• About
  • About the Blogger
  • Artist Interviews
  • Blog Tour Stop & Cover Reveals
  • Book Review Requests
  • Guest Blog Post Request
  • GWN Updates
  • Let’s Network – Your Book Announcements, Tips, Conferences, Book Signings
  • Older Reviews
  • Paranormal Author Denise Fleischer
  • Services
  • Wanted

GottaWriteNetwork

~ Promoting Today's Authors

GottaWriteNetwork

Tag Archives: Near Death Experience

‘Becoming Starlight’ – An excerpt from Sharon Prentice’s Book On Heaven

13 Sunday Jan 2019

Posted by gottagetthatbook in Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Becoming Starlight, Heaven, Near Death Experience, Sharon Prentice PhD

Excerpted from Becoming Starlight: A Shared Death Journey from Darkness to Light by Sharon Prentice, PhD. Copyright © 2018 by Sharon Prentice. https://sharonprentice.com

9781947637948_p0_v1_s550x406Heaven. There are many different words for it in many different languages. And each day, it’s a “place” that’s referred to more than any other in the world. Why? Every single race, religion, ethnicity, and culture—members of each one believe in the concept of Heaven. Religious scholars and philosophers have debated, argued, and fought over the very nature of Heaven since time immemorial and they have written reams and reams of papers about it and stockpiled book after book on library shelves for millennia.

But it’s not the conversations or writings of the religious scholars or philosophers that touch the true nature of “that place.” It’s the conversations that take place in the hospices, hospitals, ICU’s and funerals of the world that take us into the soul of humanity and, therefore –into Heaven. It’s in times of great personal trauma that many of these discussions take place. And, sometimes, these private moments can become very heated due to the stress and fear that exist in the trying moments before the death of a loved one. Once the word “Heaven” is spoken out loud, the underlying, unacknowledged, unspoken word that goes with it is death. Fear that death is near–especially in the waiting rooms of the ICU–prompts exchanges that are not normally heard in everyday family life.

When “the end” is near, people shy away from using the word “death”; their conversation will, instead, turn to the “place” where their loved one “is going” and to each person’s individual interpretation of exactly what and where Heaven is–and everyone has their own “truth.”   Listening to, and being part of these conversations, is both joyous and heart wrenching as families try to come to terms with exactly “where” their loved one will be after they die. This conversation is repeated countless times, every single day, all over the globe.

The conflict begins the very minute someone questions the interpretation of another. In these moments of great tragedy, having one’s viewpoint understood and accepted as truth–the only truth–is vitally important to each person’s peace of mind. Therein lies the problem. The discussion turns to debate–then to all-out disagreement.

I understand the conflict. Over the years, I have shared my SDE with many friends, colleagues, and mentors, and my explanations and descriptions have sometimes caused heated debate among them. I have spoken to individuals from all walks of life, from all the great religions of the world, from every background and school of thought, and every one of them had their own version of what “truth” should “be” or “is.” While all their “truths” were different, they did have a unifying thread–a belief in an afterlife. “Heaven” and “Hell” were central to every debate and the descriptions of these “places” were similar in both nature and belief.

In the course of these debates and conversations, I have been asked to explain “where” I was taken, what I meant by “I became Starlight,” and to describe exactly what “God” looked like. It is so very difficult to accurately relay my experience because I must rely on “words.” To use words such as “majestic, magnificent, purity defined, peaceful, still, home” dulls the experience because of the mere fact that labeling it–using words to describe the indescribable–just doesn’t do the SDE justice. To characterize the face of God, the touch of God, is tantamount to explaining perfection itself–how can it be done?  How do you depict an emanation of love and joy combined with otherworldly purity? How do you describe an ethereal form that consists of pure light? The “how” lies in the experience itself as given to you by God Himself–His face, His thoughts, His Word engraved upon your heart–how do you give voice to that feeling?

The “how” lies hidden in the vision, the “feeling” of pure Spirit–the soul must feel its way through to see perfection without being polluted by the scripts we grew up identifying with and falling victim to. “God looked like love I have never experienced before” has always been my answer. There are some feelings and thoughts that can never be expressed–words don’t exist to describe them. Our own humanity puts locks on the words felt in the Soul. The physicality of God’s appearance—it simply wasn’t important. I felt absolutely no curiosity about it–His touch was just too all-consuming and comforting to think of anything else. Perhaps one day, someone will invent a word that accurately depicts “the pure light that is love” that will get us one step closer to seeing His perfection.

Once the head shaking stops from my lack of a physical description, the conversation turns to “where” was I? Most organized religion tells us that God is “separate” from us, that He lives somewhere “out there,” above the clouds in a place called Heaven. Religion teaches us that God is the creator and final arbiter of the rights and wrongs of living and that we all will surely answer to Him for all our wrong doings. And just as we’ve been told who and what God is, we’ve also been told what “heaven” is, in descriptive terms that everyone can visualize. Heaven is a specific place, the likes of which there is no equal. It is an “other” world, out there somewhere, filled with everything wonderful and beautiful, full of creature comforts that we only dream about. Mansions line golden streets encrusted with pearls and diamonds, and everyone has everything they ever wanted–and everyone who was the best “good little boy or girl” has even bigger and better things than those who weren’t quite as good in this life. We earn that mansion on that particular street in that particular neighborhood by the things we do or believe or by the things we don’t do or don’t believe while living on this earth. Sounds like a bigger and better version of life here, doesn’t it? I fully accepted that version, that description of Heaven given to me as a child. The innocence of childhood demands “pictures” we can understand. Adjectives that paint a picture of a human paradise comfort and console us when we think of death–ours or anyone else’s.

But that is not what I found in “that place” among my stars. Was there physicality, a form, a space–a specific place that could be described? I can’t say there was! What I found, and felt, instead, in the place where I was held, was magnificence itself: Pure Starlight–and God Himself. And the most amazing surprise of all–I found the “me” as God intended me to be from the moment He formed me in my mother’s womb–before this world got ahold of me and slapped labels on me that told me who to “be” and what to believe. But in “that place,” I found myself as a magnificent extension of God. My answer to the question, “What does God look like?” has always been the same: to describe God, I would be describing my own Soul. And to describe “that place” requires a complete letting go of everything that any logic and human reasoning would dictate.

The very essence of God, of Heaven, was in and of that Starlight. I discovered–no, I just knew–that there is nowhere that God is not. He is in and of everything that has ever existed. There is nothing that He is not. There is no place that He is not. If it exists, it is a part of Him–His thoughts created everything, including every one of us. We exist purely because he thought of each one of us. We are the physical forms of His thoughts. We are his creations–part of a whole that we can’t perceive. We are all intricately combined as one thought of God but gloriously separate as individuals for some reason unknown to us–but known to Him from the moment He gave each of us life.

About the Author:

Dr. Sharon Prentice is the author of Becoming Starlight: A Shared Death Journey from Darkness to Light. Soon after completing her graduate studies in psychology, Dr. Prentice longed to discover “the why’s” about her own intimate experience with death in the form of an SDE, and that of others who had experienced something “weird, unbelievable, odd” at the time of the death of a loved one. Dr. Prentice is in private practice as a Licensed Clinical Pastoral Counselor – Advanced Certification. She is also a Board Certified Spiritual Counselor (SC-C) and holds Board Certification in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Group Therapy, Integrated Marriage and Family Therapy, and Crisis and Abuse Therapy. She is also a Board Certified Temperament Counselor. Dr. Prentice is a Professional Member of the American Counselors Association, a Professional Clinical member of the National Christian Counselors Association, a Clinical member of the American Mental Health Counselors Association, and a Presidential member of the American Association of Christian Counselors. She is also a Commissioned Minister of Pastoral Care. For more information, visit https://sharonprentice.com  and follow the author on Facebook and Twitter.

Advertisements

Recent Posts

  • Guest Blog Post – The Hidden Worlds By Sandra Ingerman
  • Guest Blog Post – The Friends and Family Conundrum by Brett Grayson
  • Charlotte’s Angels Coffeecake from Sofie Ryan, Author Of No Escape Claws
  • Book Review – Sunrise Cabin by Stacey Donovan – can two very different people actually want the same thing in life?
  • Blog Tour: Best-selling author Kat Martin tells us about real life heroes
  • Guest Blog Post – Justin Murphy tells us about Gene L. Coon’s Accomplishments
  • ‘Becoming Starlight’ – An excerpt from Sharon Prentice’s Book On Heaven
  • Blog Tour – Kat Martin tells us how she comes up with ideas for her novels
  • Book Review – Glitter Bomb by Laura Childs with Terrie Farley Moran
  • Finding Her Voice: DP Author Enjoys The Challenge of Writing Romance
  • Guest Post for Laura Childs, New York Times bestselling author of “Eggs on Ice”
  • Three Questions with Laura Bradford, author of Just Plain Murder
  • James Pankow Speaks About His Love Of Music And A Band Named Chicago
  • Playing Fair with Readers by Kate Carlisle
  • An interview with Peter Nolan – broadcast journalist 1960s – 1980s

Recent Comments

Judy Keener on New Mystery Title: Shadows on…
End of 2018 Round-Up… on Guest Blog Post – Jacque…
gottagetthatbook on Guest Blog Post – A Twis…
debrafinerma. on Book Review – You Lucky…
Sofie on Guest Blog Post by Sofie Kelly…

Archives

  • February 2019
  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • August 2016
  • July 2016
  • June 2016
  • May 2016
  • April 2016
  • March 2016
  • February 2016
  • January 2016
  • December 2015
  • November 2015
  • October 2015
  • September 2015
  • August 2015
  • July 2015
  • June 2015
  • May 2015
  • April 2015
  • March 2015
  • February 2015
  • January 2015
  • December 2014
  • November 2014
  • October 2014
  • September 2014
  • August 2014
  • July 2014
  • June 2014
  • May 2014
  • April 2014
  • March 2014
  • February 2014
  • January 2014
  • December 2013
  • November 2013
  • October 2013
  • September 2013
  • August 2013
  • July 2013
  • June 2013
  • May 2013
  • April 2013

Categories

  • Paranormal Author Denise Fleischer
  • Uncategorized

Meta

  • Register
  • Log in
  • Entries RSS
  • Comments RSS
  • WordPress.com

Denise Fleischer

Blogs I Follow

  • GottaWriteNetwork
  • Susanne´s Ideas
  • FabFree - Fabulously Free in SL
  • opensimlife.wordpress.com
  • Encore Escape
  • ALOHA PROMISES FOREVER
  • Designs By Emilie Seda
  • Daniel Voyager
  • IW Republic
  • penneyblog
  • Books for MKs
  • not just greenfingers
  • Breakers New England Sims
  • Snug Harbor on Second Life
  • Jane Risdon
  • neverimitate
  • jcwardon.wordpress.com/
  • Rave Reviews By Nonnie Jules
  • Cosmetic Case Notes
  • Of Books and Reading

Goodreads

Denise Fleischer-Gotta Write

Denise Fleischer-Gotta Write

Blog Stats

  • 21,112 hits

https://twitter.com/LeaNetera

My Tweets

Denise's instagram

Another book to review.
A new review book!!!! Love Laura’s books.
Follow GottaWriteNetwork on WordPress.com

Recent Posts: Unforgettable Magazine

Encore Escape Entertainment Grid Worth Your Virtual Time, Large Venues, Owners Present, Great Landscapes

Upscale Elegance of Furniture by Phillip Talisman

Drama Libre Presents Saturday Themed Dances, Ever-Changing Venues

A Night to Remember Exhibit Captures the Experience!

Meet me in Casablanca…

Omagination Art Gallery’s Second Annual White Show Extremely Well Attended

Immersiva: The Gathering of Bryn Oh

Destination: The Unforgettable Ville de Coeur

Halloween Beckons with Fun, Fashion and Fright

Star date: 2015 and Spaceport Omega Delivers a Comfortable Setting and Progressive Rock

February 2019
M T W T F S S
« Jan    
 123
45678910
11121314151617
18192021222324
25262728  
Advertisements

Gotta Write Network

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • LinkedIn

Create a free website or blog at WordPress.com.

GottaWriteNetwork

Promoting Today's Authors

Susanne´s Ideas

Styles And Fashion Around Secondlife

FabFree - Fabulously Free in SL

Simply Fabulous Free and Under L$75 Finds in Second Life - Since 2007

opensimlife.wordpress.com

Encore Escape

Prepare to be entertained!

ALOHA PROMISES FOREVER

THE BREATH OF LIFE

Designs By Emilie Seda

Virtual World Content Creator

Daniel Voyager

Second Life, OpenSim & Sansar News

IW Republic

penneyblog

Books for MKs

Donating books to Missionary Kids

not just greenfingers

Mrs Thrift's Simple Living in the Modern Day......Kitchen Garden, Allotment, Baking And More...

Breakers New England Sims

Snug Harbor on Second Life

Jane Risdon

Author

neverimitate

Trying to avoid society's pigeonholes

jcwardon.wordpress.com/

Rave Reviews By Nonnie Jules

Reviews Make an Author's World Go Round

Cosmetic Case Notes

Adrianne Lee's Author Blog

Of Books and Reading

Hmmm so I am the Hungry Reader. The one who reads. The one who is constantly reading or wanting to read constantly. This blog is all about the books I have read, the ones that I am reading and gems that I plan to read in the future or whenever it arrives.

Cancel
Privacy & Cookies: This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use.
To find out more, including how to control cookies, see here: Cookie Policy