7 Lessons from Heaven: How Dying Taught Me to Live a Joy-Filled Life

Surgeon Neal follows To Heaven and Back, which described how a near-death experience profoundly changed her life, with an expanded exploration of how life can be lived from a heavenly perspective while awaiting the inevitable transition. Neal combines spiritual reflection with medical facts to create lessons that are profound and eminently practical, covering topics such as listening to one’s body and understanding one’s environment. The key to putting most of Neal’s lessons into action, she explains, is awareness of “nudges and whispers” from God. One of the commonalities among people who have near-death experiences, she insists, is the gentleness of God’s involvement in their lives, which can inspire a feeling of wholeness as someone comes back from the edge of death. Near-death experiences are all part of a larger design, Neal says in her sixth lesson from heaven: “God has a plan for each of us—full of hope, purpose, and beauty—and he wants us to discover it.” This is an inspiring work any believer can enjoy. (Sept.)