Prayer Forums

http://ozarkcountytimes.com/news-local- ... ven-began/

My wife shared this with me today.

This is another one of those heaven stories, but I will say that this lady said some things which made my ears perk up a little.

I guess it could be considered a vision, but this account reminded me of a dream I had a while back. The dream and some of it's imagery is really prominent in my mind, even all these years later. I related very much to CS Lewis' writing about an intense longing that accompanies true joy. He wrote:

"Joy is distinct not only from pleasure in general but even from aesthetic pleasure. It must have the stab, the pang, the inconsolable longing." - Surprised by Joy

With my dream, I experienced something like this. During the dream, I was in a vehicle moving - maybe leaving - and I remember feeling that sense of wanting to crawl out of my skin and return to the place I was glancing towards while accelerating out. Even when I recall that dream from time to time - even right now - I can feel that same feeling. I want to be there, to see that again. As the old saying goes, I can feel it in my bones.

This post (link: http://www.jenniferneyhart.com/2014/10/ ... g-and.html) sums it up pretty well. In German, the word is sehnsucht. I actually had to speak at church one Sunday, and I recall seeing it in the eyes of the congregation as I talked about this very subject to them. Others experience this at some form and level, be it a nostalgic past or something they've experienced elsewhere.

Anyway, to return to this particular story, that sehnsucht for her was clearly the smell. I can't speak for her, obviously, but my own experience was a visual thing. I'm not sure I saw heaven, but I saw something that was at least heaven in the sense that I understood it to be within my own senses.

I often write these experiences off, but this one makes me wonder in accordance with my own dream.

What do you think?

Hi Striver, As you know, I believe that we are tripartite beings, we are spirit, we have a soul and we live in a body. We also have 5 senses, smell, hearing, seeing, taste and touch. These senses are normally associated with our bodies, our flesh but I think that just as there are physical senses, there are also spiritual senses that match them. The woman in your link who was taken out of her body could see everything happening around her, she could also hear various sounds from the things that were happening in the room and of course, she smelled the aroma of flowers. I think that if she was able to touch anyone in that hospital room, she would not have been able to. If she spoke to them, they would not of heard her. She was in her spiritual body watching the events unfolding around her. Then she was able to experience the things in heaven, how awesome!

I'm not sure whether her body was experiencing pain during this time or not but I'm assuming that she was. If we are to have a balanced view of things, we must also include the fact that the body has an amazing way of compensating when experiencing pain and stress, releasing hormones such as endorphins, which activates the body's opiate receptors, causing an analgesic effect.

In my opinion, I believe that we can and have experienced, through our spiritual man and our spiritual senses, what we are unable to identify or recollect in our thoughts, through our physical bodies, but they exist because God reminds us of them and it brings us that sense of longing and desire to return.....

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