Dreams, surviving death and true stories about a heaven

• Starting thoughts
• What’s in a dream that’s thought-provoking?
• Defining the unusual parts of my dream
• The unusual elements of surviving death
• Heaven and Hell – Do they exist?
• True stories on life after death
• My thoughts on life after death
• So, what If I were to die one day?
• Concluding points on death and life beyond

Starting thoughts

“Listen to the voice that comes from within!” I woke up almost dazzled and disoriented from that thought that kept playing in my mind all night. It was a bizarre dream; I wondered what that dream meant? I sat up that morning overanalyzing for about half an hour. I was upset because it was just a dream. How I wish it were real. I did not want to come back. Was I creating a ‘storm in a teacup’ over how I felt? I realized that the whole ‘pondering over’ stemmed from the overdose of a Netflix series I watched the previous day and that got me thinking! So, what happens after we die? Like really, what happens when we leave this body? Where do we go? Is there an afterlife? Are we re-incarnated? And… How will we know?

What’s in a dream that is thought-provoking?

The Netflix series called ‘Surviving Death’ left me with a lot of mysterious questions. Perhaps that was the reason I had this pleasantly strange dream one night. I keep playing that dream in my mind when I want to remind myself that pain is NOT permanent. Each of the episodes of surviving death is based on real-life stories about various Near-Death experiences, roles of a medium in communicating with deceased loved ones, signs from our loved ones who’ve passed onto their next phase and so on. The stories on re-incarnation were the ones that particularly hit me hard. As Christians, our belief in life after death is in a place called heaven and, that’s what I have always known. We have grown up to see miracles over time that strengthen our faith to believe that God prepares for us a place that we will receive when our time is right. While I know this is true, I also acknowledge realities that go beyond the explanation of our human mind. Our mind sometimes cannot reason out things that we as fragile beings struggle to understand.

Defining the unusual parts of my dream

To describe my dream, I was happy in a place I knew I could call home. There amid immense love, I found a happiness that can’t be described or measured. I saw in my vision all those who passed before me. Theirs was eternal happiness without traces of sadness or negativity. There was a strong presence of a mighty someone who guarded over them with selfless love. In that same place, I saw brownie too! Brownie was our pet dog from my childhood. I could pull his ears, annoy him, sit on his back all day. He loved carrying me on his brownish fluff tolerating my kiddish tantrums. When brownie died, I would’ve been about three years of age but the pain I felt in losing him was immense. Similar was the case, when we lost my mum’s mum who we all lovingly referred to as ‘mummy’, I’d lost a part of myself that I never got back. In both cases interestingly, I never seen them physically die. All I have now are photographs and memories. The reason I was upset about waking from my dream was that in that dream, I got to be with those I’d never seen in years. I could feel instinctively that happiness was a lasting one in that place. Once you’ve known of that kind of love, you’d never want to come back! Did I think of them before I hit the bed that night? How did I see them in my dream? However unusual this may seem, I struggle to find the reasoning behind it!

The unusual elements of surviving death

From the Netflix series, I came across the following terms that got me more intrigued. I like to share those elements here because peculiarity seems common to both. Also, this got me questioning our fate after we die. Therefore, I am expressing my thoughts and views on this topic in this post.

Near-death experience: defined as an experience of the soul leaving the physical body and gaining a deeper awareness of the surroundings. Heavenly encounters or visitations to places of extreme bliss often not wanting to return to this world are reported by those who have these experiences. Typically such unusual visions take place when someone is pronounced clinically dead for a few minutes with soon returning back.

Mediums that connect with the supernatural: There are two types of mediums that can connect with those who’ve left this world. The first type, ‘mental medium’ who can communicate messages of one’s deceased loved ones whereas the second type, are ‘physical medium’ who help with physical manifestations of those who’ve left this world in various ways. As unusual as it sounds, many people living amongst us either have such powers or train themselves to acquire them.

Signs from the dead: Many believe that their loved ones who’ve left this world try to communicate with them employing physical signs. Flickering lights, a constant fluttering butterfly hovering around you, a faithful bird that was your loved one’s favourite comes to your doorstep unexpectedly. Well, these they say could very well be some signs from the dead.

Stories on re-incarnation: Surviving death lists some hair-standing examples of re-incarnation. Imagine some random toddler citing EXACT DETAILS of his pretty old past life. How can we explain memories that do not belong to our present but were realities of someone dead long ago?

Heaven and Hell, do they exist?

This question has probably plagued the minds of everyone living being at some point in their lives. It has always been at the back of my mind. I’ve tried to devour all available information to know more. I believe in the existence of heaven and hell not only because I’ve been reminded of this constantly but because my experiences have strengthened this belief. The people I meet and the miracles I have witnessed in my life, support my belief. No matter how much we deny this fact, the truth is that one day we will have to face it. Recently, while I was researching the concept of ‘near-death experiences’, I came across a YouTube video titled ’25-year-old shares testimony of heaven and hell’, I was shocked to process his experience of heaven and hell. There are movies based on true stories that integrate near-death experiences with that of the reality of heaven. One such movie “Miracles from Heaven” is based on the experiences of a little girl called Anna Beam. There are many more such veritable stories that still go undocumented. If you’ve read this book or watched the movie “Heaven is for real” you’d understand better that, a little boy can’t possibly make up stories of the existence of heaven! What’s even more interesting is that his visions of heaven match with those of the famous gifted artist Akiane Kramarik who was also blessed to receive unexplainable manifestations of heaven. Akiane is a young talented poet and artist who has recreated Jesus’ face into a painting based on her conceptualization of Jesus Christ in Heaven.

True stories on Life after Death

Whatever we may know about ‘Life’ after ‘Death’ is from near-death reports. Frontiers on psychology present valuable information about ‘near-death experiences’. They present data about events that may occur during such an experience. YouTube also has many such videos. The ones I like most are Tammy’s story, Landon’s visits to heaven, Scott Drummon’s near-death narrative and Randy Kay’s near-death experience. In most cases, people have explained events such as a ‘bright light’ full of warmth, a ‘love-filled experience’ that is difficult to describe, the ability to see people their loved ones and much more such ‘out of the world’ things. One assurance made to us is that wherever we go after death, that place is beyond beautiful and we will see no reason to return to this life we live. Heaven is a place that excludes pain, hatred and all negative feelings. Ours should be that kingdom of heaven because even though our body perishes, our spirit lives on. In various other contexts, people have explained heaven as a realm. Some say we may have to cross different realms to reach the final realm of ultimate love and happiness. Isn’t this proof enough of Life after Death?

My thoughts on Life after Death

There are a lot of eminent scientists who believe in the concept of ‘life after death’ and also advocate for spirituality. I’d like to quote one such recent accomplished scientist cited in The Scientific American. The NIH director Francis Collins, winner of the 2020 Templeton Prize. He answers questions about God, free will, evil, altruism and his Christian faith in a 2006 interview

After I’ve seen miracles happen before my eyes, I do believe in life after death! I also believe that God controls a lot of what happens here if we only trust him and allow him to take control of our lives.

• Our soul is our identity.
• Our physical environment influences our human form.

Moreover, our humanness makes us blind to ‘soul-things’. We misunderstand a lot of things such as beauty, forgiveness, loving and giving. If we could only understand life with our soul ours would be a heaven on earth! I believe prayer and meditation do help to understand who we are. All of the questions we may have as humans have answers that lie within us. That’s why it’s often said: “listen to that little voice” because that voice answers all of your questions if you pay attention to it. Samuel from the Bible heard God speak to him because he listened to that voice. 

I strongly believe in ‘Life after Death’, and I’m in constant pursuit of ‘soul things. I know that this life is short and temporary. I know that what we actually seek doesn’t lie here. And so, we shouldn’t attach ourselves to worldly things. It is important to know that we will reunite with all our loved ones. All those gone before us are just a few steps ahead, we will follow soon. While we all lose ourselves in the prospect of the ‘carnival of life’, we must remind ourselves that the carnival isn’t a forever one. Each of us has a purpose in life. We will be judged according to our deeds on earth. I’d often ask myself, why do we even have to live if this isn’t permanent, after a lot of reading I found answers in the Bible. The answer is this: While here on earth, we are given free will. We, therefore, have a chance to choose what we can do. By choosing the path that delights Our Father in Heaven, we can bless others and likewise accumulate our blessings for Heaven. Our prayer to God is the most beautiful gift to him. Pure reverence is the holiest of everything! God listens when each of us prays with integrity and child-like faith. We have been gifted the power to pray for helpless souls in purgatory so that they may reach heaven. Souls who have gone before us cannot pray for themselves and often need prayers to reach heaven. God has given us that power in our earthly life. The more we realize the depth of this, the more blessed we will be! When we do this, it is most pleasing to God because this selfless act helps God get more souls to Heaven. Many need our prayers. So many souls are thirsting for God. It is painstakingly unfortunate that men do NOT know this while living their earthly lives. Those who have reached heaven become HOLY and they then pray for us so that we eventually find our way to heaven when comes our turn. Today I understand the power of prayer. And so, I want to share this with all I know. The more I share it, the more people will know and the more poor souls will be saved.

The ability to pray is a gift from God. The more we realize the power of this gift, the more blessings we will collect not only in Heaven but also while we live here on earth!

~Lee-Anne D.

None of those worries is permanent in ours, not even our body! But our soul? – is what lives for eternity. And so, we must nourish it with good things, good people and good experiences. Let go of any negativity and take each day as it comes. When you pray to God to help you live through each day, he’ll give you the strength to overcome whatever seems impossible to you. Pray with faith and live with sincerity and honesty, your soul is then ready for eternal things.

So what if I were to die one day?

I do not fear death but it would be strange to say I await it. I have come to understand that there is so much more to what our small human mind understands while we are alive. The more I read on this topic, the more convinced I am that we overcomplicate the life we live. It is best to let go of things we can’t understand, forgive quickly and put an end to all resentment or unkind feelings inside us. Although easier said than done, it never hurts to try! Let us try our best to live our lives in simple ways and spread as much goodness as we can. And so, If I were to die today, I’d want to stay in Heaven. To be able to join the choir of angels and shower blessings on those who live because life on earth is hard for mere mortals!

Do you know why we have this life?

Every life has a purpose. An unborn child or even those gone too soon. They become angels because God graces them with that honour!

But to us who have come this far in our lives? We must know that NONE of us are born evil. We have the choice to choose sides – either GOOD or BAD. What would you choose?

God gives us ONE chance and we must make it count! And ALWAYS know that it is never too late to make a positive difference, no matter who you are and what stage in life you stand!!

~Lee-Anne D.

Concluding points on death and life beyond

• Our conscious mind is conflicted and limited by our humanness. Dreams may give us signs or tell us something that our human mind struggles to understand
• We often wake up to forget what we dreamt of in the first place, unusual dreams also signify elements of our life in strange ways so that we may connect through memories in our unconscious mind
• The spirit world exists and there’s proof of many such encounters of the spirit world and the living world but it is best not to step over boundaries. Trusting in God is your only choice. So place ALL your faith in HIM; even if you don’t understand a lot of things!
• Death is only the end of our hard worldly life. There exists a Heaven and a Hell. We know of this not only through religious texts but also by those who have visited heaven and hell through near-death experiences likewise
• We must die to our earthly life to experience eternal life. The quality of our life after death depends on how we live our lives while on earth
• The life we live is a gift to us to help us accumulated blessings after we die to this earthly life to begin our eternal one
• As much as we struggle to understand life and death while we live on earth, we automatically have a deeper understanding of our existence and purpose after we die
• We will all reunite in a place where there exists eternal happiness and the best of everything. We can call this Heaven, others have their own alternate versions. We know this because of people who have had visions or conveyed messages to us through their divine experiences
• Death is only the beginning. Our life on earth is just a fraction of the journey and our ticket to an everlasting life depends on it

NOTE: This blog post includes a lot of external links because I give credit to information created and/or published by the original writers and creators. By clicking on these links, you’d be directed to relevant pages or sites that provide specific information or videos. In this way, you will understand the relevance of my thoughts and findings on the topic.