Over the last four years, I’ve lost 4 family members. As you can imagine, death has been a topic I thought about more than once. (I promise this is my last blog about it) No matter how bad it may seem, I never want to seem affected. However, that’s impossible. I often find myself thinking “Why my family?”, or “How can this happen back to back?”. My childhood memories are often tainted with the thought of “none of those people are here”. I discovered a book this summer called “90 minutes in heaven”. I got this book on a whim. To my surprise, there are no whims; that’s just God leading and directing our life.
In the book, the author Don Piper is on his way from a conference. (he’s a preacher) He gets into a bad car accident and was announced dead or so they thought. During that time, he shares his accounts of heaven. What made me feel the most comfort is that he saw all his loved ones, and they were renewed and happy, and most importantly they weren’t worried about earthly deeds or him!
After the accident, he goes through a recovery process in which he became very bitter, and grouchy because of his experience. Throughout the story, he met more people experiencing the same thing and realized God used his accident as a testimony. Everything we go through is a testimony and used to help better ourselves and those around us. As a result of life’s events, I wanted to shut people out.. which is impossible in college or life. It’s just not normal to live that way, and I wasn’t reaching my full potential by doing so. I spent so much time focusing on people that weren’t here that I didn’t fully appreciate who was here.
No matter how “saved” we are, we can always check our hearts. You can not spread love, and not want to receive it or be receptive. That’s all the Bible talks about. God’s love for us, the love we should have for others, and how we basically have NOTHING if we don’t have love.
Whether you’re a believer or not, this book will change your life. His accounts of heaven are so vivid. I always knew there was a heaven, but now I KNOW KNOW KNOW haha. We are walking testimonies and must remember that at all times. Once I stopped throwing a pity party, I realized there are some people my age going through way worst things. My grandmother would not want me in these streets, not being receptive or answering the phone to be more specific. Stay tuned for a new blog about my second year in college!!! It’s lit. Well, maybe it’s just warming up.
Carlehr Swanson 