From Sudden Death to Paradise

Book excerpt: It’s easy to take it all for granted and go through life feeling invincible—especially if you’ve spent your life successfully facing challenges, overcoming obstacles in the way, and working hard to improve yourself both mentally and physically. Yet for all of us, this feeling of invincibility is an illusion. From Sudden Death to Paradise shares one man’s story of suddenly facing his mortality and coming to terms with what he experienced. After being exposed to toxic chemicals while in the military, and unknown to him, author T. S. Dismas developed an autoimmune disease that would kill him—one night, Dismas suffered sudden heart failure and died for ten minutes. Yet in that moment, he had a near-death experience and visited heaven, where he would learn a valuable lesson about himself, his life, his faith, and God. No amount of suffering could take away his joy and peace, and after his experience, life was now sweet and truly a gift. With a new heart—both literally and spiritually—he was able to realize his previous life was not part of God’s plan, and that embracing God’s love is the only way to sustain happiness and find meaning in this life.