I was reminded by my good friend Shona1960 that God still has something for her to do so she knows why she is still alive. She does not fear death but will remain until her time comes. Wonderful viewpoint! She reminded me that the same is true for me. I promised her I would post my story so here is a little more of my history.
I know this story is difficult to believe, impossible if you do not believe in God, but nevertheless it happened to me.
In 1996 I had the middle lobe of my right lung removed because of lung cancer. The surgery, added to my history of problems, caused my cardiac conditions to worsen and they were already troublesome. I suffered a heart attack at work in 1997 but worked through it and did not go to the DR. My cardiac condition of arrhythmia got worse. In November 1997 my heart went into arrhythmia and stayed like that for more than 3hours, with me passing out if I tried to do anything strenuous. Finally I gave my wife permission to call for an ambulance. To cut a long story short, an hour later I was on a journey waiting for an injection of some chemical that was supposed to stop my heart, allow it to synchronize, and restart itself. Except it didn't restart. I could see everything in the room, even the machines behind my head, and I was classic flat-lined with several alarms beeping loudly. I saw one person reach for the paddles of the defibrillator. At that time I was feeling an incredible amount of pain. This condition lasted for several very long seconds. Jesus spoke to me and told me that I could die and go on to heaven if I truly wanted to but Peny (my wife) still needed me. I looked at her and she was very badly frightened so I told Jesus I would stay as long as she needed me if He would make the pain stop. Instantly I was back in my body, feeling good, all systems normal, and no alarms. I saw several surprised faces but after a few hours they sent me home with instructions to come back if any problems developed.
Over the next several years there were multiple incidents where fatal accidents should have happened to me but something strange always occurred to keep me safe. Flash forward to October 3, 2016. I had been in the hospital in ICU for 10 days but I was being kept asleep while they treated me for a perforated colon with antibiotics. I was dying and my surgeon didn't think he could save my but he tried. He told me about his part later. In truth I died but he thought he brought me back. There was more to it than that, but they completed the cleansing of the septic conditions in my body and did a colostomy. That's why the surgical wound was so huge. They allowed me to wake up completely on November 3rd, when I saw my colostomy for the first time. Later I told my wife the rest of what happened.
I died but was intercepted by Jesus again. I begged and pleaded with Him to let me die because my stomach hurt so bad! He met my eyes and said, "You made a promise!" Immediately I was back in my body and to this day I do not remember feeling pain again until November when I awakened for good.
No, I do not fear death. I would welcome it if all my tasks had been completed. But until I know that my wife and my children no longer need me, I will fight to live.
