A woman claims she was an atheist until she stumbled across the afterlife in a near death experience during major surgery.
In her childhood Nancy Rynes says she had a very spiritual and religious outlook on life at her small family farm on the northwest part of Chicago. But, when she was 15 years old, she says that seeing news about priests abusing kids made her question whether there was a God.
And by the time she was around 17 years old, she had decided that God didn’t exist, and moved away from religion and spirituality into the world of science. When she was in her mid 20s she says she had studied and got into the science industry, and was a pretty firm atheist.
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However, an encounter during an NDE in hospital brought her belief in life after death flooding back.
(Image: Coming Home/Youtube)
In an interview on the YouTube channel Coming Home, Nancy describes experiencing a spiritual realm where she encountered a guide who showed her the interconnectedness of all things.
She says the contact from beyond helped her develop a new awareness of the impact that her actions have on others.
When Nancy was 46, dissatisfied with how her life was going, and her marriage having also ended, she moved to Boulder, Colorado.
She was looking for a new job and was trying to make plans when she was involved in a collision with an SUV. Nancy had injuries to her neck, back and head, as well as a cracked collar bone, five broken ribs, and collapsed lung
She said the neck and back damage was the most severe and she was due to get titanium rods put in her back.
(Image: Coming Home/Youtube)
During her wait for surgery she said she had developed an unbelievable fear of death, and convinced herself she wasn’t going to make it.
But, when she was put under, she had an experience that changed her entire outlook.
“In a normal surgery that I’ve had before, it was just grey nothingness, then they’re waking me up in the recovery room,” she said.
“This time I drifted off and I was even more awake than I was before the anaesthesia. And it was that moment I realized something weird was going on here.”
(Image: Coming Home/Youtube)
She said that it was a big moment of feeling acceptance and unconditional love coming, but it was then she realized something wasn’t right.
“I thought I must’ve died,” she said.
“If I died what is all this?”
In fact the day after she came to, Nancy was told she had died on the operating table, and she believed her experiences to have been in the afterlife.
She continued: “I saw someone materialise out of fog, and she was very ephemeral, so vaguely human.
“She said it’s time for you to learn what you need to learn in order to go back and make your life one that would be worth living.”
Nancy says she told the figure that she didn’t want to go back, but was informed she had already agreed to go back before she was born into her life.
She says what was like a movie screen materialised in front of her, and she was shown her planning her life before she was even born.
“After that I had what people call a life review,” Nancy added.
“She brought me up this meandering valley and had me touch a pond.
“I could see on top of the ripples, small little pockets that looked like little videos of my life. When I focused on one I was back in it, experiencing it again from my perspective and that of other people.”
Nancy said that at that moment she learnt that everything that people did and said had an impact on other people.
(Image: Coming Home/Youtube)
She said that feeling particular exchanges she’s had with others, from their point of view, left a lasting impression on her.
“In that moment I realised ‘OK I’m changing the way I interact with people’,” she said.
“Ever since I came back here it helps me formulate how I interact with people every day.”
After initially struggling to integrate her NDE into her life, she ultimately chose a path of spiritual awakening through practices such as meditation and gratitude
She added: “It’s a much better place to be, I’m not anywhere near as stressed out. And certainly not fearful anymore. It’s been a really great change
“That fear of death that I carried really kept me from fully living.”
To see Nancy’s full story click here.
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