In my 24 years of living I have had two near-death experiences.
The first one occurred shortly after birth. I really have little memory of the event, but my parents tell me often enough to know the events of that day quite well.
My mother wanted so much to be a mom. I would have been her fourth, if the last three pregnancies had not ended in tragedy. As it was, I wasn't an easy child to deliver. Arriving over one month early and weighing only three pounds, complications were bound to happen.
Shortly after birth the doctors informed my mother that I had a hernia the size of a quarter, and they would have to operate. The anaesthetist however gave me too much anaesthetic, and stopped my heart before the operation had even begun.
I was quickly put on life support, and the doctors informed my mother that without a natural heartbeat in 60 minutes I would be pronounced dead. At that my mother immediately went to God and began praying. My father, the whole family and the local church all joined her in beseeching God for my life.
At 55 minutes only the smallest of hope remained, yet it was then when my heart began to beat on its own. The doctors were amazed, not only at my recovering, but also upon checking for the hernia (in order to continue the operation that had not yet begun). They discovered that it had disappeared!
The doctors upon further examination of my fragile body, explained to my parents that in the future I may possibly have trouble walking, be blind, and suffer from brain damage. Despite this, they did not care as long as they could hold me in their arms.
They named me Sean, meaning "God is gracious" or "Gift from God." I've never had trouble walking or running or seeing, nor learning or reading or any of these things. God has certainly been gracious to me.
This miracle pales in comparison to the near-death experience I had later in life. It was not a physical near-death experience, but a spiritual one.
It happened when I realized that the Bible is true and that everything written in it is true. One of the things it says about every person on earth is that we are all guilty of imperfection, and that because of that imperfection we were all condemned to eternal death -- a spiritual death and eternal separation from God. I realized that I deserved death in God's eyes, because He is perfect, and He, being God had every right to destroy us all, including me! This realization though was just the beginning.
God showed me in the Bible, that I could do nothing to save myself from this desperate situation, though I wanted to! I wanted to somehow appease God, with good works, or a moral lifestyle...but He continued to show me that none of these attempts would work. There was only one solution and one way to God, that way being his son Jesus Christ.
He showed me that Jesus came to earth to live a perfect life and died a death he didn't deserve (that I really deserved) to pay the price for my imperfection. He showed me that through Jesus I could know God, and have eternal life -- a spiritual and eternal connection and relationship with God! So I decided to say "Yes!" to Jesus, and asked Him to forgive me for my imperfection, and thanked Him for His perfection, and asked that He might give me eternal life. All I needed to do was accept His free gift, by believing in Jesus, and trusting Him with my life.
The great part about it is I know He has done all these things. I have experienced answered prayer, much like the circumstances around my birth, over and over again. One part in the Bible says "And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He who has the son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life." (1 John 5:11-12 )
Wow! No more death for me. Because of Jesus I have life! I hope that you may also find life in Christ! If you're not sure,...just ask Him. Jeremiah 29:13 "You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart."
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