BOOKS REVIEWS
To Heaven and Back
A Doctor’s Extraordinary Account of Her Death, Heaven, Angels, and Life Again: A True Story
by Mary C Neal
BOOK DESCRIPTION
A kayak accident during a South American adventure takes one woman to heaven — where she experienced God’s peace, joy, and angels — and back to life again.
In 1999 in the Los Rios region of southern Chile, orthopedic surgeon, devoted wife, and loving mother Dr. Mary Neal drowned in a kayak accident. While cascading down a waterfall, her kayak became pinned at the bottom and she was immediately and completely submerged. Despite the rescue efforts of her companions, Mary was 
underwater for too long, and as a result, died.
To Heaven and Back is Mary’s remarkable story of her life’s spiritual journey and what happened as she moved from life to death to eternal life, and back again. Detailing her feelings and surroundings in heaven, her communication with angels, and her deep sense of sadness when she realized it wasn’t her time, Mary shares the captivating experience of her modern-day miracle.
Mary’s life has been forever changed by her newfound understanding of her purpose on earth, her awareness of God, her closer relationship with Jesus, and her personal spiritual journey suddenly enhanced by a first-hand experience in heaven. To Heaven and Back will reacquaint you with the hope, wonder, and promise of heaven, while enriching you own faith and walk with God.
The other day, I came across this book on Amazon and placed it on my to-read list. Below is an Amazon interview (from the product page) with the author.
Amazon Q&A with Mary C. Neal, M.D
Q. How did you feel when you died? Did you know what was happening?
A. I was acutely aware of everything that was happening. I knew that my efforts to exit the boat were not working, that I was out of air, and that I was too far from the riverbank for anyone to reach me. I knew that I would probably die. Having grown up with a fear of drowning, I was surprised to find my transition from life to death was seamless, peaceful, and beautiful. I felt quite wonderful.
Q. What was your faith life like before your death?
A. Before my near-death-experience, I believed in God and took my kids to Sunday school but was not particularly religious. Like many accomplished young adults, I felt like I was in control of my life and my future. Although I tried to be a “good” and “moral” person, my faith was not integrated into my daily life and the demands of work and family left little time to think about spirituality.
With my near-death-experience, the truth of God’s promises and the reality of eternal life became a part of my every breath. I am in constant prayer and regardless of what I am doing, I try to reflect God’s love and live for His glory. I try not to miss opportunities to uplift or encourage the spiritual life of others, and I live with gratitude and joy, knowing that I never face challenges alone.
Q. Why do you think you came back to life?
A. I certainly didn’t want to return to Earth, but was given information about some of the work I had yet to complete and wasn’t really given a choice. I was expected to share my experiences and my story with others, helping transform their faith into compete trust that God keeps His promises.
Q. Do you have any regrets about this experience?
A. I have not a hint of regret. In fact, my death and return to life is the greatest gift I have ever received, and I am continually grateful for having had this experience.
Q. How do you explain why this happened to you?
A. I have always been a private person, am not known to be a writer, and do not relish the attention of speaking. I have been asked this question many times. I do not know the answer, but I am a scientist by training, a skeptic by nature, and a very concrete, rational thinker. Perhaps, I was given this job because I have a developed a lifetime of credibility.
Q. How is your experience compared to others who’ve gone to heaven and come back to physical life?
A. I have not read many accounts of other people’s experiences, but I have had many patients over the years tell me about their own near-death experiences. It seems that most stories, mine included, contain some consistent elements–that of an overwhelming sense of God’s love and forgiveness, intense peace and beauty and no desire to return to Earth. Everyone recalls the details with precision and each person is profoundly affected by the experience. In these ways, my experience is quite similar.
Q. What do you want people to know about heaven?
A. God’s unconditional love for each of us is intense, complete, and is reflected in all of Heaven. Before we return to Heaven, our real home, we have an incredible opportunity on Earth to face challenges that will help us learn, grow and to become more Christ-like in the fruits of our spirit. Our time is so short that we need to be about God’s business every day.
The story of her experiences from the drowning, through the repeated revivals and her ultimate survival are the events upon which this book is anchored. But the meat and meaning of it are in the unfolding of her life as guided and protected by her God. I’m obviously no disinterested party. Skeptics can be reassured by my report that if it came from Mary’s pen, it will be the truth and the whole truth. I doubt, however, that her or anyone’s personal account can penetrate fully into the modern psyche. That is, into those who think that they need proof of what we call God. As an account of a brush with the Hereafter, here have been many others similar to it, and they’re well enough known to be used as shorthand in bad films.
What Mary and those like her have experienced are gifts from somewhere, given not just to them. She gives it back to us disguised as a simple offering. She doesn’t baffle the reader with melodrama, hyperbole, fantasy, or excessive adjectives. She tells her story in a concise & detailed way, with a voice of eloquent and unadorned sincerity. In this way, it’s easy to read and difficult to put down, vividly descriptive and completely convincing, humbling and inspiring.
Fortunately for us, she kept waking up in the middle of the night until she couldn’t keep from writing it down for us. The reason to read this remarkable account is witness, which is one of the few ways that we have left to hack a little hole in our jungle of unbelief.
AUTHOR BIO
Mary C. Neal, M.D. is an orthopaedic surgeon. She studied at the University of California at Los Angeles School of Medicine, completed her orthopaedic residency at the University of Southern California and is fellowship trained as a spinal surgeon. She is the former Director of Spine Surgery at the University of Southern California and is a founding partner of Orthopedic Associates of Jackson Hole.
Her after-life experience has been featured on national media including WGN, Dr. Oz, and Fox andFriends. She has served as a church elder, on several non-profit organization boards, and created the Willie Neal Environmental Awareness Fund. Dr. Neal lives with her family in Jackson Hole, WY.
GET YOUR COPY
You can purchase To Heaven and Back from Amazon.
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Thank you for visiting.
My name is Mimi and I am the editor of the Live Forever how to blog. Welcome and thank you for stopping by.
What is this blog about?
There is only one authority on living forever and to find out about eternal life I decided to go to The Authority. This blog is about the truth of it all according to Scripture, God’s Holy Word.
This may turn out to be different from what the different denominations, church doctrine and religious leaders tell us. It may not line up with the popular understanding of ‘everyone [sort of] goes to Heaven.’ Some common myths will be dispelled on this blog and any potential treading on toes will be unintentional. Don’t shoot the messenger, I’ll be merely quoting from Scripture and list together all the occasions where references are made to Living Forever.
There is only One who knows
There is only One who knows, Our Creator, and He wrote a manual. This manual is easily understood by the average layperson who has genuine interest and takes the time to read it, and this book really does not need a massive amount of interpreting. This howto manual is freely available to all of us and I’ll be quoting from this manual, which is also known as the Bible.
To view all posts so far on this topic click in the right column under ‘Categories’ the words ‘Live Forever.’
According to God’s Word
This blog is about living forever according to GOD’s Holy Word; Sola Scriptura. Not according to my own personal opinion or anyone else’s opinion either, but simply looking at what Scripture tells us about living forever. We all have an idea, or more accurately stated; we all have a personal opinion of some kind, of what Heaven is all about. But the intention of my blog is that I note wherever in the bible references are made to the words ‘living forever’ and variants thereof, so that eventually an understanding will emerge of the Truth of Living Forever according to Scripture.
Please don’t get me into trouble and  read my disclaimer with regards to my authority on this subject.
Thank you LORD!
Over the past decade I’ve reflected on issues of life and death because of various close calls and because, days before he took his own life, my favourite cousin asked me, ‘How long do you expect to live for?’
I started this blog because … I am still alive!
Praise to GOD, thank you LORD for answering our prayers. Yep, GOD made me laugh alright! My entire life has been rebuild with the help of my faith and specifically GOD’s Word.
I doubt that I need credentials to be grateful and share with the people close to me, but I dug deep and found some just the same to share with anyone who wants to hear about my qualifications. I love nothing better than to share the joy, love and peace which my family and I enjoy because of the blessings of GOD’s Word. I truly am head over heels.
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ABOUT THE CONTENT – All content on this website is copyrighted and you can read more about this here. Please also read the disclaimer about my authority and qualifications.
ABOUT THIS BLOG – We’re researching the truth of living forever according to GOD’s Holy Word; Sola Scripture. Popular opinion tells us that everyone who ‘believes’ and has ‘faith’ will go to heaven. Is this true? I decided to ask the prophets about the truth of it all.
ABOUT SCRIPTURE CARDS – If you want to send free Scripture Cards to your friends click here and  you want to buy hard copies of Scripture Cards you can click here. To download a free copy of my Story of Survival click here.
Why would any one write a blog on Living For Ever?
That’s a good question and I’ll tell you why. Exactly ten years ago my favourite cousin Les asked me this question during one of his visits to my house: ‘How long do you expect to live for?’
To be honest I had never given it any thought. So I reflected on his question briefly and told him that a clairvoyant’s crystal ball once portrayed me at a ripe old age with hair as white as snow. ‘I’ll sign up for that,’ I said, at a time when I still believed in soothsayers.
‘What about you Les?’Â I asked.
Les and I had great rapport, which may have had something to do with the fact that we were of the same vintage.
‘Me,’ he said, ‘I’ll be living forever.’
He grinned at me with a smile bigger than the sun, ‘Me,’ he said, whilst poking his finger at his chest, ‘I’ll be living for ever!’
A week later he had taken his own life. I wrote a small article about it in 2005 as part of a feature story on teenage depression, you can read about that below.
The concept of living for ever somehow sounded different to ‘heaven.’
Like most people I had heard about heaven but it was my cousin Les who introduced me to the concept of living for ever. The concept of living for ever somehow sounded different to ‘heaven.’
The passing of my favourite cousin combined with several near death experiences experienced by myself were some of the reasons that prompted me to study living for ever intensely for the next decade.
Les wrote poetry during his lifetime but this particular poem as printed above was artistic licence from the author to fit in with the story and convey Les’ mood on his last visit to his cousin (me). For help with or information on depression visit beyondblue.org.au, the black dog institute, pressonaustralia or phone Lifeline on 131 114.
all rights reserved copyright myemmanuel 2014