Post #73 Jeff Olson from Heaven is Beyond Imagination

I have decided to share with you Jeff Olson’s story from Heaven Is Beyond Imagination, pages 217-219. Even though his time in heaven was very short, it had a tremendous impact on the rest of his life and it responds to many issues we face here. This is just a brief summary of his story told in full in his book: Olsen, Jeff. 2012. I knew their hearts, But I believe it will be a blessing to you, especially to someone who needs it, which is why I believe God prompted me to post this. It was a blessing to me as I reread it.

Jeff Olsen was in a terrible rollover auto accident at 75 mph. His car veered off the freeway and he overcorrected sending the SUV rolling over seven or eight times down the middle of the freeway. He was trapped on the floorboard under the steering wheel. He heard his son Spencer crying in the back seat. He didn’t hear his wife Tamara and youngest son, Griffin; they died in the crash. He struggled but was trapped in the vehicle in searing pain. Eventually he heard voices and sirens and then went unconscious. He was in a different place, a place of joy and light, and his senses were magnified to a much greater degree. The place felt real and he didn’t hurt. It felt like his real home. He saw and felt Tamara right beside him. She was alive and more powerfully present than just her physical presence. She was crying and upset, but Jeff could not figure out what happened since he felt alive and not dead. Where were the boys? Then Tamara said, “You can’t stay here. You have to go back. You can’t be here.” Crying she said, “You can’t come. You cannot stay.” He still couldn’t figure out what was happening, but he knew he did not want to leave this place of joy in the presence of his dear wife. She continued insisting he had to go back for their eldest son, who had not died. He told her he loved her and realized the truth of what Tamara was saying and returned to this life. (Olsen, 29-34)

But his brief experience in heaven gave him a new spiritual perception. When he returned he was following his body in the hospital, and he could see in the spirit everything about the people he saw in the hospital before he returned to his body, hence the title of his book, I knew their hearts. He could see their joys, sorrows, love, hate, pain, secrets, and more. He then gives several examples of what he saw in the people attending him. Through all this he felt compassion and love for them. That is one of the changes being in heaven, even for just a moment, does for people. (Olsen, 35-36)

His recovery was long and painful. At times he wanted to die. But with the help of others, his brothers, the Holy Spirit, and the memory of Spencer for whom he came back, he accepted his role here. One especially encouraging moment came a couple years later when the original emergency room physician and his attending nurse visited him in a different hospital. The nurse, with tears in her eyes, told him that when they attended him she was aware of his wife Tamara standing there beside him. She saw her surrounded in a light in the shape of a woman. The doctor then said he didn’t see her but felt her presence and love. She communicated to him why he had to save you. As he worked on Jeff, he felt her behind him and her say to him, “Thank you.” Their report brought tears to his eyes and renewed his hope and courage. (Olsen, 65-66)

When he had recovered enough that plans were made for him to return home, he had a dream. It was not a normal dream but a real and vivid dream. He was in heaven again where he had last seen Tamara. It was like walking through the doors of a childhood memory. He had no pain and he danced and ran. He moved rapidly down a long corridor where there was a baby crib at the end. Griffin was in the crib. He was alive and well and slept peacefully. Jeff picked him up and held him close, feeling his warmth and softness. Jeff felt him spiritually also; every cell of his body was full of light and life. The presence of God came up behind him, someone who was so eternal, so powerful, so personal. He felt the overwhelming love of the Father behind him. He spoke to him things he is not able to repeat and even if he tried he could not give justice to what he learned. He was given the opportunity to give Griffin to God rather than have him “taken” from him. He had peace and a new sense of awe. He realized he could exercise his will in everything and turn it to good and not evil. He was able to let go of all that had happened and not blame God or himself, but be content that all was in God’s hands and is very good. God gave him the grace to understand and accept all of this. Remembering that God created him in His image, he was able to accept himself fully as he was, surrender everything that had happened to God, and actually walk with God, empowered by what he had learned. (Olsen, 84-88)