In 2019, Charlotte Holmes had a routine check-up with her cardiologist when her blood pressure spiked to 234 over 134. “My heart doctor said, ‘You’re not going home. We’re going to put you in the hospital. We’ve got to get that blood pressure down. It’s got to come down. You’re in a – you’re in a – having another stroke or having a heart attack. They put me in a room and started an IV just to, you know, try to get that blood pressure down.”

Holmes said, “They called a code, and they come running in. I was above my body. I could see them doing chest compressions. I could see them, all the nurses around. I could smell the most beautiful flowers I’ve ever smelled. And then I heard music. And when I opened my eyes, I knew where I was. I knew I was in heaven.”

Charlotte’s husband Danny stayed with her while the hospital staff tended to her. “Immediately, you know, they called this code, and they – everybody started rushing in,” Danny says. “They just started working on her. And my feeling was, you know, I thought, ‘Boy, I’m wondering if I’m even going to be able to bring her home.'” Charlotte began describing things to Danny. “She started talking about the flowers,” says Danny. “Well, I looked around, and I knew there was no flowers in that room. That’s when I knew she was not in this world when that was going on.”

Then Charlotte’s heart stopped. For the next 11 minutes, she was clinically dead. “I was above my body. I could see Danny standing in the corner,” she says. “He had backed up. I could see them, all the nurses around. And then I opened my eyes. I looked around at the beauty. I could see the trees. I could see the grass. And everything was swaying with the music. Because everything in heaven worships God, I can’t convey to you what heaven looked like cause it’s so above what we could even imagine, a million times.”

Charlotte says she was led into heaven by angels. “There is no fear. It’s like pure joy. When the angels take over, there is no fear. When you are going home, it’s pure joy.” She says she then began to recognize deceased family members. “I saw my mom. I saw my dad. I saw my sister. I saw family members standing behind me. I saw saints of old. See, they didn’t look old. They didn’t look sick. None of them wore glasses,” Charlotte recalls. “They looked like they were in their 30s. But yet it says in the scriptures, ‘We will be known as we were known.’ I know them. There, in their new bodies, they looked wonderful.”

What Charlotte saw after that, however, shocked her. “Standing behind my mom and dad was a light so bright. I couldn’t look at it. So bright. But I knew it was my Heavenly Father. I saw a toddler. And I can remember thinking, ‘Who is this?’ And I heard my father say to me, my Heavenly Father, ‘It’s your child.’ I lost that child. I was 5-1/2 months pregnant. I can remember them holding the baby up and saying, ‘Charlotte, it’s a boy.’ Then he was gone. So when I saw this toddler, I said, ‘God, how is that possible?’ He says, ‘They continue to grow in heaven. But there’s no time. It’s eternity.’ So 48 years, and here my child, our child, is a toddler.”

Then God chose to show her one more thing. “God took me to the edge of Hell, and I looked down and the smell –rotten flesh. That’s what it smelled like, and screams,” she says. “After seeing the beauty of heaven, the contrast of seeing Hell is almost unbearable. And He says, ‘I show you this to tell you if some of them do not change their ways, this is where they shall reside. I heard my Father say, ‘You have time to go back and share.'”

As quickly as she had gone to heaven, Charlotte’s spirit returned. “I felt myself being drawn into my body. I felt the pain where I hadn’t felt pain. I felt the sorrow.” Danny said, ‘They came running in, and your eye blinked.’ And he said, ‘I knew then I was going to get to bring you home.'”

After two weeks, Charlotte made a full recovery and was released from the hospital. Since then, she has been sharing her story in public appearances and with everyone she comes into contact with. “People need hope. They want to know that there really is something out there. They want to know that everything’s okay,” Charlotte says. “I have been privileged to bring people to Christ, as He asked me to. All the authority He had, He has given to us, in the name of Jesus Christ. Not because of who we are. God promises. He said if it were not so, He would’ve told you.  But He’s gone to prepare us a place, and it’s more real than you can imagine. I can look you square in the eye and tell you for sure, ‘Heaven is real.'”