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They were gracious, of course.

“I’m a registered nurse, and you will never believe what happened.”

“I’ve had a lot of unbelievable things happen. Just try me.”

“This happened at the hospital. A woman whose mother was very ill and hospitalized was able to hear your tape, and it changed her life.”

I had heard that before, but I never minded hearing new stories, so I said, “Tell me more.”

“Somebody brought her this tape and she wasn’t a believer. But the person wanted her to listen to the tape anyway. Her friends had tried to talk to her about God. They had given her Bibles, all kinds of books and pamphlets, but nothing affected her. She said, ‘I don’t want to talk about God, religion, or salvation.’ Even though she was terminally ill, she wasn’t open to any message about eternity.”

She paused to wipe a tear from her eyes before she continued, “Somebody brought her a tape—your tape about your experience in heaven—and asked her if she would listen to it. The friend didn’t press it, but said something casual like, ‘You might find this helpful. It’s about a man who died, went to heaven, and came back to life again.’”

The nurse told me that the woman said that she might listen to it if she thought about it. The friend left. The tape lay on the stand next to her bed, unheard. Her health soon deteriorated so badly that doctors told her daughter that it was only a matter of a week, two at the most.

The daughter, who was a believer, desperately wanted her mother to hear the tape of my testimony. The tape contains two messages. The first side tells of the miracles that had to happen for me to live, and recounts the answered prayer that took place for me to live—as I’ve written about earlier in this book. The second side of the tape tells about what heaven is like. I called it “The Cure for Heart Trouble.” That’s the part the daughter wanted her mother to listen to.

But the woman refused. “I don’t want to listen to all that stuff,” she said.

Days went by, and the older woman’s condition grew more desperate. The nurse who was talking to me, and who was a Christian, realized what was going on. After she talked with the daughter, the nurse decided to talk to the patient herself about her soul—something she had not done before. She reasoned that sometimes it’s easier for a stranger or someone less known to give a positive witness than it is for a family member.

After working her shift, the nurse walked into the room and asked, “May I sit down and talk to you a few minutes?”

The dying woman nodded.

Gently and discreetly the nurse talked about faith and God’s peace and how much of a difference Jesus Christ had made in her own life.

The whole time, the woman said nothing.

The nurse mentioned the tape. “I’ve heard it, and I think it’s something you would like to know. Would you like to listen to the tape?”

The old woman nodded, so the nurse put the tape in the cassette recorder and left.

The next day the dying woman told her daughter and the nurse that she had listened to the tape. “I found it very interesting. I’m seriously thinking about becoming a Christian.”

Even though the nurse and the daughter rejoiced, they didn’t try to pressure the dying woman. Two days passed before the woman said, “I have become a believer.” She told her daughter first and then the nurse. After that, no matter who came into the room to see her, the dying woman would say, “I have be come a Christian. I’ve accepted Jesus Christ as my Savior and I’m going to heaven.”

Within hours after her publicly telling others about her conversion, the woman’s condition deteriorated. She drifted in and out of consciousness. The next day when the nurse came on duty, she learned that the old woman had died only minutes earlier.

The nurse told me all of that and then said, “You won’t believe what was happening during those final moments while she was dying.”

Before I could ask, she said, “The tape recorder was on the bed beside her, and her daughter had put in the second side of your tape where you describe heaven. As her life drifted