Heidi Barr was “killed” by an ill-tempered, out-of-control Arabian mare when she was a young woman of sixteen in Iowa. You read that correctly: she “died.” She was one of those near-deathers.

At the time, her family was part of a small Orthodox Jewish community.

Jesus was not welcome. Her father had taught her that Christ was the greatest hoax ever perpetrated on mankind.

But back to the farm:

“That Arabian galloped right at [me and my horse Heather],” she writes in a new book, What I Saw in Heaven. “She barely missed us, almost clipping us as she raced past. I was aware enough to know she came within an inch or two of Heather’s rump. At that moment Heather reared up. I dropped the reins, leaned forward, and grabbed her chestnut mane, gripping it with both hands.”

But Heidi’s horse reared up a second time and now slid, flipping over backwards and across Heidi, crushing the girl.

That was the instant the young Jewish woman died—at least in the realm of the physical—and found herself slipping from her body and peering down from what seemed like thirty or forty feet above as the horse rolled over her like a rag doll. Her chief concern: that a younger sister who was with her would have to witness the gruesome scene.

The moment Heidi “spoke” that concern, a light with a golden hue flowed over her right shoulder, illuminating the entire landscape. It wasn’t the sun. It was a man floating, “surfing,” with her in the air. She smiled at him and he (it turned out to be He) smiled back.

“I recognized Him immediately,” says Heidi. “How could I not? This was the Man I’d done my best to ignore for long years. And here He was, grinning from ear to ear.” This, knew the young Jewish lady, “was Jesus.

“There was no doubt in my mind. This man was, without question, Jesus, Yeshua. Because of my father’s atheism and his disdain for all things religious, especially Christianity, Jesus was the Name I’d never been allowed to utter in my home, at least not in a way that acknowledged Him as anything other than a hoax.” But what she now discovered and instantly was that Jesus was not just real but at once her father, brother, and best friend. “He was everything to me.”

Heidi had never prayed to Jesus. But now there, with His love, He was, escorting her to the other side or at least a quick tour of it. Like in other cases, there are amazing experiences and sensations. We’ll let Heidi tell those in the book. It is noteworthy here how the Iowa woman, like so many others who have near-death experiences, was awed by Heaven’s grass.

“As I looked at the grass in this infinite-sized meadow, I could have counted each blade, as every single one was so perfect, so precise, and so clear. The most amazing part? The grass was singing! I’ll never forget what I saw and heard, what I witnessed. Each blade of grass sang the praises of God.”

And so forth:

Astonishing, amazing, gorgeous, awesome, heavenly.

And did we forget the flowers?

Similar to those on earth in some ways, but colors in their absolute essence, especially the blue, and in far greater variation.

Eye has not seen (I Corinthians 2:10). Believe that! And Jesus?

He was “totally human and totally divine, both at the same time. I have no way of explaining this, nor can I come up with better descriptive terms. He is a real Person but a perfect Person. [He] looks to be a man in his early thirties. He’s around five feet ten and slender. He has wavy chestnut-brown hair with some lighter streaks that are almost down to His shoulders.”

His nose was long and thin but imperfect, Heidi says. (From the injury during His Crucifixion?).

Fascinating is how often He appears in various ways to various people.

But always that same joy, that same essence, and the same ineffable holiness that immediately identifies Who He is.

[resources: What I Saw in Heaven]