After a few months into my journey I stopped going to the church I had grown up in. Stepping out of familiar territory was a little scary at first but soon felt freeing and exhilarating. I then decided to check out other religions because church was the only way I knew at the time to try and connect with God. I tried the Catholic church, Baptist, non-denominational Christian, and still felt empty. Sure I felt uplifted in the presence of others striving to know God but something really big was missing. In all the religions I ever looked into there were always some doctrine that was rooted in fear and not love. At my core I knew this was not truth.
I'm not saying that church is bad. For some it has been a huge blessing in their lives to have something to help guide them and be a part of a community. I do feel like it often separates souls to view themselves as above others that are not part of "their" church.
My searching through different religions lasted about 7 years before I pretty much gave up and just decided I didn't know if anything existed beyond our life here on earth. I still had no idea who God was or even if there is such a thing. Was there even heaven or hell? Yep that means I was at a time … Atheist (Gasp!!!) Wow I use to view anyone as an Atheist as evil. Now I realize several people (yes even good obedient church goers) are Atheist. I now can look at someone that is Atheist with respect and think that's where they are at on their journey and that is ok. It certainly doesn't mean these people are evil, they are just being honest when they label themselves as that. They are simply saying "I don't know what there is beyond and I'm not pretending that I do."
So fast forward to now I'm 29 years old and I meet Danny. There's a beautiful intertwined serendipity story about Danny and I too but I'll leave that to another post. We quickly fell in love and were married a year later. We bought a home and began to settle into our new life together with my two children. One day I was downstairs going through some boxes when I picked up a book that had been given to me about 12 years before from a friend. I never read it and it ended up on a shelf then in a box and down in my basement. This is one of those "When you are ready, the teacher will appear" moments.
The book is called The Burning Within by Ranelle Wallace. It's about a woman who was in a plane crash with her husband. Most of her body was badly burned and she died on her way to the hospital. She had a magnificent experience on the other side and came back to tell the story. As I cracked open her book and started reading my emotions inside were dancing for joy. I was thinking "Yes, Yes, Yes!!!" This information made me feel alive and I couldn't get enough. Over the next few days I read the book any moment I could. I finished it front to back. This book completely changed me. I was no longer empty. I was filled with hope and wanted to learn more. On Ranelle's journey and after everything she went through her message she came back with was so pure and simple, "Love is Sumpreme". She says that's what matters in life, is how much you love.
From there I started reading books from other authors that had near death experiences. I find these stories so fascinating because they are from souls that were there on the other side! So many similarities woven into each of their experiences but each having unique details. Every single one of them had the same message though … Love!
Love, Love, Love!
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