Sharing life-after-death stories can help promote faith, bring comfort

I decided to write about a spiritual question that is important to me. The answer to my question is: “Yes, there is.”

The question is one asked by believers and nonbelievers alike: “Is there life after death?”

My faith and scripture study have provided a firm testimony of life after death, and the many accounts in the Bible bring me to a solid level of confidence. But have I had the privilege of personally knowing that there is life after death, through the modern experiences of friends and relatives?

Relying not on ancient scripture stories and testimonies, dished out to waiting ears in congregations for generations and generations – now that would be refreshing!

I found that most people do not want to talk about personal experiences, but yet, most seem to know of someone whose loved one died, and somehow a “sign” or an experience “too weird to be a coincidence” happened. Such is my story.

My sister’s husband died suddenly on Jan. 3, 2004, of a massive heart attack, leaving Sis alone to deal with the cold, gray days of winter in the Pacific Northwest.

My brother-in-law suffered with diabetes for many years and was on a gradual decline. He loved living in the country, where he could sit in his chair, log-fire blazing, a dog in his lap, and read his old hunting magazines.

Sis worked very hard to make sure that she provided her husband with good nutrition: low protein, no sugar, watch the salt, etc. She did all she could. The challenges of the diet were large, and so it went through the years.

Two weeks after he passed away, I was driving in the car with my daughter, who tearfully said she had something to tell me. She then proceeded to say that she saw her uncle.

A week prior, she said, she woke from her sleep and sat up to find him at the foot of her bed. As she looked at him, he said, “Thank you. Take care of your Auntie the way she took care of me.” That was it.

My daughter was puzzled and concerned about what happened. She kept it to herself, but finally spoke out. I asked her if I could tell Sis. She was very hesitant, as people just don’t talk about these things, but she relented.

When I called Sis and told her what had happened, she immediately starting crying and said it was an answer to what was troubling her. She was so worried that maybe there was something more she could have done for her husband. This was a message from him to her saying, “You took care of me really well.”

As the winter dragged on, there continued to be “coincidences” in Sis’ life which gave her the sure knowledge that her husband was still watching over her and finding ways for her to be comforted. When other people opened up to her, she found that most of them had a story or experience about life after death. It was encouraging to her.

Before she knew it, spring had arrived, with the bright hope of renewal of life, evidenced in her beautiful flower garden.

That’s the end of this incident, but I know of two other experiences, from reliable sources, where relatives have visited their loved ones from beyond the grave.

We need to break the mode of secrecy on these experiences that we have. We need to set aside the unnecessary fear of, “What will people think?”

These experiences can be faith-promoting, showing us the love of a heavenly Father who will never leave us alone. Our stories, told to someone needing hope, may be just the comfort and answer they need.

They show us that love truly goes beyond the veil, and when we die, the love goes with us.