Lisa, don't do this to yourself, don't do this to your parents, don't do this to Elwood, please don't do this to me for you are my heavenly child and i love you. Elwood was Donna's father who had just passed away. i remember gasping for air and screaming over and over, "oh my god, i just saw Jesus! meanwhile, Donna had been sitting over me, shaking me and screaming at me to please talk to her. i sat straight up and was crying and i grabbed her and she held me, both of us scared to death. but what i remember most about that experience was the unconditional love and the beauty of his eyes. they were all colors rolled into one and colors that i have never seen here on this planet. i also remember that he spoke to me, not through his lips but through his mind.

please believe me when i say that I'm not making this up and am more than a little embarrassed to speak of this now, after all of these years. i have never hallucinated anything in my life. my family and a few of my close friends know about this and I've gotten mixed messages as you can well imagine. some completely believe that this can and does happen and then there are the skeptics who make those of us out there feel like freaks! one more thing that i left out.. there was no more than a minute or two at the most between the time that i said goodnight to Donna when the event occurred. she said my eyes were wide open and that she thought that i was dead, who knows.. maybe i was.

if nothing else, would someone out there who has had a similar experience please share it with me and maybe help shed some light on exactly what kind of experience this was. this has haunted me for years and it's not like you find people out there every day that have had something like this happen to them!

Was the kind of experience difficult to express in words? Yes,    well... I've seen the reaction of others when someone starts to talk of super natural experiences before! I've watched programs on television with friends about near death experiences or other types such as dreams etc.. and they all had the same reaction.. that these people were completely insane!

At the time of this experience, was there an associated life threatening event?          No

At what time during the experience were you at your highest level of consciousness and alertness?     during the entire experience.

How did your highest level of consciousness and alertness during the experience compare to your normal every day consciousness and alertness?    More consciousness and alertness than normal

If your highest level of consciousness and alertness during the experience was different from your normal every day consciousness and alertness, please explain:            i was completely focused on Christ, i could not focus on anything but him! his words reverberated through my mind and i was so aware of the overwhelming feeling of love and beauty of his presence.

Did your vision differ in any way from your normal, everyday vision (in any aspect, such as clarity, field of vision, colors, brightness, depth perception degree of solidness/transparency of objects, etc.)?  Yes     overwhelming light that then transcended into the form and body of Christ. i was also aware of the clothing he was wearing, a flowing white robe with a sash of some sort. the color of his eyes!!! so many beautiful colors!

Did your hearing differ in any way from your normal, everyday hearing (in any aspect, such as clarity, ability to recognize source of sound, pitch, loudness, etc.)?
            Yes     an echo of some sort.

What emotions did you feel during the experience?            love! only afterwards was i frightened!!!

Did you see a light?           Yes     only when he first appeared to me.

Did you have a sense of knowing special knowledge, universal order and/or purpose?     Yes     the knowledge of Christ, i also had dreams years later, nothing of any real substance, but dreams that came true.

Did you become aware of future events?       Uncertain
            i have had dreams that have come true

Did you have any psychic, paranormal or other special gifts following the experience you did not have prior to the experience?     Yes     dreams, also a few years ago, Elwood, the man I've mentioned during my experience, came to me in a dream. we were in a pink room, the walls were pink satin or silk and we were smiling at one another because we knew that he was deceased in the dream and we were so happy to see one another, he then frowned and mumbled something about my mother. i contacted his daughter Donna, i hadn't spoken to her in years, just to make sure she was ok and she told me that maybe he was trying to tell me something because he had loved me so.. about a month later, my mom lost her sister, 2 months or so later she lost her mother and a year later my stepfather. maybe that had something to do with the dream..

Have you shared this experience with others?         Yes     my friend that was present at the time was the only one to know until i went to my grandmother who was extremely religious and i was shocked when she told me that she believed me! my husband and my sister and daughter know as well.

a few friends in the last few years. i don't think they know for sure that it was real but they are very open minded about the possibility of it being real

Did you have any knowledge of near death experience (NDE) prior to your experience?    No
Were there one or several parts of the experience especially meaningful or significant to you?    all of it, but when Christ asked me not to hurt myself and others through my own actions that was very powerful and then speaking of Elwood, it was almost as if Elwood asked him to speak to me somehow... i don't know what to think!

How did you view the reality of your experience shortly (days to weeks) after it happened:            Experience was definitely real
            how else can you explain someone lying in a state that almost seems to be death, i couldn't hear Donna yelling at me, i couldn't see her, i was in the presence of a higher being, an altered state somehow.. he was with me, i was with him.. it was real, deep in my heart and soul i know it to be true.