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EMBRACED BY THE LIGHT by Betty J. Eadie ($6.99)

5.95
RAN: 0-553-56591-5

A few years before Embraced By The Light was published, Betty J. Eadie began sharing her story with small gatherings of people and with patients at local hospitals. Her words filled listeners with hope and comfort. Betty knew that God wanted her to share her story with the world, but she waited for the right moment and for the right people to help her.
In 1992, Betty met Curtis Taylor of Gold Leaf Press, a small publisher with offices in Placerville, California and Carson City, Nevada, and she felt prompted by God that the right time had come. With Taylor's help, Betty immediately began preparing her story for publication. By the end of summer, 1992, Embraced By The Light was complete and ready for the press.
Upon its release, the book met with instant success. In less than a year, it sold a million copies. People who read Embraced By The Light were so touched by it, they purchased multiple copies for family and friends. In September, 1993, after 17 weeks climbing the charts, the book reached #1 on the New York Times bestseller list. It stayed there for over a year.
"People seem to have a hunger for spirituality," Betty said during a press interview that year. "Not everyone likes what my experience reveals, but everyone seems driven by an increasing desire for spiritual knowledge."
As evidence, perhaps, of that desire, today Embraced By The Light has sold more than 6-million copies and has been translated into 27 languages. Readers all over the world have been touched by its story, and lives have been changed for the good.
Betty, however, gives credit only to God. "He gave me this near-death experience. I don't know why. It's he who touches people as they read Embraced By The Light, not me. He touches each person differently as they read because he loves us and knows us perfectly. I'm amazed and humbled to see how much love and hope he has given to so many through this one, simple book."

Summary and sample:

"It was November 27, 1973. I lay in a Seattle hospital bed, recovering from a partial hysterectomy. The surgery had gone well, yet feelings of foreboding settled heavily upon me. A dark feeling was in my room. Death seemed to swirl everywhere around me.
"Questions about death filled my mind. What was death like? What awaited me there on the other side? If it were God waiting, I was sure I did not want to go there. I did not want to meet God. I had been taught he was vengeful and hated sinners, and I knew I had not lived a perfect life.
As the night deepened, I felt more fearful and more alone. The dread of facing God's anger on Judgement Day pressed heavily upon my heart.
"But what of the time between dying and the Final Judgment? Where would I go to wait? Not to heaven, I knew. Not to a beautiful place of light and love. I had been taught my soul would remain in the dark grave until resurrection. How I feared the dark. How I hated being alone. Since childhood, I had suffered from claustrophobia. The thought of being buried underground terrified me.
"Not the grave! I thought. Not the awful blackness of the grave...
"The night closed in on me. Time seemed to slow. I began feeling chilled to the bone and weaker than I had ever felt before. My body was failing me.
"Sudden instincts warned me of mortal danger. I reached for the cord near the bed to call the nurse. But I could not make myself move. I lay there paralyzed, a terrible sinking sensation spreading through my body. It felt as though the very last drops of my blood were draining from me.
"A buzzing sound began in my head. I sank faster. My senses were fading quickly, though my awareness remained. I noticed my body becoming hollow and still. Too soon, the last bit of my life's energy slipped away from me.
"Then I felt a pulse of new energy surge through me and my spirit was suddenly drawn out through my chest and pulled upward, as if by a giant magnet, towards the ceiling. I felt free, unrestrained, unconfined. Every pain from my surgery had disappeared.
"I hovered above my bed, looking down at my own body. I felt sorry for it. I had put it aside so easily like an unwanted piece of clothing. It still had a lot of use left in it. But, I felt whole and perfectly fine without it.
"I thought, This is who I really am...
"Three men--spirit beings--appeared at my side. They wore brown hooded robes and gold braided belts. I was not afraid. Their bodies glowed with a soft light, and their faces radiated intelligence that seemed ages-old. Because of their dress and the wisdom I sensed in them, I began to think of them as "monks"--three old and kindly monks.
"My mind opened to a time before I was born on Earth. I had known these beings then. I recognized them now. They were my friends from eternities past--my guardian or ministering angels. They had always been with me and had watched over me during my life. I sensed their deep love for me, and this filled me with joy.
"You have died prematurely," they said. "But you should not worry. Everything will be alright."
"But I had already started to worry. Not for myself, but for my family. I loved my husband and children very much. We had always been a close, loving family. How would my dying hurt them? Would they come through okay? I had to know. I had to see them.
"I turned to leave, somehow knowing I could exit through the window. Once outside, I realized I had passed through the glass. But this did not seem strange to me. I could have passed through the wall as well. Without a pause I headed for home, leaving my three friends behind and soaring at the speed of thought over buildings and trees.
"Before I knew it, I was at home. There was my husband, Joe, reading the paper in his chair. My children were playfully getting ready for bed. As I gazed upon them, I felt calmed by a knowledge of each one's future. Each would have challenges in life whether I died or not, I saw. Challenges would help them grow. God had a plan for each one, and they were in his hands now--actually had been in his hands all along; I could see it now. I should not worry or feel sorrowful about leaving them motherless. In the end, my children would be fine. Only brief moments would pass, and we would be together again. I could accept my dying, now. I was ready to move on to whatever else awaited me.
"In a thought, I found myself back at the hospital, standing near my bed again. The three monks were there. Helping me through this transition made them happy.
"Soon, a rumbling sound filled the room. I sensed the gathering of a powerful and unrelenting energy. Beautiful tones like distant bells called to me. I felt a most pleasant feeling inside. The view of the room dimmed around me, and most gently I was drawn up and into a great, whirling, black mass.

I traveled through the blackness at speeds faster than light, or so it seemed. The pleasant feeling inside me blossomed, and I felt the deepest tranquility imaginable flooding through me. I was alone but not lonely. I felt comforted. A powerful love warmed me, healed me. I knew I could stay in this healing place as long as I desired. But I wanted to know what lay beyond it, and I sped on.
"A pinpoint of light appeared ahead. It attracted me. I travelled toward it, flying faster and faster. As I neared the light, I saw the figure of a man inside it. He was the source of the light. It shone from him in all directions, golden-colored near him and brilliant white as it spread out. It shone more brilliantly than the sun! Only spirit eyes could endure its brilliance without being destroyed.
"Earlier, I had noticed a dim light radiating from my own spirit. Now I felt my tiny light drawn to mingle with this man's brilliant light. I moved forward, and as our lights merged, I felt the utter explosion of his love for me. It was love complete and unconditional. Though he knew about all my faults and even my sins, this did not diminish his love for me. He opened his arms, and I rushed into his full embrace, feeling cherished as never before.
"I'm home. I'm home. I'm finally home. I repeated it over and over. There was no question about whose arms held me so lovingly. As with my monks, I had known him before. Memories flooded my mind of having been with him in a previous time. This man, this majestic man in the brilliant light who cradled me lovingly, was Jesus Christ. He had always loved me, and he always would. Even during my life when I had thought he hated me, he had loved me. My joy at being again in his loving embrace spilled from my heart. I never wanted to leave him again. He was Life itself. Love itself. He was my Savior. My Friend. My God.
"I was home. Home.
"I was finally home."

"I felt his enormous spirit and knew that I had always been a part of him, that in reality I had never been away from him. And I knew that I was worthy to be with him, to embrace him. I knew that he was aware of all my sins and faults, but that they didn't matter right now. He just wanted to hold me and share his love with me, and I wanted to share mine with him.
"There was no questioning who he was, I knew that he was my Savior, and friend, and God. He was Jesus Christ, who had always loved me, even when I thought he hated me. He was life itself, love itself, and his love gave me a fullness of joy, even to overflowing. I knew that I had known him from the beginning, from long before my earth life, because my spirit remembered him.
"All my life I had feared him, and I now saw—I knew—that he was my choicest friend. Gently, he opened his arms and let me stand back far enough to look into his eyes, and he said, "Your death was premature, it is not yet your time." No words ever spoken have penetrated me more than these. Until then, I had felt no purpose in life; I had simply ambled along looking for love and goodness but never really knowing if my actions were right. Now, within his words, I felt a mission, a purpose; I didn't know what it was, but I knew that my life on earth had not been meaningless.
"It was not yet my time.
"My time would come when my mission, my purpose, my meaning in this life was accomplished. I had a reason for existing on earth. But even though I understood this, my spirit rebelled. Did this mean I would have to go back? I said to him, "No, I can never leave you now."
"He understood what I meant, and his love and acceptance for me never wavered. My thoughts raced on: "Is this Jesus, God, the being I feared all my life! He is nothing like what I had thought. He is filled with love."
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