Divine Moments with God

On June 21, 1974 I delivered a baby boy that weighted 9 lbs. and 15 oz. and was 23 inches long. I had the child by natural delivery with no problems. I was in an army hospital in Nurnburg, Germany in a ward with many women for recovery.

My husband had just gone to call the family five hours after the delivery to let them know of the birth and that all was well when suddenly I realized that with every beat of my heart my life’s blood was leaving my body. I tried to reach my buzzer but could not. I frantically asked the other women if they could reach theirs. They could not. By this time I was about to lose conciseness. I knew that I would die if I passed out because no one was checking on me. I knew that it would not take many minutes for all of my blood to pump out of me. In a last effort the primal need of survival taking over, I screamed for help. I remember sinking into total oblivion.

The next thing I remember is this strange sensation of not being connected to my body anymore. I realized that my spirit or I was looking down upon my body apparently from the ceiling. It was my body, but it was not me because I was watching. I was not alarmed. I saw a nurse run in, pull up the sheet and run out bringing back a host of people donned in hospital garb. They were beating on my stomach, injecting me, and doing all kinds of medical things to save me. Still, I was not frightened. It was strange because I knew I was not there anymore, not in that empty shell.

My next memory is of being in a darkened tunnel. It was very quiet, peaceful and there was a glorious light at the end. I wish I could express in words this total peace and harmony I felt. No fear, no worries, no concerns for the baby I had wanted so desperately and tried so hard to conceive for so long. I had no thoughts or uneasiness for anyone, just a sense of peace. Blissful, heavenly peace, I was drunk with it. Nothing I had ever felt before or after that experience has ever even come close to the happiness, the awesome feeling that something so wonderful was about to happen that I wanted more than anything to experience it in its entirety.

Surprisingly and very suddenly a voice said to me, “You have to go back.” I don’t recall seeing anyone. I don’t know from where the voice came. I just knew I did not want to go back. Then the voice said, “You have to go back to take care of your baby”. I have tried so many times to recreate this all, to try to detect whose voice spoke to me, all in vain. I think it was neither male nor female, therefore according to the Bible and my beliefs, I believe it must have been an Angel. The Bible says there are neither male nor female in Heaven.

The next thing I remember was opening my eyes from the hospital bed and looking up at all of the people working on me. I have no idea how much time had lapsed. A nurse held my hand and I questioned her, “Am I going to die?” She just laughed and said I was going to be fine. I was confused, weak and suddenly wanted to see my baby.

Margaret C. Rigsby