There’s a moment in My Dead True Love when Ann goes out of body and notices “tiny swirling flickers of light rising all around us.” She asks what they are, and her guide tells her they are prayers.
Let me tell you the origin story of that moment.
Years ago, in real life, a woman who was a business associate died far too young in her early fifties. I think the cause was cancer. My father and I attended her funeral.
This was a conventional Texas Baptist funeral—complete with Scripture, hymns, the Lord’s Prayer and a sermon—but with this little twist. The woman had insisted among her final requests that a friend tell those gathered what happened to him during his near-death experience.
This good old boy in cowboy boots got up in front of the assembled mourners and told how years before he had had a heart attack and was dead for many minutes before being revived and coming back to life.
While in this near-death state, he explained how he left his body. At one point during this experience, he described being surrounded by these dancing flickers of light, which a spirit told him were prayers rising up to embrace him.
This is the only time I have ever heard of this, and it struck a deep note with me.
