On April 30, 1976, following an unsuccessful suicide attempt by drug overdose the previous night, Sandra Rogers placed a .38 caliber pistol to her chest, aimed it at her heart and pulled the trigger. At her darkest hour, Sandra committed suicide. She expected to die. Instead, she found herself in the presence of a brilliant light. Instead of the nothingness she sought by committing suicide, Sandra was given an amazing look at life beyond death, and the infinite wisdom of the Other Side. The Light gave her the choice of remaining in the Light with the provision that she reincarnate and experience once again all that brought her to suicide; or she could return to life and live out the rest of her life. She chose to return to life. What she learned on the Other Side profoundly changed her. On April 28, 2000, Sandra Rogers finally made the transition back to the Light due to complications resulting from her suicide attempt in 1976. The following article is an excerpt from her excellent book, Lessons from the Light, reprinted by permission, describing her near-death experience and some of the insights she learned while in the light.

Table of Contents

1. Sandra Rogers' Near-Death Experience

"Before the ambulance arrived I had what is now commonly called a near death experience. "I came into the presence of a brilliant, wonderfully warm and loving Light. While I was in the presence of this Light I was shown a review of my life and all the events that brought me to that point.



"I was fascinated as I watched my life unfold, that I was aware not only of my own emotions, but also the feelings of those around me as well as those whose lives we touched. I experienced their pain or pleasure and understood what motivated their actions toward others and me.



"As my life review continued, I encountered again all of the pain and hopelessness of my next several years; a series of bad relationships, pregnancies, miscarriages, broken marriages and suicide attempts. I saw myself as a young woman of twenty-five, married and divorced three times and hospitalized for drug overdoses six times. I felt how I hated my existence and could not understand how a loving God could allow these things to happen.



"I was aware as I relieved each of these terribly painful events in my life that the light, which was with me as I watched, felt all of my pain and sorrow and never judged me, but instead understood and loved me.



"The love I felt from the light was overwhelming and I never wanted to leave it. While I was in Its presence I had unlimited knowledge about anything I wanted to know. I was given the choice of remaining with the light, provided I return later to the physical world and experience all that brought me to the point of shooting myself, or I could return now and pick up my life where it was. I was told that I would eventually have the family and love I so desperately yearned for. I was also told that I could only take back the knowledge I needed to sustain myself, although I would be given insights to help others and me along the way as I continued my life journey...



"During my NDE I followed my angel guide into the light. The angel was absorbed by the light and so was I. While in the light I learned that everything in existence was created from the essence of God, the light." "Lessons from the Light is my attempt to provide some of the understanding gained through other's and my near-death experiences, as well as insights I have received along the way."

2. Insights from Sandra Rogers' Near-Death Experience

a. Sandra's Insights About God

God is Love, Light, and energy in all. God is the source of perfect Love and all; life. All you do and think is known to God, and God understands everything perfectly, and loves everyone just the same. God loves and forgives you, and expects you to love and forgive others. All the pain we feel or cause is felt by God. Our soul is a part of God and God is a part of us; therefore, our souls are immortal and eternal. Just as the smallest atom of your physical body is part of you, you are a part of God. We are all one with God, and to hurt even the smallest part of God hurts us all. Everything is a part of God. Light is the single source through which all are united. God is love, light, and the energy in all. God is the source of perfect love and all life. God does not punish, He only loves. He has given us free will to grow in knowledge and find happiness. Every thought or action causes a reaction by which we must live with the consequences. As an example, if I choose evil over good I suffer the natural consequences which I may perceive as God punishing me. God sends truth through many channels to those who ask. God is in all places at all times. Listen to that small inner voice in your thoughts; it is the voice of God.

b. Sandra's Insights About Love

Love, being God, is too immense and profound to ever be fully understood or experienced in the physical world. The only thing that lives forever is Love. God's paradise for us is Love. We can create paradise again if we learn to Love one another as ourselves. Life is a road full of lessons teaching Love. When Love is learned, you will forever be home. To have an abundance, do what you do with Love, and Love what you do. In the search for truth and understanding, all paths lead to Love. Where Love dwells, God is there. God transforms the results of man's sins into opportunities to learn Love. When we work for God, we create Love. Every action of Love has a reaction of joy. The greatest joy is to share Love. Love at its best is Love motivated to action. Indifference is the opposite of Love. Forgiveness is the capacity to give Love in the most difficult circumstances. Forgiveness shows God's Love in action. It is as close as we get to God's nature in this physical world. Love in the physical world is a reflection of Love throughout eternity.

c. Sandra's Insights About Spirituality

You are much more than you think you are. Others are much more than you think they are. If everyone knew their true nature, there would be peace on Earth. In order to become one with God, work must be done to remember or find the truth. The truth is this: your true self is a spirit and your spirit is one with God. When you do unto others, you do unto God and yourself. Those who seek to do good are on the quickest path to God. If practice makes perfect, why not practice being good? What you think is where your heart will be. We can only gain what we are willing to accept. If you want to find happiness, look for those in pain and help them. A simple act of kindness, like a ripple on a pond, radiates from the giver throughout eternity. Kindness finds its way back to you. React to the faults of others as kindly as you do with your own faults. That which you loathe in others is the very aspect you forbid yourself. Others judge us by our actions; God judges us by our motivations. Our character is built by our dominating thoughts. Sleep is a time in which our spiritual body connects in a focused manner with God to recharge our energy. Dreams are messages from your subconscious in the form of a puzzle. To comprehend your dream, piece the puzzle together. Dreams without action remain dreams.

d. Sandra's Insights About Religion

There is one God who is worshipped through many different teachings of many different religious faiths. God is in all of us. God is male and female, all races, and the reason for all religions. Even those who say they do not believe in God believe in energy and/or a life force; therefore, they do actually believe in God, they just have not figured out the name for "God" yet. The gods of one faith are the angels, saints, or supernatural beings of other faiths. Angels only need to be asked to intervene in your life. God created differences in religion because of the different lessons we all need to learn. There are only two true religions - the religion of love and the religion of fear. A wrathful and threatening god is a god of man's creation. The universe is God's cathedral. The problem with institutionalizing God's church through religions is that each religion tries to limit that which is limitless. God created differences because there are different ways to serve God, and different lessons we all need to learn. The more spiritually evolved one is, the more one sees truth in different religions; one less spiritually evolved sees only differences. To be fixed in beliefs is to try to make the infinite finite. The belief that we are limited is an illusion. We are limited only by our beliefs. Cries, wishes, hopes, desires, and thoughts are all forms of prayer. Prayer is talking to God. Meditation is listening to God.

I. Sandra's Own Experience With Religion

"During my youth I grew up believing that God is unfair. I was taught that when Jesus said, 'I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father, but by me,' this meant that only those who publicly profess their faith in Christ go to heaven. I felt if this were true, God is unjust because not everyone wants, or has the opportunity to be exposed to, Christian teachings. I asked the light, which I call Christ, how people from other religions get to heaven. I was shown that the group, or organization, we profess alliance to is inconsequential. What is important is how we show our love for God by the way we treat each other. This is because when we pass to the spiritual realm we will all be met by him, which substantiates the passage, 'No one comes to the Father, but by me.'



"The light showed me that what is important is that we love God and each other, and that it isn't what a person says, but the love in their being that is examined in the afterlife. In reviewing and reliving your life, your acts and thoughts of love bring you and God great joy, and your acts and thoughts of indifference, selfishness, and anger bring you and God deep remorse. We are all part of God's family, and are all interconnected. Those organizations, or religions, which claim some singular relationship with God, claim superiority over others, or exclude people for various reasons, go against God's law that we love one another as we love ourselves."

e. Sandra's Insights About Evil and Sin

Satan and demons are what you make them. Evil only exists because we fear and think unkind thoughts. The beginning of all sin is seeing self as separate from others and God, creating the illusion that the deeds of self will not cause harm to others. Anger is not the opposite of love. Indifference is. Anger is an expression of our free will, often manifested as a result of feeling controlled and feeling the need to assert our willpower over others. There is no unforgiveable sin. It is best to think of sin as the mistake of forgetting our oneness with God. Anger is love's energy misused. Bigotry is self-hate. When we hate others, we hate ourselves. When you see someone full of hatred or anger, treat them with love so that you can be an example they may later reflect. As long as you are a child of rage, you will not find the power to know your potential as a child of God. An act of hostility, like a ripple on a pond, radiates out from the giver until eternity.

f. Sandra's Insights About the Physical World

The physical body that the soul enters into is chosen prior to birth. Souls choose to be born to parents who will help their spiritual advancement as well as the spiritual advancements of the parents. Souls who choose lives which end in childhood deaths often feel the need to comfort the parents with after-death visits. Most younger children have memories of their life before their birth, but those memories are dismissed as imagination by parents and others. Those born with mental or physical afflictions are more spiritually advanced than others, born to help others evolve spiritually. Hardships are necessary for the growth of our soul. Obstacles are opportunities in disguise. The greatest desire of your heart, when granted, can become a burden. The greatest burden of your heart can become a blessing. Life in the physical world is a struggle to find true happiness. Pleasure is of the physical world. Happiness is of the spiritual world. God wants us to have abundance. You will have physical abundance if what you are doing is spiritually fulfilling. If an addiction isn't conquered before your physical death, it could keep your spirit earthbound. Moderation during physical life is the key to a successful transition to the spirit world. The forbidden fruit symbolizes the spiritual body entering the physical body and starting the spiritual body's desire for things of the physical world. Earth is just one realm of learning; there are many. Knowledge is more valuable than gold. It is something of value you can take with you to the spiritual world. Using knowledge is far better than having knowledge. From the point of view of our conscious mind, life's not fair, but our spirit being knows there's a purpose to our dilemmas: to experience in order to gain knowledge. In our physical life we continually search for answers to the "whys" of life. When we die we will know the "whys." A society that asks, "What's in it for me?" instead of "How can I contribute?" is a society that is doomed.

g. Sandra's Insights About Death and the Afterlife