2/18/2022
"And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose." - Romans 8:28 KJV
On January 20, 2022, at about 8:30 pm, I entered clinical death. This writing is my account of what I remember and my return to life.
I had just finished a Zoom call for a Christian book club and went to the kitchen to get some water. Suddenly, I could not breathe in or out and kept coughing to clear my airway. But it wasn't working, and within a minute, I knew I was in trouble. So, I grabbed my cell phone and purse, went to the enclosed front porch, unlocked the front door, turned on the outside light, and dialed 911. I had trouble talking and got out "can't breathe" and part of my address, but that was all. I made sure the phone location was turned on, prayed, and waited. I could hear the operator asking questions and saying to stay on the line, but I could not answer her.
LIGHTS IN THE DARKNESS
I remember going into death. I was still at home, the EMTs had just arrived and I felt myself going unconscious. The last thing I remember is the scissors going down the front of my shirt and up my pant leg.
As I passed into unconsciousness, I didn't see lights as I expected. Instead, I was light going into a dark tunnel. I remember questioning God about this, and I realized that the light people see when they die is the light of those who know the Lord and have become light. If you belong to God, you are light, and you join with the light.
I saw the tunnel but I was intercepted by a much larger light that stopped in front of me. The massive light looked into my light for a second, recognized Jesus in me, and instantly I was inside of the light, inside God. I realized I was located on His left side under the ribs and near His heart.
I felt complete peace and overwhelming love that still overwhelms me every time I think about it. As I entered this beautiful place of love, I was immediately reminded of a prophetic word from a friend that was received in December of 2020 (one year prior) that said, "God is going to overwhelm you with his love for you. It will be so strong that it will knock you down, but you will rise with new Joy and strength."
I felt at peace in this place of love knowing that I would rise again (in this life or the next). This activated extreme joy and faith. It was then that I knew I would be okay no matter what happened, and I was anxious to see what God would do. At this point, I felt safe, I let go and let God.
ENCOUNTERS
I was told I was on life support for three days. I am not sure of the timing of the following events, whether it was before life support or during, but it was three separate things in this order. I sensed it was three different days because I rested in between and returned on the third day.
ENCOUNTER 1 - ASSURANCE
In the first encounter, I spent time IN GOD, as He surrounded and filled me with his love and peace. Then, he reminded me that in September of 2021 (4 months prior), He had given me a personal prophetic word for my birthday as He has done for years. He said, "I am going to give you a complete RESET. Don't be afraid. I will be with you in this." I was filled with love and peace again when I heard this reminder, and I returned to rest as He continued to remind me of the things He had spoken to me in my life. I was resting IN HIM and hearing all his thoughts toward me like an affirming lullaby.
ENCOUNTER 2 – CHOICES
The second encounter was a time for choices. God said to me, "You have endured much in your life, and you have been faithful, but you need to decide now what you want to do. If you want to come home, you can, or you can continue to your destiny with resurrection power."
It was a hard decision that I struggled with, it was so peaceful where I was, but I also knew I had not yet fulfilled my calling according to the many prophetic words spoken in agreement over my life. I knew at this moment that the heart attack was an intentional attack on my life by the enemy, which he had tried many times before. I also knew that this attack was allowed by God for His purposes. I knew that this was one of the biggest battles I would face and that I might face more if I chose to continue my course. I wanted to stay in that peace, but I also wanted to please Abba Father and finish my race as an overcomer, so I chose to return and complete my course and added: "not my will but yours." Then I rested again.
ENCOUNTER 3 – AUTHORITY
I was surprised that I was still there. I knew I had chosen to come back to finish my course, but it was not happening. I somehow knew I needed help in prayer and agreement to recover, but I also became aware that nobody knew what had happened to me, and I needed to contact family and friends to start that prayer and agreement because no one knew I was there.
But, unknown to me at that time, I was unconscious and on life support. However, my spirit, will, and mind was still at work. At this moment, I understood that it was up to me to break through and come back. So, by the Spirit, I began speaking to my body with the authority given to me by God, taking dominion over that which God had given me to steward, which at that moment was my body and my life.
I somehow knew that God was teaching me to operate in power and authority with Him, and I followed His lead, speaking in my spirit what I heard Him say. I remember speaking the promises of God from His Word over my life, speaking life to my body, proclaiming and decreeing my personal prophetic words, proclaiming the covering of Jesus' blood, telling everything to line up with God's perfect will for my life, and so much more.
It was intense for a long time and exhausting. However, I was in a major battle for my life that day, and I won with the help of God's word and his promises (It is written). I overcame that day by the blood of the Lamb, the Word of my testimony, not loving my life (Revelation 12:11), and God's covenantal and personal promises for me.
COMING BACK
I remember breaking through and returning. I felt the life come back into me like a deep breath. One of the doctors must have been checking on me; I opened my eyes and heard him say excitedly, "She's come back!" and then suddenly, there were a lot of doctors and nurses around me. All kinds of alarms were going off that sounded to me like shofars and trumpets sounding off. In MY ears, it was a celebration of life and victory in the war!
I was restrained so I would not pull-out tubes, and I could not speak because of the intubation, but I tried to get their attention with my hand, waving it, grabbing someone's arm, then showing one finger to indicate "wait a minute," then pretending to write with that finger. Finally, someone got my hand signals and asked for a clipboard and pen.
I was very weak but managed to write, "call brother call pastor." They asked where the numbers were, and I wrote "phone." They got my phone from my purse and asked for the password and names. I wrote the password and the names while they searched and found them. I then went back to sleep until my brother and pastor arrived several hours later. When they arrived, I wrote "start prayer." Both said they already had as soon as the hospital called. Knowing that the Body of Christ was covering me in prayer and agreement, I could now rest and recover.
WHO'S REPORT WILL YOU BELIEVE?
I wrote on my clipboard, "What happened?" and the doctors told me that in the process of dying, I vomited and aspirated on my vomit which caused double pneumonia along with the sudden heart failure, and that I entered clinical death around 8:30 pm, 1/20/22. I was administered CPR, intubated in the field, and taken to the Fulton County Airport, where I was airlifted to Albany Medical Center Cardiac Intensive Care Unit. I was on life support for three days, and they did not expect me to survive.
I had no idea what their report was, and it didn't matter because I believed what God said to me in my encounters. I was overwhelmed with His love; He gave me a RESET; He is with me in this, I rose again with new Joy and strength, and I am continuing to my destiny with resurrection power. Glory to God!!!
They could not find a reason for the attack because it was just that – an attack. I was reasonably healthy before the attack, and God removed all damage in the RESET, so there was nothing to find after the attack either.
I tested negative for COVID, diabetes, lung, liver, and kidney diseases when I was brought in. The miracle is that I did have underlying conditions before the attack, with years of smoking, borderline high cholesterol, and early signs of hypertension; neither were severe enough for medications. BUT after the attack, there were no signs of any of this; all my veins and arteries were clear, and my lungs were healthy, clear, and with no damage.
The doctors were puzzled, but I was not. I knew God was in this. I remembered and knew that when I took authority over my life and body in the third encounter, I was completely healed and now just needed to regain strength!
During the initial death, I received a supernatural Joy that is sustaining me throughout my recovery. During my time in the hospital, this joy was a witness to the goodness of God in my life to staff and four roommates, which opened the door to witness to them; it also helped me recover quicker.
Some said, "How can you give God glory when you died and almost didn't come back?" My answer is Romans 8:28. I belong to God, and He knows what is best for me. He gave me a choice, and because I love Him, I chose to please him and finish what he has for me to do. He could have taken me home at that time, but He allowed me to return with joy.
GOD'S PREPARATIONS
God is all-knowing and prepared for this episode in advance to ensure everything I needed was in place. He also orchestrated events in the hospital to prevent unnecessary surgery and get me home to recover under His care.
1. In the Spring of 2021, the local EMTs moved to the volunteer fire department just three houses away from me, so they quickly arrived at my home in less than 2 minutes from my 911 call.
2. In September 2021, my cat Bella got sick and needed medical attention that I could not afford, so I made the difficult decision to give her up for adoption. I knew she would get medical help from the shelter, and the new owners would be screened so she would get a good home. In January, one week before the heart attack, I got the call that a place had opened for her at the shelter, and within a month (while I was in the hospital), she was healed and adopted.
3. In December 2021, LifeNet moved to the Fulton County Airport, just 5 minutes from my home. Within 10 minutes of EMTs arriving, I was airlifted to Albany Medical Center.
4. In January of 2022, Cardiac Associates opened an office less than 5 minutes from my home so I would not have to travel an hour to Albany for cardiology appointments.
5. In the hospital, the original plan of the doctors was to keep me there until they could figure out what caused the heart attack so they would know how to treat me. I was going to wear a heart vest monitor 24/7 for three months. But I knew they would not find anything because of the healing that took place. So, on the night of 2/2/22, God allowed an arrhythmia in my sleep that caused my heart function to drop from the already low 20% blood pumping capacity to 10%. This event immediately canceled the 3-month hospital stay (Thank you, Jesus!), forcing them to do something.
6. I went in for surgery the next day to install a pacemaker with a defibrillator. That operation was relatively painless and straightforward, but I broke out into a full-body rash from an allergic reaction to penicillin for the second time. The first time was in the ICU. Also, I was in the 1-5% who had a problem with this operation, and they could not hook up the third lead to my heart, so I would need to go back and get a more invasive surgery to complete the procedure the next day, but I refused. I was exhausted, had not slept in 2 weeks, and now was dealing with this rash. I asked for a few weeks to get healthy enough to operate. They had noticed the swift recovery I was experiencing, so they made a deal with me that if I could walk around the entire floor the next day without help and without my blood pressure rising, I could go home to rest for a few weeks before returning for the operation. I began speaking to my body again, and the next day I passed the test with flying colors. I was released (after two weeks in the hospital) and went to my brothers for a couple of weeks for much-needed sleep and time with God. The decision to refuse the second operation was wisdom because I healed faster with the proper rest, nutrition, and prayer.
7. On my first follow-up visit a week after release, it was determined that I might not need the 2nd operation because of the speedy recovery. I knew that the speedy recovery was because of God, exercising my given authority, and the prayers and proclamations of the saints. I was told to come back on Tuesday, 2/22/22, for x-rays, and if those X-rays are good, I would not need the operation. I immediately claimed "no operation needed" and sent it out for agreement in prayer. "Again I say unto you, That if two of you shall agree on earth as touching anything that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven." - Matthew 18:19
8. I went for my X-rays and was cleared from the operation unless I wanted it, which I did not. I was then released to go back to my home and I get better each day. Thank you, Jesus!!!
I have written these things as a record and as a witness to the love of God. We always have free will and choices. We can look at what happens in our lives as continual troubles or as continual advancements in overcoming. I chose the latter.
As I pondered the things written here, I realized that I had experienced the presence and the love of God, that He had given me choices and an opportunity to surrender to His will, that I experienced the joy of the Lord as my strength, and that He taught me how to use the authority and resurrection power we all have.
I also realized that the Body of Christ needs to change its perspective on some things. We not only have Christ in us and the help of the Holy Spirit but we are also seated with Him at the right hand of the Father and have been given the same power and authority. We need to look at everything from that perspective. When we pray, worship, or minister to others, we do so from that place of being seated with Him. We have access to God, the whole counsel of Heaven, power and authority, Christ in us, His Word, and the Holy Spirit. Those are powerful allies to go along with our spiritual weapons. That should be enough to make us full of joy and praise! If God is for us, who can be against us? Do you believe it?
When you have difficult trials, it can produce radical faith and extreme joy that is your strength. So, remember Romans 8:28, and choose to believe and trust God. He has given you everything you need and never leaves you. You are an overcomer and more than a conqueror. When He returns, will He find faith in the world? Yes, He will because He is the author and finisher of our faith!
· May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. (Romans 15:13)
· Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. (Hebrews 12:2)
· For he raised us from the dead along with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ Jesus (Ephesians 2:6)
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