"He Held My Hands." Jo Meets Her Heavenly Father During NDE

0:03 From the time that they pronounced me dead was a good 45 minutes. They cut my clothes and then they paddled my heart, my heart stopped and I could see people screaming and crying but I didn't realize that was actually my physical body because I was somewhere else. The only thing that I could feel if you could imagine absolute love and peace there wasn't anything else to be felt. I was greeted by people I had known in the past. I'm back home again. Incredibly safe and felt at home. Welcome, welcome to Round Trip Death, everybody. And please give a warm welcome to our special guest coming to us from Montana today. And this is Joanna Oblander. Please tell me I pronounced that right. Close. Oblander. Oblander. Okay.

0:54 Anyway, Jo, how are you today? I'm good. Thank you. Good. Well, Just to give everybody a heads up, when we talk with people that have had near -death experiences, some of them are short, some are long, some have a lot of detail, some not so much. It seems like recently on the show we've had quite a few people on that have had these very brief NDEs. You're in for a treat today because Joanna, Joe, wow, this is going to take some time because we have a lot to unpack here. So hold on to your hats, everybody. And Joe, before we jump into your experience, would you mind letting us get to know you a little bit? Just give us a one minute on who you are or what you do or anything so that we can get to know you. I'm happily married to my husband, Greg.

1:43 In fact, we just celebrated our anniversary, our 47th anniversary yesterday. Congratulations. Thank you. Unfortunately, we didn't get to spend it together. My husband. serves in the Montana legislature and they're in their final days of the session. My mother of six children, grandmother of 22 grandchildren going on 23. We live here in Montana. We love it here. We love the mountains. We love being in the outdoors and we love just everything. We're blessed to be surrounded by here. That's fantastic. Well, if we go back quite a few years, you were dealing with some real medical issues. I don't know if you want to give us just a brief background. You don't have to go into any personal details, but I know you had severe migraines for years. Tell me what was going on with your health that led up to your near -death experience. About the time I turned 30, I started having 24 -7 headaches.

2:51 And at the time, I didn't know I was having migraine headaches. I thought they were muscle tension headaches. That's what the doctors told me. Regardless of what the type of headache was, I was in excruciating pain 24 -7. I ended up having those headaches for about 15 years, about year 13 of those headaches. I was so worn out, deeply affected by those headaches that I slid into deep depression, which eventually became suicidal depression. Okay. Go ahead and keep going. You want me to relate my experience?

3:33 Yeah. Yeah. How did it start and give us an idea of what happened? I'll stop you and ask some questions as we go. During the time that I had the headaches, I was raising a family of active kids. There's a story behind this as well, but my husband and I ended up adopting two children from Russia. There was the stress of that. We were self -employed. We had left a corporate job. With the adoption of the two children from Russia, we felt like we needed to have additional income, and so we became involved in two businesses.

4:16 So I was helping to run a family with six active children, two of which were learning English and assimilating into our culture and our family, running two businesses. For those that are self -employed, you know what a responsibility that is. Health was not good because I wasn't taking care of it. I was running on adrenaline full -time just to keep up with my life. It finally got to the point where physically, mentally, emotionally, I just wasn't handling anything very well. Our businesses started suffering as a result. I knew it was because of me. I was under a lot of pressure, under a lot of stress.

5:04 I knew I was blessed. I knew I was blessed with an amazing husband, wonderful children, but I began to feel that I was a burden in their lives. I felt like it was my fault that everything was beginning to kind of crash around us. And one of my triggers during the years that I was depressed was financial issues, and we were having a lot of them. had a couple of bill collectors call me one day. One of them told me when I tried to explain to her what was going on with my health that it was all my fault. I wanted to be like that. And she essentially confirmed what I was already feeling in my thoughts, which was that it was all my fault. I was responsible. I was a horrible person. So at the end of that day, I was done. I knew I had worked as hard as I possibly could to do the best job I could at all my various roles of being a business owner, a mom, a wife, a friend, and I was failing and I had failed in my mind. And so I got on my knees and I shared with God through prayer that I was

6:35 done. That he knew and I knew that I'd given it the very best I had, but I didn't have any more to give. If he chose to send me to hell after I committed suicide, that would be okay because it couldn't be any worse than what I was already going through. My plan was the next day while my family was gone to take my life. So as I climbed into bed and tried to hide my tears from my husband, I fell asleep. But shortly after I fell asleep, an angel appeared above my head and he motioned for me to take his hand.

7:31 And I did. and he pulled me from my body, pulled my spirit from my body. And he held onto my hand and he took me through what I call a conduit. It was like a circular tunnel. I could see the walls of the conduit. I could see that they were clear. I could see the galaxies we were traveling through. I knew we were traveling very quickly, but I didn't have any sensation. of travel other than I could see that we were moving past the galaxies we were passing through and when we arrived at our destination I saw this complex of rooms and I knew I had returned to a place I'd been before and I don't know that I could necessarily called that complex of rooms home but I knew that I was in a place that I not only had been before but that had been a place of love and acceptance. I looked at the rooms in front of me and as I looked at each of the rooms I could see through the walls. It was like the walls would would move so that I could see into the rooms and I could hear what was going on

9:01 in the rooms. And it was within a very short amount of time I could remember the layout of that complex and what rooms were used for what subjects and what teachers were teaching in those rooms and those subjects. And they weren't the kind of subjects that we typically think of in a high school or college setting, instead these rooms were teaching those students what it would be like to have certain earthly experiences, what it would be like to have migraine headaches, what it would be like to have a disability of a particular kind, what it would be like to go through a traumatic earth experience. and all of those rooms and all of those classes were trying to help us choose those experiences that would help us become more like our Father in Heaven. That's what all of us in those rooms wanted, is we just loved Him so much and we just were so filled with desire and love for Him.

10:13 We just wanted so much to emulate Him and to become like He was. I became very engrossed in watching those rooms and listening to the discussions that were being had. My angel grabbed my attention and directed me to look towards a room that was to my left. The room he was directing me to was not a classroom. And again, I could see through the walls of the room. and I instantly recognized the form of the being that was in that room, and it was my father in heaven. And I was surprised at how easily I recognized him, especially since his back was towards me, and I could see that he was looking towards the door of the room.

11:17 And he could also see through the walls and the door. I could tell from watching him. And he was watching a man and a woman approach the door. As he saw them, he moved towards the door to open it, to invite them in. And as he did so, I could see who the man and woman were. And it was me and the man who is now my husband. husband's name is Greg and I watched him welcome us into the room and as he welcomed us into the room I began to experience the event both from beside my angel and as I had experienced it back in that realm of existence and I knew that I was being allowed to witness an event in my existence that had taken place prior to my being born here upon this earth. I was able to feel my father embrace me and welcome me into that room. I knew that I had been asked to come to that meeting for a special purpose, something that was important.

12:40 Somehow I knew that my husband, Greg, who in that situation was not my husband, but instead a very, very close friend. At that point I knew that plans had already been made, at least in general, for our lives on Earth, and that it had been planned that Greg and I would be married in this life. We would be together during our lives on Earth. Somehow I knew that Greg knew the purpose of this meeting. and I didn't yet. My father in heaven instructed me to come and sit in a chair. There were two high back chairs in the room and they were arranged so that they were so close. They weren't directly across from each other. They were more at an angle to each other so that he could easily hold my hands.

13:40 He had Greg stand behind my chair. He shared with me that he had invited me there for that meeting because he had a very important mission that he wanted to request of me. He explained that he knew that what he was asking me to do would be difficult, but that with his help, he knew I would be able to accomplish it. From that point on, I no longer observed the meeting. alongside my angel, but instead I experienced the meeting as it had originally taken place. I guess I should back up a little bit. As I had watched God the Father approach that room, what I'll call the veil or the block over my memories was taken away. I was able to see and remember my existence.

14:41 In that realm, I was able to see who I really was, my abilities, my capacities, my talents, my intelligence, everything I understood. I had been overwhelmed with what I had seen. I saw not only myself, but others. I saw our fight for truth, our fight to support God. against Satan. I had seen how, no matter who we were or what talents we did or didn't have, how we completely honored each other and supported each other. And that realm was just so, so completely infused with love and light and unity. So once I had become acquainted with who I really was, then all of my mortal fears and doubts, discouragement, all of those things that are so easily a part of our mortal existence were gone. And I just felt this sense of ability, sense of having at my... at my will, the knowledge, the resources, whatever I needed to accomplish, whatever goal

16:15 I might have to serve God and to serve His purposes. And that was my whole intent in everything I did. For those of us who had fought with God, we were all like that. We all just wanted so much to serve Him and to be like Him. As I sat in that meeting and sat in the chair, God held my hands and talked to me. He motioned for me to look through the conduit the angel had brought me through. And instead of seeming like it was galaxies and galaxies away, it was more like I could just see from within that room, my mortal life, what it would look like and how it would transpire if I chose to accept the mission. that God was asking me to accept. I saw all of the details. I saw my childhood, my adult life, everything that would happen. God let me know that He knew that it would be difficult, but that He knew I would be able to accomplish it as long as I looked to Him for guidance, as long as I stayed close to Him. After having experienced my reuniting with what I call my real self, not my mortal self, for the first time I felt some real trepidation.

17:47 I had seen what would happen. I was really concerned that I would fail my father in heaven. I really didn't want to fail him. I started thinking that maybe it would be better if he let someone else take that assignment instead of me. He was able to read my thoughts and he held my hands a little tighter and he assured me that I would be able to accomplish the mission that he was asking of me. but several times he told me he would understood if I chose not to accept the mission.

18:35 At no point in time during that meeting did he make me feel pressured or that he was insistent. He just let me know that he was hopeful that I would accept that mission and he continued to remind me that as long as I remembered him. I would succeed. And I knew that He couldn't lie to me. I also knew that if during my mortal life that I chose not to rely or to remember God in my life, if I didn't rely on His guidance and I rejected Him or turned against Him in any way, that the things I had been shown of my life would change, that what I had been shown, even though there was great difficulties involved, that what I had been shown was what would occur in my life as long as I remembered Him, as long as I relied on Him. And if I strayed from remembering Him, then various events could be altered or changed. I contemplated for several minutes And as I mentioned before, it was probably one of the rare moments in that existence that I had

20:05 felt any kind of trepidation or doubt. But I knew that God could not lie to me. And I knew that He wanted me to accept that mission. And I knew that I could succeed as long as I relied on Him. And so... accepted the mission and he looked at me and I looked at him and for a few moments I was able to look at him with my mortal understanding and I looked upon his face that was so perfect, so loving, so familiar. and I wondered how I had been able to forget his face.

21:00 I wondered how I had been able to forget my interactions with him, my life with him. He smiled at me and he just let me know, he said, you have, thank you. He told me that he loved me and he told me that I had chosen wisely and he thanked me for my willingness to serve him. From that point, he stood and let us know that he loved us and he embraced us both once again. I just asked in his embrace and his love for me. At that point, our meeting was over and my angel took me again and returned me to my body. I don't remember my return trip. to Earth and I don't remember being placed in my body. I just remember knowing I was back in my body and knowing what had just happened to me. I had hoped that when I returned to my body, that my body would be healed and that I would not have headaches anymore. But when I returned to my body, I returned to a body that was still in a lot of pain and still having 24 -7 migraines. Still deeply, deeply depressed,

22:31 but I had been extended a lifeline. I knew that even though it was going to be really, really difficult to hang on to life, that I had to. That I had to figure it out. That I had to finish my mission. Wow, thank you. I don't know what to say. I usually have too much to say. First of all, just thank you for sharing. That was obviously so sincere and so tender and so personal and I appreciate you trusting us here like that. Can I ask you a few questions now? Certainly. This angel, did you find out who this angel was?

23:12 Yes, it was my grandfather. How did you find that out? It struck me as strange that the whole time I was with him, he kept his face away from me. He was always either to my side and he would turn his head a little bit away from me. He never did talk to me face to face directly. Probably the closest I came to being face to face with him was when he reached for me to come with him. And yet I had the strongest sense that he loved me. and that He was someone who was special to me. So after my experience, I just thought about it quite often for a year or so. Finally decided to pray about it and to see if Heavenly Father would reveal to me who He was. It was immediately made known to me that it was my grandfather, and once it was my paternal grandfather, my father's father. Once I knew who it was, then it just made so much sense because my father's parents were in many ways like parents to me. They were people in my life that had been exceptionally supportive of me and had been there for me. I had spent many, many hours in their home with them during my childhood and my youth. It was because of them that I had been able to successfully

24:46 navigate several challenges from my childhood and my youth. Our relationship had been very close and always had been close and even though his spirit appeared to be about 30 years old, I wasn't surprised by that. My husband and I were blessed to see our biological children and one of our adopted children before they were born. And so they also had appeared to be about that age. I knew the sizes they would be when they were full grown. But even though the features of his spirit were those of what he would have looked like at about 30, I would have known him if I would have looked in his face directly for very long. Yeah. Tell me a little bit more about this scene where you are seeing you and Greg, your husband. But I think you said it sounded like it was before this life. Was this something a plan or a commitment that you feel like you two made before you came here to Earth? Yes.

26:00 How does that work? Do we all do that? I believe we do. I believe we do. Like I said, I watched those classrooms. They were choosing what kinds of experiences that they would have or that any of us would have who were part of that existence. When I was reunited with all of my memories of who I was, Greg was an integral part of that. We had worked with each other. We had been a part of the same endeavors, the same activities, and unfortunately, in my opinion, I know there are reasons behind it, but a lot of what I was shown in that realm, once I was returned to my body, those memories were blocked again. But what I have been able to remember are just some of the key points, and one of them definitely was that Greg and I that there was already a plan in place for the two of us. We knew when we would be coming to Earth. We knew that we would find each other. We knew that we would be together as husband and wife. I would imagine, just like I was shown my life, that if either one of us had really made some decisions contrary to the commitments we made, There in that existence

27:34 that things could have changed but while I was there and while I was reunited with those memories I knew him I knew him as though he were my best friend and the the things that I saw all of us knew what our purpose was there and we knew that we had a purpose to accomplish here in this world as well, but the things that we were we were looking to accomplish were not the things that we typically think of as big accomplishments in this world. It wasn't about who was the brightest and most brilliant. It wasn't about who accumulated or made the most wealth. It wasn't about who was going to be most beautiful or most popular.

28:29 It was about How could we become the most loving? How could we develop the talents that we were going to be granted or that we already had? How could we further develop them and further refine them? How could we best serve God in our lives? How could we create an existence that honored our heritage? And our heritage was being children of God. You mentioned seeing other people receiving instruction in rooms. Did you feel like these were people who were getting ready to come down to earth as babies? Yes. And you mentioned the instruction had to do with trials they may go through. Do you remember anything else about what they were learning? I know that one of the rooms that I was observing Now I can't think of the name of the condition. There's a condition that people suffer from where their lungs become very congested. It's a chronic condition. I can't think of what it was called or is called. In that room, people were learning what it was like to have that condition. And they knew that their mortal existence would generally be cut short.

29:52 They wouldn't have a long mortal existence if they had that condition. Are you thinking of cystic fibrosis? Yes, that's exactly what I'm thinking of. Thank you. As I look back on that, the thing that was remarkable to me is that we weren't really concerned about our longevity in this world. We weren't concerned about whether we would be here for a few years or lots of years. We weren't really concerned about getting to to be an elderly person, we were more concerned with what we could learn and what we could become in the time that we spent here. And as I watched the conversation about the cystic fibrosis, I just remember several people nodding their head like, yeah, I think this is a good one for me.

30:53 I think this will really work. Other people would nod their head no and say, I think there's something else for me. I think something else would help me be more like God. And so it just wasn't the usual criteria that I would say immortality we use to make decisions. We were engrossed in finding those things that would help us. and would refine us and would make us more pure and more loving. So those physical trials and other kind of trials, I imagine, were discussed also. We had a hand in saying, yes, that's a good plan for me, which seems very difficult when we're going through those really tough things here. It seems difficult to believe. I would not have signed up for that.

31:53 I totally get that. Just three years ago, a little over three years ago, our oldest daughter's husband died from a heart attack, leaving her a widow with six children to raise. And the moment that we knew he had not made it, our daughter had called us and let us know that her husband was being live flighted. into the hospital and what was going on. And so when we received the call that he had not made it, one of my first thoughts was, I can't believe this has happened. I can't believe she's going to be left alone. I can't believe Adam, his name, left her. Yet I knew that I had to trust in the Lord's plan and To this day, three years later, watching her and her children go through what they have has been incredibly difficult. And I know that in all likelihood, he was in one of those classrooms saying, yeah, I think a heart attack is what's going to be best. I don't begin to claim that I have all the answers for sure. And I certainly have. I have contemplated on that one a lot, and I still don't know the answers. I just know

33:28 that for me personally, as I have navigated through many of the difficulties, basically all of the difficulties of my life, going through them, I now ask myself, really? Is this what you agreed to? But when I get more on the other side of that difficulty or that challenge that's like, okay, I can see that I learned, fill in the blank, whatever it was I learned from that experience, that probably that was exactly what I had to experience to actually learn that the way I needed to learn it. And that at that time, when we had that large perspective, the idea of not being here on earth as long as some other people, that's okay. Right. Right. That wasn't. a big problem.

34:20 And the thing, I guess, that I didn't mention and it probably didn't seem relevant when I was talking about things, but time there is not the same here. Even if we live here to be an elderly age, the time we're gone from that existence is pretty much a blip in the whole eternal scheme of things. And so, you know, when we're saying goodbye to a loved one there that's coming to Earth to have that mortal experience. It's like, well, we'll see you in a week or so, you know, and like I said, time is really not completely relative there. But just to give kind of an idea for all of us there, it's like, oh, you won't, you know, you're not going to be gone terribly long. So we'll see you soon. Whereas here, because we do have time here, to think of being absent or kept from our loved ones for years and years can seem really, really daunting. It is really, really daunting, depending on the relationships we're talking about. Yeah, just a couple of other things before we wrap up, and I'll let you go because our time is short here. Learning some of these principles, I don't want anyone to take them in the wrong way. If someone is considering taking their own life, please realize you're

35:53 loved. People here need you and want you and there is help. Don't forget the suicide hotline number, which is 988 from all over the United States and many, many countries around the world. So please stay here with us. We want you here. Absolutely. God is loving, but you have a purpose. In fact, part of my work now will be focusing on helping those who are experiencing depression and suicidal ideation to hang in there because suicide is not the answer. It can seem like the answer when your thoughts are being influenced by depression, by mental health issues, but we all have important important things to do and to accomplish and anytime we feel that that's for everyone else but not me I don't matter I'm not important I don't have an important mission those are all lies those are thoughts being fed by Satan and he's very real I have had some scary encounters with him in this life and or those that his the angels that follow him and they're real and their work is real but so is God's work and the fact that we are God's children is real

37:25 and that we have a mission to accomplish is absolutely and incredibly important and real. One other quick thing before I let you go, Jo, and that is I know that you've written all this stuff down, and there's a whole lot more that we didn't get into about your adopted children and that really cool story and stuff. Did you stick this in book form? I did. What's it called? It's called A Glimpse of Heaven, One Woman's Life -Altering Visit with God. And in my book, I do share my near -death experience. I also share the experience of being directed by God to find my son Andrew, the resulting adoption six and a half years later of him and his sister from Russia, and my experience of being healed from my 24 -7 migraines. Joe, this seemed like a really personal, emotional thing for you. And I know you don't share this very often. How does it make you feel when you share this experience? That's a really great question. How did you feel today? I feel God with me when I share this experience. I feel God with me most days, quite frankly. That relationship that I have with Him is incredibly important

38:55 to me. But what I feel, I guess, As I share my experience, is that I'm fulfilling part of my mission. There's kind of a feeling like I'm being blessed to potentially help somebody, to potentially increase somebody's understanding. I don't go around every day saying, hey, can I share this experience with you? But at the same time, There's a real part of me that wants to kind of shout out to the world, even though that's not generally a possibility. This is what you should know.

39:38 This is what I would want you to know, is that you are having difficult experiences, you are having learning experiences, but none of us is alone. We all have not only a perfect God and His Son, and the Holy Ghost to help us, but we have this legion of angels that I feel surround all of us more if we're asking for their help, less if we're not, but we have at our access just amazing assistance and help if we're willing to ask for it and then utilize it. That's a beautiful way to summarize and conclude. Thank you for joining me today, Jo. I really appreciate it.

40:26 You're welcome. Thanks again for listening and sharing this podcast. Don't forget to hit the follow or subscribe button and sign up for our newsletter at roundtripdeath .com. If you want to share your near -death experience, or if you have questions or comments about the show, send an email to eric at roundtripdeath .com. Until then, I wish you everything good that you're looking for in this life and the next.