by Mary C Neal
Except where otherwise noted, I have used verses from the New International Version of the Christian Bible.
In order to maintain the privacy of the people whose stories are included in this book, I have taken the liberty of changing names and other identifying details contained within them.
Copyright © 2017 by Mary C. Neal
All rights reserved.
Published in the United States by Convergent Books, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House LLC, New York.
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CONVERGENT BOOKS is a registered trademark and its C colophon is a trademark of Penguin Random House LLC.
“Be Everything” by Regi Stone and Christy Sutherland copyright © 2009. Experience Worship Music Publishing/ASCAP (admin. By ClearBox Rights)/Mattmoosic (admin. by Capitol CMG Music Publishing/BMI). All rights reserved. Used by permission.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Neal, Mary C., author.
Title: 7 lessons from heaven / Mary C. Neal.
Other titles: Seven lessons from heaven
Description: New York : Convergent Books, 2017. | Includes bibliographical references.
Identifiers: LCCN 2017009730 | ISBN 9780451495426 (tr)
Subjects: LCSH: Trust in God—Christianity. | Faith and reason—Christianity. | Heaven—Christianity. | Thought and thinking—Religious aspects—Christianity. | Religion and science. | Near-death experiences—Religious aspects—Christianity.
Classification: LCC BV4637 .N43 2017 | DDC 231—dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017009730
ISBN 9780451495426
Ebook ISBN 9780451495433
Cover design by Alane Gianetti
Cover photograph by PHOTOCREO Michal Bednarek/Shutterstock
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Contents
Cover
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
Introduction: This Changes Everything
Part One
Chapter 1: River of Death, River of Life
Chapter 2: Seeing My Life from Outside Time
Chapter 3: We Are Both Physical and Spiritual Beings
Chapter 4: Sitting Next to Jesus
Chapter 5: Life Goes Further Than Science
Chapter 6: Crossing Over and Coming Back
Chapter 7: A Guided Tour of Heaven
Chapter 8: Miracles Are Always in the Making
Chapter 9: Angels Walk Among Us
Chapter 10: God Has a Plan
Chapter 11: Beauty Blossoms from All Things
Chapter 12: There Is Hope in the Midst of Loss
Part Two
Chapter 13: How to Live with Absolute Trust
Chapter 14: STEP 1: Look Beyond—Forming a Hypothesis with an Open Heart
Chapter 15: STEP 2: Look Around—Collecting Evidence from the Natural World and Other People
Chapter 16: STEP 3: Look Within—Finding Signs of God’s Presence in Your Own Story
Chapter 17: STEP 4: Form a Conclusion—Reevaluating Your Hypothesis and Making a Choice
Chapter 18: The Sweetest Fruit on Earth
Acknowledgments
Reading Group Guide
Notes
About the Author
This book is dedicated to the God who loves us more than we can fathom.
Soli Deo Gloria
Introduction
THIS CHANGES EVERYTHING
“To fall in love with God is the greatest of all romances; to seek him, the greatest adventure; to find him, the greatest human achievement.”
—RAPHAEL SIMON
My story starts with me on the lip of a waterfall in South America, in that split second when you can see everything that is about to happen but know it’s too late to change a thing. I was sitting in my kayak looking down and I knew I was in trouble. I knew I would be enveloped by the turbulence at the bottom, but also knew that I’d find a way out—I always had.
But this time was different. I didn’t find my way out. After dropping into the roiling waters at the waterfall’s base and plunging down six or eight feet below the water’s surface, the nose of my boat became firmly wedged between some boulders at the bottom.
I immediately struggled to get free but no matter how hard I tried, nothing moved. The powerful torrents and weight of the water above kept me pinned facedown on the front deck of my kayak. My forceful efforts to escape this situation came to nothing and I knew that unless something changed or someone intervened, I would drown.
What happened next surprised even me. Time slowed and, despite knowledge of my predicament and the wild turbulence of the water above me, I felt relaxed, calm, and strangely hopeful. In that moment, I prayed words that seemed to come from outside myself. God, your will be done. Not mine, but yours.
I’ll never know for sure, but in my heart I believe that’s when my journey to heaven and back actually began.
You should know right from the start that I do not consider myself exceptional. I was then, as I am now, really quite ordinary. And yet, what happened as the water filled my lungs was truly extraordinary. I had a remarkable near-death experience (NDE) during which I saw the indescribable beauty of heaven, experienced Christ’s overwhelming compassion, encountered angels, and was immersed in God’s pure love.
Yes, that’s saying a lot—and careful explanations will be forthcoming—but trust me, no one is more astonished by my words than I am.
As a surgeon, I had been conditioned by many years of medical training to be skeptical of anything beyond the scientific realm. If it couldn’t be measured, probed, x-rayed, and reproduced, then I couldn’t rationally accept it. That’s why, in the months following my drowning and the supernatural experiences that followed, I fervently searched for a nonspiritual explanation for it all.
But there was none. After much research, I came to the undeniable conclusion that most of my experience fell utterly outside the boundaries of medicine and science.
Still, I hesitated. Call it pride, professional skepticism, or running away from what I knew God was asking me to do. Whatever you call it, it took me many years to break through my own resistance and begin talking about my experiences in public. But the truth is, I had been given an assignment in heaven, and I was expected to share my story with others. Usually I refer to that assignment as a mandate—a heavenly commission of great importance. When I finally rose to the task, I wrote To Heaven and Back, which described as best as I could at the time what had happened.
As you might expect, describing heavenly and spiritual experiences is difficult. I have heard other people with NDEs echo what I have often said: There are simply no earthly words to describe heavenly wonders. Even the most transcendent words in our language fall short. That’s because the sensations of heaven are greater in number and intensity, and the sense of time and dimension is so radically different from what we experience or understand here on Earth.
As a result, many of my descriptions in To Heaven and Back struck me later as inadequate and incomplete. I am embarrassed to admit that I mostly wrote that book to remove it from my “to do” list so I could move on to other things.
But I learned, as I often do, that God’s plans are much bigger than my own. I have now had the opportunity to share my story throughout the world, and I’ve had the great privilege of speaking to thousands of people about life, death, spiritual experiences, and miracles. In turn, I have heard hundreds of stories of NDEs, dream visitations, divine intervention, and miracles. I have shared tears with countless people who are grieving the loss of loved ones. And as I’ve told my story, I have realized again and again that there is so much more to tell tha
t can be of help to other people.
Wherever I go, I hear the same questions: Can you describe more details of what you saw? I’m still reeling over the loss of a loved one—what can you tell me that might bring me some hope and consolation? What did you hear or learn while you were in heaven? Are angels real? How is your life different today?
I know now is the time to answer those questions—to fulfill not just the requirements of my heavenly assignment, but to bring as much science, faith, and life experience to the telling as possible. And most importantly of all, to tell why it matters for someone else. You, for example. That’s why I am writing this book.
If you haven’t read my story in To Heaven and Back, don’t worry—in the coming pages I’ll catch you up on what happened. I won’t recap every detail, but I will share enough that you won’t feel lost in the story. If you have read my story in To Heaven and Back, you will quickly see that this book is different.
My first book primarily focused on what happened. I started with my childhood, tracing my journey to faith through my years in higher education and my life as a practicing orthopedic surgeon in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. I told about the kayaking trip to Chile, my drowning, my near-death experience, and my recovery. And I told about the death of my son Willie and what it was like to experience that loss in the aftermath of my accident.
This book primarily focuses on “so what?” What difference has my NDE made in my life? And more importantly, what difference could it make in yours? How can my experiences help you navigate your life more joyfully?
Part One begins with a quick retelling of my story—because if you haven’t read To Heaven and Back, I don’t want you to feel left out. But I share missing pieces of my story about my journey to heaven, including details of what I saw and felt, and most importantly, a careful retelling of two conversations with Jesus. In both, I experienced his unconditional love, compassion, and kindness. I also learned about heavenly time and forgiveness.
Woven into these chapters are seven life-altering insights, or lessons, that I brought back from heaven. I will show you that not only does life go beyond science, but that as spiritual beings, we inhabit an angel-filled world in which miracles abound. In exploring God’s plan for us and how to discern it, I will discuss how beauty can arise from all things and I will show you that we can live with joy, even in the midst of loss.
In Part Two, I present a practical and life-tested way to live differently with the beautiful truths of heaven in mind. I call this living with absolute trust. By that I mean, you and I aren’t supposed to simply press on in the hope that God’s promises are true, or even a general belief in or faith that God’s promises are true. Instead, we’re invited to thrive in absolute trust that God is good, His promises are true, and we can trust Him completely with our lives now and forever.
Moving from hope to absolute trust will radically change what you feel, think, and believe. Most of all, it leads us to what most of us have always wanted anyway—a joy-filled life. We just try to get there by following paths that lead nowhere. In the final chapter, I show you how to keep your focus on trust and why living with absolute trust holds so much promise for joy in your life.
The wonderful news is that living in absolute trust is not just for people who have visited heaven. It’s meant for everyone, and I believe God means it to change how we live in very practical ways: how we welcome success, face challenges, process the death of a loved one, approach our daily work, raise our children, interact with people around us, and pursue our dreams. And I will show you how to make this transformation.
Are there obstacles to face on this journey? Of course, and I will talk about those candidly. Yet as we explore all this in the pages ahead, my deepest desire is that you will come away knowing what I now know—that at all times, we live inside God’s embrace. I know that now. We are never alone. We are never less than entirely and forever loved.
As you read these words, I invite you to open your heart to the possibility that God wants to use my story to shine His great love into even the most shadowed places in your soul, showing you how to embrace a life of greater peace, meaning, and joy than you have ever known.
If my journey from the bottom of a river to the heights of heaven revealed anything to me, it is that God is not only real and present in our world, but that He knows each one of us by name, loves each one of us as though we were the only person on Earth, and has a plan for each of us that is more significant and rewarding than anything we can dare to imagine on our own.
I hope you turn the page.
PART ONE
Chapter 1
RIVER OF DEATH, RIVER OF LIFE
“Death is not the end of life;
it is the beginning of an eternal journey.”
—DEBASISH MRIDHA
Good friends, sunshine, and the beautiful outdoors—that January morning in 1999 began with the same excitement and anticipation I had felt on countless previous kayaking adventures I had shared with my husband, Bill. It was our final day before returning to the United States, and it was my husband’s birthday. We planned to celebrate by paddling in a remote part of Chile, on an infrequently run portion of the upper Fuy River known for its many waterfalls. As experienced whitewater kayakers, Bill and I knew the ten- to fifteen-foot falls would be challenging, but well within our skill set.
We’d be paddling with Tom, a professional raft and kayak guide who had been leading trips in Chile for more than twenty years, his two adult sons, Chad and Kenneth, and Kenneth’s wife, Anne, as well as several other clients.
This stretch of the Fuy requires focus and a complete commitment. That’s because, in addition to being in a remote part of Chile, the river is often closed in on both banks by steep hillsides made impassable by dense bamboo forests. This topography makes getting off the river sooner than the designated downstream take-out point extremely challenging, if not impossible. Once you start down the river, there’s no turning back.
When Bill uncharacteristically awoke that morning with severe back pain, he made the difficult and disappointing decision not to kayak with us that day. Instead, he dropped us off at the river, giving me his bright red paddling jacket to wear beneath my equally bright red life jacket, kissed me good-bye, and told me to be safe. He planned to find a sunny spot to spend the day reading, intending to meet us downstream at the end of the day. It felt strange going without Bill, but I couldn’t wait to get started.
As our group pushed off, I moved out of the eddy, confidently paddling my kayak forward into the swiftly moving river. We didn’t know that disaster would strike within minutes.
Ahead of us were two waterfalls. I moved toward the smaller one, which our group had agreed would provide the safest descent into the waters below. But as I approached this waterfall, I could see that someone else’s kayak was lodged sideways in its entrance, and the powerful current was pulling me straight toward them. I had to act quickly.
With no other option, I veered away, only to be propelled straight toward the larger waterfall. I would have to make the best of it. As I was thrust over the lip of the waterfall, I saw tremendous turbulence below. In a flash, I pictured what would come.
At the bottom, I would flip upside down. The turbulence would keep me from being able to right myself, so I would have to detach the neoprene spray skirt that was keeping me dry before I could push myself out of my boat. I’d get tumbled around by the chaotic waters and claw my way to the surface while being flushed downstream. Then, gasping for air, I’d swim to shore and sheepishly begin collecting my belongings. What can I say—most whitewater kayakers have endured it at least once. I prepared myself for the inevitable.
But what I assumed would happen did not.
I rapidly dropped into the turbulence below and, predictably, plunged deep below the water’s surface. But then I came to a sudden and sickening stop when the front end of my boat became jammed in the underwater features. I remained upright in my boat instead of being flipped upside
down, but instead of quickly popping back to the surface, I was stuck under six to eight feet of water that quickly closed over my head.
I tried vainly to rock my kayak free. Then I tried to free myself from the boat. But the sheer weight of the water overhead and the force of the current bent my torso forward and kept even my arms pinned to the front deck of my kayak. I had no air pocket and no time to spare. No matter how hard I tried, my efforts to move were laughable. And I began to realize then what would actually happen.
I would drown.
SLIPPING AWAY
I had always imagined that drowning would be a terrible and terrifying way to die, and I took note that instead of experiencing terror, I actually felt quite peaceful. I experienced no air hunger, no panic, and no fear. And I began to calmly pray. Oddly, I didn’t beg God to rescue me. Instead, I prayed only, “Your will be done.”
It wasn’t about giving up. It was more about actively turning toward God. That’s why I often say, God did not take my future—I willingly gave it to Him.
The moment I relinquished my future to God’s will, I felt the physical sensation of being held and comforted by Jesus. I don’t mean this in an abstract, greeting-card kind of way. I felt his embrace as tangibly as I could feel the plastic of the boat around my legs and the weight of the water pressing on my torso.
As I wrote in To Heaven and Back, Jesus assured me that everything was “fine,” that my husband would be “fine,” and my young children would be “fine,” regardless of whether I lived or died. It felt as though Jesus was pouring his boundless love, kindness, compassion, and mercy into my very soul.