Heaven's Lessons

Ten Things I Learned About God When I Died

By: Steve Sjogren

Narrated by: Maurice England

"If you'd asked me who God is on December 9, the year of my accident, I would have been able to give you a fairly cohesive but theoretical answer. A day later all of that changed."

A simple surgery went horribly wrong. Steve Sjogren died on the operating table. He encountered a heavenly world where he felt infinite peace. And then he had to come back - back to a physical reality filled with pain and disability and an endless line of tests. The drama of dying suddenly paled in comparison to the trauma of living. Sjogren could not face this new existence with his same old comfortable understanding of God. "I had minimized God," Sjogren says. "Somehow, over time, he had become fairly predictable - like he could be outlined, fully grasped, and contained in a neat set of mere ideas. Now I saw that he apparently wasn't all that impressed with my cool little notebooks." One day in heaven followed by hundreds in agony forged a deeper and stronger faith than Sjogren could have crafted on his own. In Heaven's Lessons, Sjogren shares his experiences and the life-changing ways they have affected his perspective on success, suffering, and the mysteries of God.

©2013 Steve Sjogren (P)2014 Thomas Nelson

Life changing

Throughout my life (76 years to date) illnesses have impacted me, and looking back I have seen God’s mighty hand of grace using each situation to bring greater good, but often the journey was painful.

At 18, instead of entering college on a music scholarship, I entered a state tuberculosis hospital.

In my forties, I learned that I have Alpha 1 Antitrypsin deficiency (zz) that results in emphysema and I’ve been living with this condition for 30 years.

At 52, I had a cerebral aneurysm and had to learn to walk and gain enough strength to function again.

At 67, a fall left me with a broken femur and shattered heel bone, leaving me unable to walk for 6 months and still being less mobile than I want to be.

These pauses gave me time to write a devotional book series, Daily Praise Moments:Gaining Strength for Today’s Challenges.

But a work situation that happened in 2007 has been laying unresolved and this book has given me the motivation to turn it loose and become thankful.

I have given lip service to Romans 8:28 for years, but now I am committed to living this life principle.

Thank you, my new friend, for allowing God to use your pain to shine light into my dark corners. Don Thompson 865-603-2581.