Trudy RN Harris - Glimpses of Heaven: True Stories of Hope and Peace at the End of Lifes Journey

As part of my work I read many books, but Trudy Harriss description of the spiritual experiences of the dying was something that I could not put down. She is clearly loving and compassionate in sharing how the dying prepare for traveling on to the next life. Trudy has written a beautiful work, helping us know what might happen in our own journey as she gives us courage, hope, and faith in realizing that dying is the path to new life.

Francis MacNutt, PhD, co-founding director of Christian Healing
Ministries and author of a number of books, including Healing

It was my privilege to meet Trudy Harris when she began her remarkable and intentional journey of supporting life at its ending. I encouraged her to pursue formal training as a hospice nurse to amplify her innate gift of compassion and ability to provide support and comfort to both terminally ill people and their family members. Her book is a significant addition to the literature in its emphasis on the spiritual dimensions of living each day fully all the way to lifes ending. The stories presented reflect the very real communication that occurs at the end of life between the dying person and those who care for them.

Paul Brenner, MDiv; CEO of Hospice Programs in Florida, Maryland,
and New York City; consultant for the
Healing Project, San Francisco, California

As I read this book, I cried, I laughed, and I thought of my own mortality. Grandmothers story really hit home. My own mother, almost eighty-nine at the time and on titanium braces surgically implanted to help her walk on two broken legs, searched the halls of her assisted living center for her parents in her final days. Perhaps more than a little confused, she seemed certain she would find them as she walked down the hall for the final few times. I think she was most likely searching for God, and what she really found was Him.

This collection of stories transcends generations and time. And it brings to center stage the reason that hospice grows more important with each passing year. So many of us are spread out around the world in far-flung places. In the end, many of us are almost totally alone. Relatives and long-time friends have passed on. Other relatives and one-time friends have found new roads to travel. This book paints a picture of hope at the end of the road, as God finds a way to lighten our fears and our burdens at the time of leaving this world.

No one knows more about the process of transcending our own deaths than Trudy Harris. And this book truly paints a vivid picture. The story of little Lorrain, taken from this earth after only a few weeks and spending her final night sleeping with her parents, moved me deeply. She was a true gift from God that had a soul and a place on this earth as if she had lived eighty years.

These stories have tremendous pathos and show tremendous faith and courage. They reaffirmed my faith that whether or not Im able to say good-bye to those I love at the end, God will be looking out for me and taking me under his wing. What wonderful stories Trudy has given us and what a wonderful gift to those who will read this book.

Bob Losure, former CNN Headline News anchor

In nursing school, Trudy Harris was advised by a treasured mentor to focus her skills at the bedside of her patients. As a pioneer in a fledgling hospice program in northeast Florida, she did just that. Her stories from a nearly three-decade career as a dedicated caregivermuch of it helping terminally people to die well and their families to cope with grief and lossare detailed on these pages with compassion and hope. Anyone who has experienced death or is facing the loss of a loved one will gain strength from the simple yet powerful truths contained in this book. They reflect death not as an ending but merely as an extension of life. Through the stories of real people told here, we will better understand and take comfort in that passage.

Melody Simmons, freelance journalist whose work has appeared on
NPR and in the New York Times and People magazine

Glimpses of Heaven brings home in so many moving and deeply inspiring ways the reality of life after deatha life filled with the abundance of Gods love and the joy of those we loved dearly in this world. We are truly indebted to Trudy Harris for sharing these experiences with many who need to be reassured that the best part is ahead.

Most Reverend John J. Snyder, former Bishop of Saint Augustine

One of lifes most sacred momentswhen we go home to Godis often veiled in mystery because we dont want to talk about it. This collection of powerful and poignant stories offers us a window into the minds and hearts of those who are approaching the end of life. This book is for everyonefrom health care providers to social workers to clergy, and all of us who will one day find ourselves saying good-bye to someone we love. Trudys honest glimpses of the last moments of life reveal years of personal experience and countless acts of compassion. Her accounts of family relationships, faith, doubts, fears, expressions of love and forgiveness, and moments of pure tenderness give us a glimpse into what is really important, in death and in life. Glimpsesof Heaven goes where few people ventureinto a sacred space that is worth exploring.

Paul Malley, president, Aging with Dignity

2008 by Trudy Harris

Published by Revell
a division of Baker Publishing Group
P.O. Box 6287, Grand Rapids, MI 49516-6287
www.revellbooks.com

Ebook edition created 2010

Ebook corrections 04.06.2015

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meansfor example, electronic, photocopy, recordingwithout the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file at the Library of Congress, Washington, DC.

ISBN 978-1-4412-0043-3

To all those whom God sent to our care
and who taught us lifes lessons along the way.

Contents

Ive often said that heaven is a real place. Not a concept, not an ideabut a real place.

Who better to remind us of this than a hospice nurse who witnessed glimpses of heaven countless times through the lives and deaths of her patients. Trudy Harris, through the work of her heart and her hands, has served as a caring facilitator for so many through the twilight of their time on earth. Im not sure I could serve as faithfully or as fearlessly in the role to which God called her.

As a hospice nurse, Trudy has seen and heard things that cannot be explained in human terms. In these spiritual moments, between earthly and eternal life, she has seen God at work over and over again.

You will find comfort in the story of Zach, a three-year-old boy who faced death with love and peace. Youll get a glimpse of heaven through the story of Lenora, a mother in midlife who saw an angel standing by her bed, ready to take her home. And youll witness Gods graciousness and mercy, as a calloused elderly man named Johnny receives a message from a God who longs to redeem him before he breathes his last breath.

If you believe in God, your faith will be strengthened and renewed. If you are skeptical or simply curious about what happens when we die, these stories will give you food for thought. In these pages you will find insights into what happens in the final hours and days of our time here on earth.