The Everlife

“We don’t yet see things clearly.  We are squinting in a fog, peering through the mist.  But it won’t be long before the weather clears and the sun shines bright!  We’ll see it all then, see all as clearly as God sees us, knowing him directly,
just as he knows us!  

I Corinthians 13:12

Sometimes – probably always – change comes in waves.  Sometimes, I am lost in the fog.  Belief in what you cannot experience with your five senses can be difficult.  Just when I think I have a new depth to my belief that all of us can make connection with the people on “the other side of the veil,” with God and angels, and spirit helpers, new depth comes to my understanding.

One of the beliefs that I had held for a long time was that there was a form of life after death.  When our almost-twenty-year-old daughter Anne died in 1996, that belief was put to the test.  The death of a child brings on unimaginable heartache.

In our book The Light Gap: God’s Amazing Presence, I wrote about all the ways that Anne was letting me know that she was still alive.  In Chapter 2, I tell the story of my experience of being consumed by LIGHT with no frame of reference, feeling indescribable joy, peace, and love when a second before I had been crying in despair. A voice was communicating without “talking.”  In Chapter 4, I tell the story of three friends of Anne’s who had dreams, each hearing ANNE’S VOICE saying, “Don’t worry about me, I am okay!”  They remembered the dreams, they contacted me to tell me of their experience.  It helped all of us heal.  Synchronicities kept happening. Terry and I had near identical dreams of Anne and the dog she loved so much, Zeke, coming to visit.  Synchronicities still happen.  Anne is still communicating.

In my exploration seeking understanding of what I had experienced, I found out that I am not just my body.  We are two part beings.  It took time to incorporate this reality.   Our body is an essential part of our life here, but so is the soul or the spirit part of our being.  Our soul’s abilities are very real. We are always connected to where we came from before our birth while we are living on earth.  We all have the ability to connect to those that no longer have a body.  This process of taking on the reality that our loved ones on “the other side of the veil” still interact with us is very exciting.  We all have the ability to make that connection, but all do not all have it developed.

I first met Suzanne Giesemann in June when Terry and I were honored to attend a workshop she offered in Ann Arbor, Michigan. She is a former Navy Commander – turned evidential medium.  Her step-daughter was a Marine pilot and was struck by lightning when six-months pregnant while standing on the runway.  In Suzanne’s process of healing from this loss, she found that she had medium abilities.  Her step-daughter was communicating with her.  She worked to develop mediumship abilities.   Suzanne is now considered one of the most accurate mediums in the country.  She insists on evidence.  As she puts it, she was as left brained as they get as a Navy Commander.  “Show me the evidence,” has been her moto in her medium work.

Also in June, I had a reading with Suzanne via phone.  She knew nothing about Anne or her accident.  She was able to describe Anne’s appearance, personality, and interests very accurately.

The last few weeks I have been reading Suzanne Giesemann’s latest book called Still Right Here. In her book, Suzanne tells the story of three couples joining she and her husband on a 48’ catamaran sailboat for a week’s vacation in the British Virgin Islands.  Each of these couples had lost a child.  Unique to this story is the participation of these young adults on their journey in the everlife.  Yes, they use the term Everlife instead of the Afterlife because we do not die, we make a transition. Our children are never lost to us.  These children were there, in spirit form with their parents, on the boat and joined in as they hiked and explored.   Wow!  Talk about stretching and deepening our beliefs!  Fun book.  Somehow in the reading of this book, I began to get intuitive messages that ultimately brought me back to the June reading with Suzanne, and back to connecting with messages from Anne.

As Suzanne started the reading, she described Anne as light, dancing, excited and happy.  She correctly identified her passion for animals.  She reported Anne saying, “I sent you the LIGHT. I wanted you to feel what it is like here.”  One message in the reading, Suzanne said, “She says she has a locket.”  At the time, I could not connect to a locket.  I had a solid heart on a chain that was Anne’s.  I wear it often, but it was not a locket?  Also, next in the reading, Anne was showing Suzanne “pink and green little flowers.”  What is that I thought?  I could not think of a connection.  Fast forward… At the end of last week, I was getting ready to go to an event.  I have a gold ladies small pocket watch on a chain that came from my mother’s side of the family.  That would look great I thought.   Where is that little pocket watch?  I began to look at some jewelry that had been organized and put to the side of my dresser.  I had not looked at those jewelry boxes for ages.  Well, in finding the pocket watch, I also found the locket Suzanne was speaking of in the reading!  On one side is a picture of her as a young girl in pig-tails.  On the other side is a picture of her as a pre-teen.  I also came across the little Jewelry box that Anne kept earrings in.  On the front of the small box were pink flowers with little green leaves!  A great piece of evidence – a great “hit” as Suzanne says as we make a very clear connection.  Joy filled my heart.  I went to the picture of Anne where I talk to her all the time.

There is a whole other story about the same jewelry I had put into this little box 19 years ago, coming from a message Anne gave to Terry a year after her death. You will find that story on pages 64-65 of The Light Gap: God’s Amazing Presence.

 My belief in life beyond this life has turned into knowing that life goes on.  Knowing makes a big difference.  It takes away fear of living.  As Suzanne Giesemann says:

“The children on the other side want to thank us for loving them and to remind us that they are still very much a part of our lives, guiding and inspiring us… Because we’ve known great sorrow, we now know greater joy… Sometimes it takes the death of one we love to awaken us to the one great truth that love never dies.”

4 Comments on “The Everlife

  1. Thank you. How can we be blessed with such gifts when we need them. Praise God from whom blessings flow.
    When we need a companion to calm or love or accompany our unbelief or doubts or grief, some how you are showing us that your we are not alone.
    Thank you for sharing.

    • Lynne, I am very glad that sharing our experiences are blessings and gifts to our readers. I loved your words, “Praise God from whom blessings flow.” When I read them they made me start singing them! Yes, we are never alone with our unbelief and doubts and grief. It helps us heal quickly. We are going to have these kinds of times because we are human. But our spirit is ALWAYS able to connect as we ask for help. It has become very real for me and it is definitely the truth. Isn’t God amazing – aways personally with us, as is Jesus is too as we ask for guidance.

  2. I remember Anne so well as she grew up in our church. I remember that she wanted to work in psychology as it related to animals (chimps). Such an interesting field.

    I think of you and Jim often and her memorial service which was packed with family and friends.

    As Amy has gone through her health struggles for so many years, I realize that I am so blessed that she is still with us. It could so easily have gone the other way many times.

    You are so blessed to have your sons with you and also grandchildren. I think of Anne as being with you when I see the children playing on her playground at church, and knowing that her presence will never die.

    • Melissa, thank you for your comments. You are special. Yes, we had wonderful times as the girls were growing up! My heart has gone out to you so many times as challenges came your daughter’s way… But she has become a wonderful woman. I have been seeing her work with the skaters on her Facebook page. She clearly is so LOVED by these children as they take part in the skating classes. She is a very giving person! I hope her injury has healed well and she will be back on the ice again soon. The church and friends like you gave us wonderful support as we adjusted to Anne’s transition to a new life in the everlife. We take our grandchildren over to the playground every once in a while to play and we talk about their dad’s sister. Yes, Anne is present with us! I talk to her picture often. Her picture eyes look right at me. She mentioned that she knows I talk to her via her picture in the June reading.

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