Mary Beck

I'd only seen my cousin Mary a couple of times in my life before we really got to know each other. Mary was my mom's first cousin and she and mom were the same age, born the same year.

Cousin Mary came to our house in Seattle to celebrate my Grandmother's 85th birthday and Mary invited my mom and myself over to her house in Montana, to celebrate her 50th birthday the following month. My mom flew over and I drove, and ended up getting lost haha. I ended up nearly in Canada before turning back and having Mary meet me near her home so I could follow her back. She and her husband lived in a rural setting in Whitefish, Montana, near Glacier National Park. When we arrived at their house it was after 1am and Mary fixed me something to eat and she and I sat and talked and got to know each other.

Mary told me about the most amazing experience she'd had, one that changed her life forever. When Mary was younger, she was married to a man, a jerk and a con artist. They were in Mexico once and as they were crossing the border back into the U.S., her husband planted some drugs on her and she was caught. Her husband then denied even knowing her, and she was sent to a Mexican prison. Mary was very depressed and shortly afterward she attempted suicide. She was so close to death that the doctor called the family over to say goodbye to her and various relatives sat at her bedside. Mary remembers seeing her body in the bed and everyone's faces looking at her, and then she found herself in a tunnel of white light, and at the end of the light was a figure. She felt that she knew this figure, and at first wondered if it was Jesus, but as she walked closer, she saw that it was her grandmother, my great-grandmother. Our Grandmother greeted Mary in the light and Mary described the light as being the most beautiful sight in the world, and the feeling of love she felt there was unlike anything on earth. Mary tried to describe what heaven was like, but said there weren't any earthly words that could describe it well enough. She talked about the colors on the other side, there are so many more colors than we have here. I was trying to imagine it, but couldn't. Grandma said to Mary, It's not your time yet, Mary. You have to go back. Mary said, No Grandma, I want to stay with you! Mary said that when you see the light and what's on the other side, nothing we have here is enough to make us want to come back, all you want is to be part of this spectacularly beautiful place full of love. Grandma told her, I'll be waiting here when it's your time to come, and I'll be here to welcome the rest of the family too. But for now you have to go back, but you're meant to tell everyone you can that there IS a heaven, and that God and Jesus are REAL.
And with that, Mary turned around and walked away from the light, and then opened her eyes to see the family surrounding her at her beside. Mary said, I just saw Grandma, she said she'll be waiting for us all when it's our time to go.

Someone said, What, she just saw Grandma? And someone called the nursing home, and sure enough, Grandma had just died a minute before, just when Mary opened her eyes. Grandma had not already been dead, she and Mary had met in the light at the same time and Grandma went ahead and Mary came back.

This experience changed Mary's life forever. She met and marrried a wonderful man and the two of them became Christian marriage counselors and Mary built a huge wooden cross and put it up in their backyard. On the cross Mary carved Jesus Saves, and she called it Grandma's cross.

Mary developed bone cancer in 2002 and passed away in early 2003, but she remained happy and positive until the end, because she knew where she was going. She'd been there before. Her goal was to tell as many people she could about her experience, so they too would have the hope and peace in knowing that we WILL be reunited with loved ones for eternity, it's not just a story, it's the truth!