if others say what we believe in is a delusion, we have already
made the most out of this life by having a heavenly mindset.
Last week, 60 Minutes had a
segment that talks about the Hubble telescope. It’s about to be replaced by the
latest technology, another space telescope that will see even further into the
vast universe. The program was sharing some of the photos that Hubble took. The
scientists concluded that the number of stars and planets in the University is
more than the grains of sand on earth! To the Creator of Universe, we are even
smaller than an ant. Yet, He knows each of us by name. He looks after us, He
cares for us and He died for us. That is a very humbling thought.
I guess my goal in this
article is to help you become more aware of what is more than just this life.
That’s an exciting thing to ponder over. And Jesus said, “Ask, you will receive;
Seek, you will find; Knock and the door will open to you.” If you will just have
an open heart and attitude to know God, try Him in prayers for all the right
reasons, He will for sure reveal Himself to you.
Blessings!
Blessings!
