Living as If Heaven is for Real

During the period that I was writing my book, I was looking for inspiration to guide my creative process. One morning, while cleaning my keyboard on my computer, gently wiping the surface with a soft cloth before beginning to write, “Heaven is for Real”, a film in my computer files, suddenly began playing. I was surprised how it started playing, mysteriously triggered by my movements when I simply brushed across the computer’s keyboard. It was puzzling, and I saw this as a sign. Why hadn’t another film in my computer been activated?  I decided to watch the film, that also happens to be a Nebraska story, like my story. I listened carefully to the message, wondering what I was supposed to understand.
 
Although I repeat the words in The Lord’s Prayer every morning saying, “thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on Earth as it is in Heaven”, both the “Heaven is for Real” book and film bring the words alive, storying a young boy’s near-death experience and revelations. After watching the film, a second time, I looked at the meaning of the words in the prayer more carefully. This mysterious showing made me ponder the thought-if heaven is for real, then we are called to bring Heaven to Earth like the prayer suggests.
 
The young boy in the film, Colton Burpo, comes back from an illness experience with a memory of sittings on Jesus’ knees and being comforted by Angels who sing to him. He also meets a little girl who explains that she is his sister but was never born into the family because of a miscarriage. This encounter, later revealed to his parents, leads the Burpo family to question their faith in light of their young son’s experience. The story also portrays how Colton tried to explain to his father, a pastor, what Jesus looked like. One day he saw a painting by a young Ukrainian artist, Akiane Kramarik, and told his father that her painting resembled Jesus.
 
The painting is entitled “The Prince of Peace”. It was painted by a young Ukrainian girl with an extraordinary gift. These two children’s stories dovetail, bringing a more vivid vision of heaven and Jesus to Earth. Asking us to question, “What if we lived each day as if Heaven is for Real?”
 
Another story referenced in Homing In, “Proof of Heaven”, written by Dr. Eben Alexander, a neurosurgeon, recounts exploring realms of consciousness with a woman he didn’t recognize when he was severely ill and unconscious. His adoption and reunion story explains that only later, after his recovery, does he discover that the woman on the butterfly wing, that escorted him on his visit to different levels of consciousness, was his sister who had died.
 
Having been adopted, he only discovered their connection after meeting his birth family later in his life. When he finally met his birth parents, he saw his sister’s picture in their home and was able to make the connection. His encounter with his sister brings together forms of connectedness that can be felt, but not fully understood until the veil was lifted in moments of divine timing configured by his adoption and reunion story. Only after his reunion with his birth family, was Eben able to understand the interconnections revealed during his illness experience.
 
The Nebraska story, the adoption story, and Akiane’s incredible ability to paint at age 8, all express the ineffable. When my computer started playing the film, I was called to look and listen more attentively to these stories that bear witness to the mystery of life as well as Jesus’ living presence.
 
These incredible stories inspire radical amazement. We are truly sharing one mind, a consciousness, that links science and spirituality. Learning to trust in the loving God force that takes care of us is an important message that Dr. Eben Alexander brought back. His work confirms that memoires are not stored in the brain, revealing important information about the mind-brain connection.
 
His research explains how prayer can open portals and allow us to experience higher levels of conscious awareness. And also how the placebo effect, mind over matter, can influence health outcomes, even triggering spontaneous remissions and healing. We are all looking for purpose and ways to transform our lives. Wholeness emerges by participating in the evolutionary process and coming in to wholeness, wisdom, purpose, healing, health and deeper meaning. This happens by touching the loving force across the veil and living this life today in a way that allows us to grow and transform into the soul we have come here to become in this lifetime.
 
Listen to Dr. Eben Alexander explain how soul journey can elicit growth, transformation, and understanding. We live in One Universe where the primacy of consciousness that is understood through quantum physics supports true free choice and the becomingness of our soul. “Living in a Mindful Universe”, his recent book, allows us to understand that it is all about healing and becoming whole. Let’s work together to make this world a better place!

Here is a link to an interview with Dr. Eben Alexander:

Here is an interview with the Burpos:

​Here is Akiane’s Prince of Peace painting: