A Reason a Day #45

You must be a soul winner so that you finish ALL THE GOOD WORKS that God has prepared for you to accomplish.

Ephesians 2:10 KJV
For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

Jim Sepulveda traveled the world sharing his testimony of how he died, was covered with a sheet and came back to life after eight minutes. He was asked to return to the earth to finish his work.

Read his story below:

It was one of those operations they do whilst you're conscious so I was awake the whole time and everything seemed to go well.

They had just got to the last manoeuvre when I suddenly felt a searing pain in the middle of my heart. This pain ran across my shoulders and down my chest and side. As I began to lose consciousness, I could feel the doctors pounding on my chest.

"Jesus, if it's my time to come home, I'm ready," I thought. "I love you." I was engulfed in complete peace with no fear of death. As a dark shadow came around me, I could hear voices from far away, echoing like a tunnel: " We're losing him...losing him...losing him..." I opened my eyes and I was standing in a field, surrounded by acres of green grass. Every blade glowed as if backlit by a tiny spotlight. To my right stretched a dazzling expanse of vibrant flowers, with colours I'd never seen before. Above me the endless sky was a deep and pure blue. The air around me was permeated with love.

I walked over a hill a short distance away, then stopped beside the base of a large tree. A light began to appear beside the tree. The blinding aura was too bright to look at directly. I squinted down towards the ground, and then saw a pair of sandals begin to appear at the bottom edge of the light. As my eyes moved upward, I glimpsed the hem of a seamless white gown. Higher, I could make out the form of a man's body. Around his head shone an even brighter brilliance, obscuring a direct view of his face. Even though I couldn't see clearly because of the dazzling splendour, I knew immediately the identity of this man. I was standing in the presence of Jesus Christ.

"Jim, I love you." His voice washed over me, indescribably gentle, tender, peaceful. "But it's not your time yet. You must go back for you have many works for Me yet to do."

I stood in awe, unable to utter a sound. Inside of me I was protesting that I was never going back, I wanted to stay right there beside Him. Almost with the hint of a chuckle, He spoke again: " Jim, I love you, but it's not your time yet. " Then the brilliance surrounding Him reached out and engulfed me, immersing me in a sense of love and peace. I don't know how long  I stood transfixed but finally I turned away and began walking over the hill. Then a blue mist of light began to come around me like a fog. It turned into a dark shadow, and everything went black.

Suddenly, I opened my eyes and realized I was lying on the operating table, covered with a sheet. I didn't know until later that I'd been clinically dead for eight minutes. Everyone had left the operating room except for the main surgeon and one of his assistants. They were at the back of the room, filling out a report on my death.

"Gentlemen," I announced, "I'm ready to proceed if you are!" They turned and looked at me, their faces white. "Get the rest of them in here quick," the surgeon finally said to his assistant.

They ran test after test on me. Early the next morning, the surgeon came to my room and announced he was releasing me from the hospital. "Come back thus evening at 8:30 to my office and we'll go over all the results of your new tests."

That evening, I told my doctor what I'd experienced during those eight minutes I'd 'died' on the operating table. "Jim," he said after I was done, "I'm going to show you something you won't believe." Together we looked at the new picture of my heart. Rather than being enlarged, it was now the normal size. Where there had been 85% blockage in two arteries, there was now no arteriosclerosis and the main valve was functioning normally.

"We ran test after test on you, Jim!" He looked at me and winked. "This is off the record..." I saw a tear form at the corner of his eye but he had a smile on his face. "According to thus picture, this Jesus you've been talking to has either replaced or repaired your heart."