I don’t share the following two encounters very often. The reason is simple—they’re deeply personal, incredibly overwhelming, and whenever I do share them, there are always people who want to explain them away, offer their own opinions, or question what happened.
That’s okay.
After years of keeping the following two life experiences mostly to myself, I’ve reached a place in my journey where I’m no longer concerned with convincing anyone. My responsibility is simply to tell the story God has given me to tell.
Over the next two posts, I want to share two totally different experiences that forever changed my life.
Here is the first one.
On April 16, 2019, I underwent one of my many stomach surgeries after years of battling serious health challenges. During that surgery, something happened that I will never forget.
I went to Heaven.
As impossible as that may sound to some, I know what I experienced.
I remember walking on streets of gold unlike anything I could have ever imagined. The colors were beyond anything my earthly eyes had ever seen before—or have seen since. Everything radiated the glory of God in a way that words simply cannot describe.
But perhaps the most incredible part was this…
I had a completely new body.
There were no scars.
No feeding tubes.
No medical devices.
No pain.
No weakness.
Every reminder of my years of illness was gone.
For the first time in a very long time, I felt completely whole.
As I continued walking, I saw a set of steps just ahead of me. When I placed my right foot on the very first step, I heard the voice of God with absolute clarity.
“Not yet.”
Then He told me that He still had more work for me to do on earth.
The next thing I remember was waking up in the recovery room surrounded by doctors and nurses.
Apparently, during the procedure they believed something medically significant had happened because when I awoke, I wasn’t speaking. I simply kept pointing toward the sky.
It would be nearly twenty-four hours before I could really speak again.
If I’m being completely honest, I remember feeling almost depressed after waking up.
I didn’t want to come back.
At that point in my life, I weighed only 110 pounds. I had been unable to eat solid food for several years. I needed a voice amplifier just to communicate. My body was exhausted after years of surgeries, treatments, and constant battles.
I was ready to be home with Jesus.
My question wasn’t, “Why did this happen?”
My question was, “Lord…why did You send me back?”
I didn’t understand.
Not yet.
What I couldn’t see in that recovery room was that God already had the next chapter written.
Almost seven months later, in November 3, 2019, Jesus would allow me to experience a miracle that would change not only my life but also the lives of countless people who would witness it firsthand or hear about it in the years that followed.
Sometimes God says “not yet” because your story isn’t finished.
Sometimes He sends you back because someone else still needs the hope that only your testimony can give.
Looking back now, I understand that Heaven wasn’t simply shown to me as a destination—it was given to me as a reminder.
A reminder that this world is not our home.
A reminder that suffering has an expiration date.
A reminder that God still has purpose even when we cannot see it.
And a reminder that when God says, “Not yet,” it’s never a rejection.
It’s an assignment. One that can lead us on a crazy beautiful journey.
A different, but equally important encounter is coming up in the next post. ~OC
The Blessed Overcomer 
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