Is Heaven Real? (SWC)

(Video of a sunrise we took in Bali, reminds me that there is something beautiful and greater than us out there)

Is Heaven Real- My true-life story of how my faith was tested and proved

I have always been a spiritual person, faithful and curious in the supernatural and what lies beyond this life. I was raised with Christian morals, but we never went to church. My biggest experiences in a religious sense growing up were YMCA summer camps and a youth group I joined in high school on my own accord for fun and socialization.

When I was about 17, I began dating a guy whose parents were missionaries and had traveled around the world to spread their beliefs. We naturally began going to church often and yet, I still always felt that my spirituality came from deep in me and not in the walls of a building persée. I can't really explain why I always had faith, but it was just something I believed in, proof or not.

After about 7 years of dating, my boyfriend's mom began having weird symptoms, headaches, loss of smell, etc. She decided to get checked out at the doctor, and they discovered a tumor located at the base of her brainstem the size of a golf ball. A family's worst nightmare. Yet, she was young (not yet 60), healthy otherwise, and so the procedure to remove it was supposed to be fairly low risk. I mean, there are always risks when you go into the skull, but her diagnoses looked promising.

So much so that we continued our weekend plans after her procedure to go to a family reunion in the mountains. It was July in California after all. She had the surgery on a Thursday, was up and walking around the room that evening! She was talking, very out of it of course, but we all thought it went well! She would be discharged after the weekend.

Well, overnight Friday evening at some point the brain had slumped, into the place where the tumor had been propping it up for all those years, crushing vital nerves and causing her to have multiple strokes. She fell into a coma, and had very little brain activity. We were called on the phone to return home ASAP, possibly to make our final goodbyes. We couldn't believe it! Where had things gone so wrong? We had just seen her awake and in good spirits 24 hours before. We rushed home, a 2.5hr drive as quickly as possible. I remember it feeling as if we were across the world, crying all the way there.

When we arrived, the family pastor was there, along with other family members. The prognoses was grim. I just remember her husband, my bf's father, clutching his wife's hand and saying we weren't going to let go yet. He had so much faith from the start that she would pull through.

The next week was littered with a rollercoaster of emotions and medical turmoil (I don't remember the exact order but it was something like this in my memory). Brain swelling, another procedure, this one could kill her, say your goodbyes. She made it through, another stroke. This isn't good. No brain activity. The pastor is here. More swelling. More bad news. Another procedure. No brain activity still. Another stroke. Say your goodbyes. She made it through. A tracheotomy. And on and on it felt like it went.

Eventually, they made the decision to "pull the cord." But she didn't pass. She made it through! Eventually she just became in a state of, "no activity." No more swelling, no more strokes, no more procedures, no more scares. But no brain activity or function to report either. Her husband, never lost faith. He prayed everyday and stayed by her side, quitting his job to be there for her.

She went to hospice care or an assisted care facility eventually. We visited nearly everyday. We needed to move her arms and legs so the muscles wouldn't atrophy. We needed to shift her position so she wouldn't develop bed sores. I came and took care of her, giving her chapstick and moisturizer, reading to her and doing her exercises.

5 months passed.

It was winter now. She had missed an election of a president (Barack Obama), she had missed global news events. Life had gone on without her. We were at another trip up north when my bf's father called us. It was right after Christmas. He said, "someone wants to talk to you" and we listened as we heard a very drawn out "heellloooo." It was her, his mother, awake!!

IT WAS A MIRACLE.

We came home and went straight to see her. She definitely had brain damage, her speech was slurred like that of a stroke victim, she couldn't walk or use her hands, she was foggy on the last 5 months but could remember everything before that, her children, birthdays, her life up until the surgery, etc. It was unbelievable. She would have a very long road of recovery ahead of her.

But this was a medical mystery. Now, are you ready for the craziest part?

When she woke up, we asked her what she remember from the time she fell into the coma. Could she hear us talking to her like people say? No. Does she remember being in the hospital? No. Did she remember the books we read or the classical music we played for her? No. So, what did she remember exactly?

Get ready for this...

She remembered entering gates, bright beautiful gates and being in a place where she had this familiar feeling of being home. And more than that, she had this strong urge to stay there and never leave. This beautiful, perfect place had such a strong pull on her. She said she heard music, a choir to be exact. The voices could be heard from all around this place, and they were beautiful. Unlike anything she ever heard before. Then she said she saw a man, she said it was Jesus. She said she could feel the presence of God all around her, like a warmth enveloping her but she could not see him. She told Jesus she wanted to stay in this place and he said no. She had to go back to her children, and her husband and that it wasn't her time yet. She still had more to do on Earth. The next thing she remembers is waking up in the care facility.

Is this proof of Heaven? Was she there? I will leave that up to you to decide. I have my answer.

If you believe or not, this is a pretty fantastic story that has impacted my life and who I am. I was a bit of a pessimist, though I called myself a realist before this event. After, I really began living my life, making the most of each day and trying to look at the bright side of every situation. I don't think I sweat the small stuff as much anymore and really feel like this experience helped shaped me to be the person I am today for the better.

Everything happens for a reason, and it is up to us to figure out why and what we can learn and take away from it all and live this life to the fullest while we are here.

I hope you enjoyed my true-life story, feel free to share yours below in the comments!

This is my entry for the supernatural writing contest and I hope you liked it.