Jesus said that Heaven is an actual place that transcends earth and all human understanding. He mentioned that this is a physical place where you will find His presence. "In My Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and welcome you into My presence." Wow, this is a remarkable statement made by the Lord as recorded in John 14:2. Over the years, we've read and heard many stories about people dying and coming back to tell us that they witnessed Heaven and touched Christ. When they share their stories, we gain hope that this won't be our last dance once we leave earth. When you feel that there is nothing more to this life than wretched pain, be of good courage today. To get you started, here are 5 people and their stories to remind you that Heaven exists and that you can have a second chance through Christ.
Steven R. Musick
Steven R. Musick was a young man in the Navy when he suffered an allergic reaction to a vaccine for the swine flu. His heart stopped and he entered the presence of Jesus. Heaven was vibrant with colors and words could not describe the love He felt when he found himself face-to-face with the risen Christ! Musick shared that Christ looked young and radiated with a light. Jesus walked Musick through fields of flowing grass and reviewed his life since he was born. Musick discovered that Christ was always the bridge to the Creator after the encounter. Now a financial planner, Musick travels the country to share the love of Christ that he experienced and also wrote the book Life After Heaven. "I began to see my life from the perspective of Heaven," he said. "The Kingdom of Heaven is closer than we think."Mickey Robinson
Many people heard about Mickey Robinson's experience after nearly being killed in a plane crash in 1968 before his parachute jump. The plane’s engine stopped and hit an oak tree face first. Robinson then found himself surrounded by darkness and he felt the terror of eternal hell. He asked God to give him a second chance and immediately he was rushed into the Lord’s presence. "There was nothing negative allowed to be in the presence of God. So I was pure and I was innocent. And it’s so incredible the ecstasy, the bliss, the joy, all the stuff we’ve read about, when you really experience it, we don’t have words," he described. Robinson was given a mission from God to tell people there is hope and they can be forgiven.Tamara Laroux
After her parent's divorce Tamara Laroux took a gun and shot herself in the chest. The teen felt herself falling and then burning up in a fire. Feeling her spirit leave her body, the youth became depressed and became tormented by fear. She then heard people shrieking in pain and that their only desire was to scream out to everybody on earth, "Do not come here. Acknowledge that life is about Jesus Christ. Eternity is real." She then saw the hand of God reaching down for her. “I realized my soul had been transformed into a being of sin and death,” she told CBN. “I became everything the Father is not.” Loneliness enveloped her as she looked across the flaming pit and witnessed hundreds of souls languishing around her. “Each one was a formless being begging for another chance." Laroux travels the country sharing her testimony and how magnificent God's power is.Ian McCormack
Diver Ian McCormack was stung by jellyfish and died and went to Heaven and hell. Meanwhile, his mother saw an image of her son in front of her and was led by God to pray. During this time, McCormack flatlined and was clinically dead for over 15 minutes. McCormack called out to God and a light submerged into the darkness where he encountered an astonishing sense of peace. The more McCormack acknowledged his sins before God, the more love he felt. The diver also shared that Heaven was attractive, luminous and a place of stillness. When he woke up in the morgue, a doctor was taking a blade to his body. McCormack’s eyes shot open and God whispered that He gave his life back! Guess what happened next? He walked out the hospital the next day.Brian Miller
Brian Miller was an Ohio truck driver and he felt a tightness in his chest driving to a delivery one night. What happened next was hair-raising. His heart suddenly stopped beating for 45 minutes and first responders feared that he would suffer irreversible brain damage and possibly become brain dead. While he was struggling to remain on earth, Miller said he saw a light and described how beautiful Heaven was. He then ran into his mother-in-law, who had just passed away just days before. “She was the most beautiful thing when I saw her, just like the day I first met her,” he recounted. She also had a message for him: “It’s not your time. You don’t need to be here,” she told him. “We need to take you back. You have things to do at home.”
God wants us all to come back home to Him and to give us hope through these accounts. We also need to believe that earth is only a temporary place for us and that life doesn't have to end here. Although we are not exactly sure what really transpired during these visits to Heaven--we can count on one thing, there is a God that loves us.