Darin's Story

In the summer of 2016 I was working on my farm with a man who was helping me in moving some cut trees. At one point my helper left to go to the store nearby to get something, leaving me alone to continue our work. Using a tractor with a forklift front attachment, I started to lift a huge log some 20 feet long, about two feet in diameter. It was extremely heavy. While raising the log my tractor’s hydraulic control valve malfunctioned so that I could not stop the movement. Very quickly the log reached the top of the lift where it rolled over and down on to my face and chest. In futility trying to protect myself, my arms and shoulders were broken; my nose and jaw were crushed along with my lungs, chest, and four vertebrae. Nineteen ribs were broken, and the right ear was ripped off. At that point I remember reactively trying to hold the log while starting to bleed. My absent partner at the store later recounted that he had a “feeling” that he needed to get back to the jobsite quickly. When he found me sprawled on the tractor with the log on top of me, he called 911, and responders soon arrived. They pronounced me dead when they arrived at the scene. It took a while for the crew to get another tractor to remove the log from atop of me and hoist my body from the seat. The gearshift lever had completely pierced my right leg. Massive amount of blood was reported everywhere.  

Somehow I was “jump-started” into life at the scene though I was considered dead and not cognizant. I was taken to UT hospital where they revived my body that was in death again. My family was told to tell me goodbye, that there was maybe a 5% chance of further life. Surgery was conducted over 40 hours by multiple doctors. I had two full-body transfusions, 36 screws to rewire my jaws, 7 plates in my torn-up face, nose and ear reconstructed. My lungs were full of fluid so I was on a ventilator. During this timeframe I found myself in Heaven and met God.

I was on a cobblestone road, one of three that were about eight feet wide and polished-looking. There were beautiful trees and a waving wheat-like field with plump kernels and that looked so magnificent. Coming toward me was a man-like form of great energy. I was in awe and felt great peace and no pain. The face was unclear in a body that was soft-lighted. He spoke, “Darin, I am God. You have died three times and [medically] should not be here right now.” Also “Darren, you have done well. There is a place for you here if you want to come.”  

Heaven was beautiful. God showed me what the earth looked like before mankind at the beginning of time. It was pure, untouched, and beautiful in scenery. I felt no hurt, no worries, no strife, only incredible peace. Unexplained, I could sense then that there was no end to time. He told me that I had been around for many generations. God said that if I want to go back [to my earthly life], I would heal but still hurt. “If you go,” he told me, “I have a purpose for you: tell people you died three times and that there is hope after death.” and He spoke of the significance of number three: three deaths, the rising of Christ after three days, and the Trinity. He said that without hope mankind would not survive. 

We walked for some indeterminate time and came to a fork in the road that led away through the forest and back (to my earthly life). I told him that I would go back. We parted at that time, and I headed into the forest of trees magnificent and very strong appearing. It grew darker and my pain increased the more I walked, but I still felt driven to go back. Then, at some point I stumbled and, looking down, saw ugly bugs all over my legs. Lightning bugs were lighting my way along the road. (Months later I “Googled” what symbology there was for lightning bugs and found a list starting with: HOPE, energy, guidance, awakening, patience, inspiration, and illumination.) Somewhere during that time I could hear my oldest son, Joseph, calling “Dad, come back.” I could also feel my wife Tami and others praying for me.

I returned to my life on earth, spending three and a half months in the hospital receiving more surgeries and recovering. I thanked my doctors for working with me. A general response was that I should not be alive, one of them even mentioning that a higher power was at work. Though my body was a mess with 19 broken ribs, four vertebrae crushed, two holes in my lungs, and a mangled face, I could literally see and feel my healing in progress as God had said that I would. My lungs filled with fluid to 70% and the doctors wanted to put me back on a ventilator or I would die in two hours. I shook my head “no,” and wrote with my finger that God said he would heal me. With my mouth wired shut, draining was not possible normally. What is remarkable is that one lower jaw tooth was gone due to my trying to gnaw the log in two in desperation at my accident. The medical team was able to put a tube through that opening into my lungs, turn me over and “sandbag” my body to support my chest/lungs hanging down, and drain my lungs. It took three days to do so.  

Five weeks were spent in ICU. When nurses and others came in I could literally see their spirits with them sort of co-mingled with their bodies. A sagging spirit indicated depression or guilt for which I felt led to say that God said it’s not your fault, and that I was a sign from Him to tell her that she would endure. These experiences gave me an opportunity to witness that God told me to tell my story and that He said there was hope at the end of the road.

I am home in recovery now. The day of my accident my son Joseph was to have driven the tractor and worked in my place. He became sick, and I ended up taking his place. I believe he would have been the one that died instead. God had intervened.

 I have definitely been in heaven, a world of energy and peace. I was there and I have a story to tell. I think when I die my last time my earthly body will transform to a spiritual, energy body. There is no end to time in my sensation. I was asked about Jesus during my heavenly visit. I did not see or talk with God about him, but I firmly believe in my own mind that God and Jesus are the same.  

To end, I saw God! He is real! There is the hope for everlasting life that he promised us.