'Dying Changed My Life'

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In the hall, weakened from the severe loss of blood, she fell. Larry and her mother heard her fall and came running. He picked her up and carried her back to bed.

Larry held Cheryl close to him, willing her back to life, but it was too late. She died in his arms. Larry says that he knew the moment her heart and her breathing stopped and her spirit departed, but he continued to cradle her body as it turned cold and ashen gray, crying and praying that God would have mercy and please return her to him. He loved and needed her so much.

Cheryl was having a much different experience.

As she looked up from the bed, she saw a "beautiful glorious" angel in the upper corner of the room. He was bathed in light. He held out his hand to her and said, "Peace I give unto you."

Cheryl felt herself float up, out of her body toward the magnificent being. For a moment she looked back and saw herself lying in her husband's arms, and saw her mother sitting there, begging the Lord to bring her back. Then, with the angel close beside her, she continued floating up beyond the confining bonds of earth, in a radiant, glorious place. There she saw a river - not an earthly river but a heavenly river - pouring from above from the direction the angel was taking her. There were people in the river, and they were shouting and praising and worshiping God in a language unbound by earthly words.

As Cheryl and the angel progressed upward, the light became more and more brilliant, and Cheryl knew that they were approaching the Father's throne. She couldn't see upward because of the blinding light, but below her she could still see the people rejoicing and praising. She was filled to overflowing with joy and love and peace. The radiance that surrounded and filled her was beyond her wildest imagining.

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