I had a near-death experience after being seriously injured in a near-fatal automobile accident. Complications caused me to stop breathing and require a ventilator, and then go into a coma.

Since coming out of my coma I've had vivid remembrances of the time I was on the other side of the veil in a heavenly realm. There was a bright mist permeating everything. The light was everywhere; it even passed through me. I can remember looking at my hand and the light passed through it. My hand was transparent, but this did not surprise me. As I walked with a heavenly person, his countenance shone forth with such brightness. I can't even begin to describe it. I knew this heavenly being was Jesus because I recognized him as a familiar friend. He didn't announce who he was because this wasn't necessary. I remember walking with Jesus, but we weren't walking in the physical sense. The best way I can describe our walking is in mid-air, floating a bare spare above the ground of a beautiful garden.

Everything in this garden had an overall whiteness and brightness about it. I was seeing the bright green of the plants. I could see the water and a bright glow surrounding it. The burbling of the water had a musical sound. The stream of water fairly sang. The water was so sparkling clear. I remember wanting to bend over and take a drink from the stream that was running through this garden we were walking through. When I tried to scoop up water with my hands, the water ran through them, literally, and it wasn't wet. Jesus stopped walking and looked at me while I was bent over trying to drink this water. I could feel his eyes on me. My thirst for this water (even though I wasn't able to put it to my lips and drink it) was gone at that moment. I can't describe the sensation I felt when the water was running through my hands, but I did feel something. I felt this overwhelming desire to experience everything about this garden. When Jesus and I talked it wasn't with our mouths, but I knew we were communicating. His countenance fairly shone, and how he felt about me shone forth about him. He simply exuded love and concern and caring for me, just by standing there. The feeling of peace I felt was indescribable.

I was given the choice that I could either come back to earth and live more life or stay with him in heaven. We both knew that returning to earth would be a struggle because I told him that I wanted to return to earth if I could help others and myself. He knew that I didn't want to live more life on earth if it meant being trapped in an unresponsive body, unable to communicate. The look of love in his eyes filled me with joy then, and as I remember that feeling of joy I felt I'm filled with joy anew.

I don't know how I did this, but I was instantly in a hospital room looking at my husband holding my hand and talking to me. Only I wasn't seeing from the vantage point through my own eyes. I recognized my body and being outside of it looking from above. As I viewed this scene I felt a strong desire that I wanted to return to earth and live more life with my husband, if I could communicate with him and help him. I was understood and the desires of my heart were heard.

The next thing I remember was being trapped in my body while others cared for my physical needs. I can remember that I could tell what the nurses were thinking about me by how they touched me. Through their touch I knew if they thought I was going to live or not. I knew if they thought they were caring for a basically dead person whose spirit wasn't there. I remember trying to scream out, "Look, I'm alive. I'm in here. I'm going to live." I relaxed and trusted a person much more if I knew that they knew they were caring for a living person. I obviously could read their thoughts.

While in my spirit body, I remember communicating telepathically. This is how Jesus and I communicated in that heavenly garden. It was so easy. It required no effort. You thought the thoughts and they were communicated. Speaking through my physical mouth is so difficult and frustrating. Sometimes we're misunderstood; people get the wrong meaning of what you're trying to say. The phrase the world uses of being soul mates is referring to the communication between two souls, spirit-to-spirit communication. To communicate on a spiritual level is a very profound experience.

I believe I've had this spiritual gift ever since my near-death experience, and this gift profoundly blesses my life as I use it. I feel this great need to communicate on a spiritual level with others. I've learned that how I'm able to communicate on earth is through writing. But, I have to prepare myself mentally to be able to communicate on a spiritual level. I'm able to do this by writing at home, without distractions. We are what we think. I find trivial thoughts distracting. I rarely watch television, only if it stimulates good thoughts. I listen to different music now, and gravitate toward the ethereal. My near-death experience has changed me, I desire righteousness and I abhor evil. I'm actually quite thankful for my accident, even though it has changed my physical abilities adversely, but at the same time my spiritual abilities have blossomed enormously.

Ever since I awoke from my coma I've had an attitude of peaceful hopefulness. I believe the reason why I still live and came back to earth is to testify about the beauty of the spirit world, and Jesus being who he said he was--one whom we know well as a friendly brother in the spirit world. This knowledge and belief affects every facet of my life. I believe I came back to live more life, in part to fulfill my covenant to the Lord that I'd relate this message to all who will listen.