One night while I was reading a great book called "The Broken Heart" (about the Atonement, by Bruce Hafen), my brother called me up and said that he was reading a great book called "The Message." He asked if I wanted to borrow it when he was done. I told him no since it was about death and I was already having a hard time coping with my Mother's death. He insisted and brought it along when we traveled to the funeral. On the plane I started to read it, which was good and bad because it made me cry, but I was hooked!
Basically it is about an LDS man who goes into a coma and visits Paradise/The Spirit World. He learns a few lessons while he is there and is told it is not his time to die, but will return to his family. The lessons he learned helped me cope with the death of my Mother. He talked about the importance of God, Family, Service, Love, and Liberty. Mostly he focused on Love and Service. He emphasized how much we need to love and serve those around us because that is what they are doing there. He also testified how much the Savior really loves us, but sometimes we forget. Although this is not published by the church I feel like everyone should read this book because everything he writes about is doctrinally sound. I felt the spirit the whole time I read it and the story also sucked me in. Thank you Lance Richardson for making death a little bit easier for me and remembering the big picture.
