Divine Encounters Episode 019 | Near-Death Experience Story
Wendy Rose Williams was 36, ten weeks pregnant and alone at home in August 1997 when, she says, a searing pain sent her to the floor and a roomful of angels told her to call for help. In this Divine Encounters episode she tells Alex Ferrari about the days that followed, an out-of-body journey on an escalator of light, and the choice she says she was given by Archangel Michael.
Key Takeaways
- Wendy says an insistent male voice woke her and told her she had to call for help or she was going to go home.
- She describes a bathroom filled with four or five large figures of light, floating just above the floor, and a message: “You just have to be willing to try.”
- She says she left her body the night before surgery, felt no pain or fear, and rose through the ceiling toward a compelling light.
- She recalls an escalator of light that carried her to a welcoming group of five angels and about fifteen beings of light.
- She says Archangel Michael gave her three things to consider before choosing, including that her life might be difficult because she was not yet on her life path.
- She says she chose to return when she saw her toddler daughter Tara’s face, and was met with hugs, cheers and encouragement.
- Her message: we are braver than we know, so “be kind to one another, because we have no idea what they’re going through.”
| Guest | Wendy Rose Williams |
| Episode | Divine Encounters 019 |
| Age at the time | 36, ten weeks pregnant |
| When | August 1997 |
| What Wendy says happened | A sudden, severe bleed that led to surgery; she left her body the night before |
| Where she says she went | Up through the hospital ceiling, then by escalator of light to a welcoming place |
| Who she met | Archangel Michael, four other angels and about fifteen beings of light |
| The message | Be kind; we are braver than we think |
Who Is Wendy Rose Williams?
Wendy says she worked in healthcare for thirty years, so she knows what it means when a hospital puts you next to the nurses’ station. In August 1997 she was 36, healthy and working from home. Her daughter Tara was a toddler, about 18 or 19 months old. Wendy was ten weeks pregnant, and she had been to one OB/GYN visit where everything looked great.
She also tells Alex that she was not spiritually awake at the time. It was 1997. She was not listening to podcasts or watching documentaries about near-death experiences, as people do now. She knew very little about them.
There was one hint. She says she kept having a strange, vivid, recurring dream.
A Searing Pain and a Voice
That day Wendy was home alone, with no car. Something just did not feel right. She tried to work, then lay down, then ran to the bathroom, wondering if she was going to be sick. Then came a searing pain in her abdomen. She looked down because she thought someone had stuck a knife in her. It felt, she says, as though an organ had burst. She called out for help. She called out to God.
When she came to, it was because of an insistent male voice. He kept saying her name. And then: “You’ve got to call for help now, or you’re going to go home.” She says she knew exactly what he meant. He meant she was going to die.
A Bathroom Full of Angels
She opened her eyes, disoriented, lying on her side. She looked up and saw “more light than I have ever seen.” It was gorgeous. In the light were four or five really large figures, so many that the whole bathroom was crowded. She thought: “My bathroom is filled with angels.”
They floated a couple of inches above the floor. That was part of how she knew, she says. She could sense that otherwise there would be wings dragging on the ground. So much light came off them. They looked like they were in robes. She could not see features, but she knew one was male by his voice.
She answered him: I understand, but I can’t walk, and I can’t get to the phone. It was 1997, she reminds us, and nobody had a cell phone glued to their hand. The angel said something she calls very important: “You just have to be willing to try.”
She managed to get onto her hands and knees. That took everything she had. By the time she did, she says it was like being gently flown to the bedroom next door. She got the landline from the nightstand. For one second she wondered who to call. The voice had just said call for help. She never thought of 911. She says if ever there was a moment for that, this was it. But she called her husband, who worked five minutes away.
She calls the next part miracles. She reached him right away, which she had never done at work before. She told him she needed him to drive her to the hospital immediately. All he said was, on my way, and she heard him slam the phone down.
The Hospital and the Third Day
Wendy then called the OB office, answered their questions and told them the symptoms: she was not bleeding on the outside, but her abdomen was distending like crazy. They told her to come right away, that her husband would get her there faster than an ambulance, and not to park. They would meet her with a wheelchair. Fortunately the office was at the hospital.
An ultrasound could not show anything. She says the doctor told her she had a massive bleed, and that what looked black on the screen was her own blood. They admitted her to the GYN unit, right next to the nurses’ station.
What she remembers most is that she did not care about much except being out of pain. She says she could not take any more pain, fear and worry, and that this was not her personality at all. She has never given up on anything in her life. But with so much blood loss it was hard to stay conscious and answer questions.
On day three, her physician told her, “you’re officially bleeding out.” They could not transfuse blood quickly enough, he said, because she lost it faster than they could replace it, and her hematocrit was dangerously low. They had to do surgery. She said yes and signed the form. Surgery with two OB/GYN doctors was planned for seven the next morning.
These are Wendy’s descriptions of her medical situation, and we share them as she told them.
Leaving the Body and Riding the Escalator
That night, after dinner, she was alone in her hospital room, trying to relax and visualize the best possible outcome. The minute she did, she says, she popped right out of her body.
She looked back over her left shoulder and thought: look at her, she’s a mess. She is whiter than a ghost. Then she wondered why she was talking about herself in the third person. She realized she was back in soul form. She felt fantastic. She did not hurt. She was not scared, worried or traumatized. She could only see a light above her, and it was compelling, coming down through the ceiling.
She popped out through the top of the hospital and got what she calls the Google Earth view. It receded behind her as she went faster and faster. Then she ran out of gas. She thought: please do not make me walk through that long tunnel. In that very moment, a pristine escalator appeared, just for her, with light pouring off it. She plopped onto it, not just a hand on the rail, but her whole body. It carried her up.
At the top, she says, she was home. “I don’t have a care in the world,” she remembers. If you are curious how people describe this kind of passage, the glossary entry on the near-death experience is a good place to start.
The Welcoming Committee and Archangel Michael
There was a big welcoming committee at the top of the escalator. They stopped her, because she would have run ahead. The same angels from her bathroom were there. When the male voice spoke, she thought: that’s Archangel Michael, he spoke to me in my bathroom. She knew the voice and the energy. There were five angels and about another fifteen beings of light, all hugging her. They told her: you made it.
Archangel Michael said, welcome home. We are so glad you are here. “You’ve done nothing wrong.” She was welcome to stay, he told her, but if she wanted to go back she would need to decide quickly. Wendy thinks he meant that the body in the bed was not viable for long without the soul in it. She laughingly says she asked for a second because she was in the middle of her reunion. For more on how people describe angels and archangels, see our glossary entry on Archangel Michael.
Three Things, and the Hardest One
He told her three things. Number one: if she chose to go back, she would have a successful surgery the next day and fully regain her health. Number two: her baby would be born, and healthy. Wendy says she thought, those are huge.
Number three was the kicker. If she went back, her life would be very difficult, likely for many years, “because you’re not on your life path.” She says she was horrified, chagrined, even embarrassed. What was she not doing? What should she be doing? She begged him to tell her. He just gently shook his head. She thought: no information there. She had been told two huge things, and she would have to figure out the third herself.
The glossary entry on soul purpose gently explores how many people ask the same question she did.
Choosing to Go Back
Michael asked what she wanted: stay home, or go back and finish out her life. The moment he asked, all she could see was her daughter Tara’s face. It was not a normal view. It was like an IMAX screen, seventy feet wide, filling her whole world, with her little brown curly hair.
She knew she would regain her health and have another healthy baby. So she turned to Michael and said, “put me back in coach.” I’m ready to play, she added, and I’ll have to figure it out.
They gave her another huge hug. This second hug, she says, taught her something. The first was unconditional love, the kind that made her want to stay. But this one carried more. She says we do not feel enough of that love, so we have to learn how to give it to ourselves first, and to stop being so hard on ourselves. We also have to learn to give it to other people in a way they can feel, in their own love language.
They put her back on the escalator. She looked over her shoulder and waved. Everyone was in cheerleader mode: you can do it, we will be with you, we will be helping. She had never felt a connection like it. This time the escalator went straight into her hospital room, and she dropped back into her body. Ouch, she thought, this thing hurts. But it was going to get better tomorrow.
The Surgery and What She Was Told
Wendy did have the surgery. She says the surgeon was able to tell her what had happened. The top of the uterus, the fundus, had ruptured, and it was pumping out blood, so they estimated she had lost three quarters of her blood supply. He also told her they could see the fetus, less than a peanut, tucked down low on the left, and that they had been very careful while repairing the top of her uterus.
She does not tell us in this conversation how her baby’s story ended, so we will leave that where she leaves it. What she does share is what she holds as a belief now.
Her Message: We Are Braver Than We Think
Wendy says she believes “the ultimate purpose of life is we’re here to help God.” We come, she says, to help the divine learn more and progress more. We come to experience emotions, many of them wonderful and plenty not much fun, and to live inside the limits of a human body with a veil of amnesia over what we know. Everyone on the other side, she says, thinks “we’re so incredibly brave.”
So her ask is simple. Give yourself a pat on the back. Say, you can do it. And keep helping one another. In her words, “be kind to one another, because we have no idea what they’re going through.”
How Wendy’s Story Compares With Common Near-Death Themes
Many near-death accounts mention seeing the body from above, a passage toward light, loved ones or guides, and a choice about returning, often tied to someone left behind. Wendy’s story has all of these, and the image of an escalator in place of a tunnel is a vivid variation. In 1983, psychiatrist Bruce Greyson published a 16-item scale to help describe such experiences, and it is still used today. What the accounts mean remains debated. We share them as personal experiences, and we make no medical claims. For the wider picture, see our complete guide to near-death experiences.
Questions to Sit With
- The angel told Wendy that she only had to be willing to try. What is one thing you could try this week without needing to be sure?
- Wendy says we have to learn to give love to ourselves first. How hard are you on yourself, and what would a gentler voice sound like?
- Who in your life do you suspect is going through something you cannot see?
Do one kind thing for someone this week without explaining why, and one kind thing for yourself. Keep both small.
Spiritual Takeaways
- Wendy says love is not only unconditional, it is something to learn to give to ourselves first.
- She says all that is asked is that we be willing to try.
- She describes help arriving in forms she did not expect, from a voice to a husband who answered at once.
- She says everyone on the other side thinks we are incredibly brave.
- She says to be kind, because we never know what another person is going through.
Please enjoy my conversation with Wendy Rose Williams.
Guest Links: Connect With Wendy Rose Williams
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Frequently Asked Questions
Who is Wendy Rose Williams?
Wendy Rose Williams is a near-death experiencer who worked in healthcare for thirty years. She was 36 and ten weeks pregnant in August 1997 when, she says, a medical emergency led to the experience she describes in this Divine Encounters episode.
What happened to Wendy in August 1997?
Wendy says she felt a searing pain at home, was told by a voice to call for help, and was later admitted to hospital with a massive bleed. The night before surgery she says she left her body.
Who did Wendy meet in the bathroom?
She describes four or five large figures of light that she understood to be angels, one of whom spoke. She later recognized the voice as Archangel Michael.
What did the angel tell her?
She says he told her to call for help now or she would go home, and that she only had to be willing to try. She says that helped her get to the phone.
What was the escalator?
Wendy says that when she hoped not to walk a long tunnel, an escalator of light appeared. She stepped on and it carried her up to where she says she was home.
What three things did Archangel Michael tell her?
She says he told her she would have a successful surgery and regain her health, that her baby would be born healthy, and that her life would be difficult for many years because she was not on her life path.
Why did Wendy choose to come back?
She says that when Michael asked, she saw her toddler daughter Tara’s face, huge and clear. She knew she would regain her health, and she said she was ready to go back.
What did the second hug mean?
Wendy says it taught her that love is not just unconditional but something to learn to give to ourselves and others in ways they can feel.
What is Wendy’s message?
She believes we are here to help the divine learn, that we are braver than we think, and that we should be kind because we never know what others are going through.
Is a near-death experience proof of an afterlife?
Next Level Soul shares near-death experiences as personal accounts in the person’s own words. Researchers continue to study and debate what they mean. Nothing here is medical advice or a medical claim.
Keep Exploring
- The complete guide to near-death experiences
- Who Archangel Michael is in spiritual teaching
- What soul purpose means, in plain language
- Sheila Gillette on a divine meeting after dying in childbirth
- Lee Papa on being asked to leave her son or return
- Sarah K. Grace, told at 19 that she was not done
- Lorna Byrne, who was told by angels to go back
- Efrat Shokef on what truly matters, shown after a car crash
- Browse more free masterclasses and the Divine Encounters podcast.
Follow Along with the Transcript
Alex Ferrari 0:00
Tell me what your life was like before you died.
Wendy Rose Williams 0:08
So it was August of 1997 and I was working at home, and I'm the only one home, no car, and something just did not feel right, Alex. So I'm like trying to work, but I'd like Go lay down and go, like, running into the bathroom, like, am I going to be sick? I just I didn't feel right. I was 10 weeks pregnant at the time. I'd had just one OBGYN visit, and they felt everything looked great, but I kept having this strange, vivid, recurring dream. So I run in the bathroom again, and at that point, just this searing pain in my abdomen. I literally looked down because I thought someone stuck a knife in me. What is going on at that point of this searing pain, it felt like maybe an organ had burst. I didn't know what had happened. I did call out for help. I did call out to God. So when I come to it's only because there's this insistent male voice, and he keeps saying,
Male Voice 1:10
Wendy! Wendy! You've got to call for help now. You've got to wake up!
Wendy Rose Williams 1:15
You've got to call for help now, or you're going to go home. I knew exactly what he meant. I knew he meant I was going to die. So I opened my eyes, and I'm disoriented, because this is all happening pretty fast, obviously unprecedented, and I'm laying on my side, so I look up in the bathroom and Alex it there was more light than I have ever seen. It was gorgeous, and I could see these four or five really large figures. I mean, the whole bathroom is just crowded, and I'm looking going, what's going on? My bathroom is filled with angels, and they're floating a couple feet or a couple inches off the ground, and that's part of how I knew they were angels, because I could sense that there'd be like wings dragging on the ground, otherwise so much light coming off from them. It's like they're in robes. I can't really see features, but I know one's male by that voice, and my reply to him was, I understand, but I can't walk. And what I can't get to the phone, you know, it's, it's 1997 we don't, we don't have the cell phones, you know, glued to our hand or glued in our back pocket. And he says something very important. He says, You just have to be willing to try. So I managed to get up on my hands and knees, and that took up everything I had. And by the time I did that, it was like being gently flown to the bedroom right next, right next to the bathroom, and I'm trying to get the landline off the nightstand. And then I did have one second I'm putting it to my ear. And I did have one second of who do I call? He just said, Call for help. I never thought to call 911 if there'd ever been a moment, that was it. But I had just, you know, I'm I'm like, young and healthy. I'm 36 years old. I've never called 911 so I called my husband, and I knew he worked five minutes away from home, and I thought, if I get him on the phone right away, perfect. If not, I'll have to figure something else out. So miracles continue, because I do get them right away. I've never reached them at work before, and I give them a lot of credit, because all I said was, I need you to drive me to the hospital now. Can you drive me to the hospital immediately? And all he said was on my way, and I heard him slam the phone down. So I call the OB office at that point, tell them what's happening. And I told them that I'm answering their questions. I'm like, No, I'm not bleeding, but my abdomen is distending like crazy. It's just getting bigger and bigger. I don't understand what's going on. And they said, that's great. Get here as fast as you can. That's perfect. Your husband's going to get you here faster than 911, at this point. Don't walk when you get here. Don't park the car, just pull right up to the entrance. We're going to meet you with a wheelchair. Fortunately for me, the OBGYN office is located at the hospital, so I get whisked curbside up to up to their office and straight into an ultrasound room, and they try and do an ultrasound, but they can't see anything. And he turns to me at that point and says, Wendy, we've got to admit you up into the hospital right now because you've got a massive bleed going on, and that's why your abdomen is distending like this, and that's why we can't see anything on the screen that is all blood loss. You've got a massive blood loss going. That's what all that black is. It's your blood they run and get a stretcher and take me and admit me straight into the GYN unit at the hospital, and I noticed too that they put me right next to the nurse's station, which I appreciated. But I worked in healthcare for 30 years. I also know that means we're concerned. We don't know what's going on, so I'm lying in the hospital bed with instructions, you know, you can't get up even to go to the bathroom. We just need to get this bleeding to stop. What concerned me the most was didn't really care. I just wanted to be out of pain. I could not take any more pain and fear and worry, and that is so not my personality. I have never given up on anything in my life. That's just not me. But it was really hard because of the amount of blood loss. It was really hard to stay conscious. It was really hard to focus and answer medical personnel questions. And on day three, my physician says to me, Wendy, you're officially bleeding out. We cannot. We can't transfuse blood quickly enough, because you lose it faster than we can transfuse it. And this is probably not a surprise to you, but that we can tell by your hematocrit level, and it's it's dangerously low. You're done. You're done. So we have to do surgery at this point. Will you please sign this form? So I said yes, and I signed the form, and we plan the surgery for the next morning with two OB GYN, and it's going to be at seven o'clock, so I'm trying to relax after dinner that night. I'm alone in my hospital room, and I'm trying to visualize the best possible outcome. The minute I do that, I pop right out of my body, I leave my body. And I remember looking back over my left shoulder and going, Oh, wow, look at her. Her, she's a mess. And I also thought, wow, she is whiter than a ghost. She's really in bad shape. And then I was like, wait a minute, why am I referring to myself in the third person? But oh my gosh, I am back in soul form. I feel fantastic. I don't hurt anymore. I'm not scared, I'm not worried, I'm not traumatized. All I can see is the light above me, and it is compelling. It's coming down through the ceiling of the hospital room. So I pop out of the top of the hospital, and I'm now getting, like, the Google Earth version, and it's like receding behind me, because I'm going faster and faster further away from the Earth, and I can see it all below me. And then I kind of like, ran out of gas, and I'm like, Oh, please don't make me walk through that long tunnel, and I didn't know very much at all about indie ease, because, again, this is 97 and I'm not spiritually awake. It's not like I'm studying documentaries and podcasts and reading books on these topics like we do nowadays. But the minute I thought, please don't make me walk through that long tunnel. I won't make it this pristine escalator comes in the minute I think that, and it's gorgeous. It's just for me, all this light is coming off it, and I plop myself on the escalator. And the minute I did, it wasn't like putting my hand on the handrails, like putting my whole body over it. So the escalator takes me up. The minute we get up to the top, I'm home. I'm like, Wow, all this light, and I don't have a care in the world, and there's a big welcoming committee for me right at the top of the escalator. And they stopped me because I would have run ahead, and the same angels were there. And the moment he spoke, I'm like, well, that's Archangel Michael, he spoke to me in my bathroom. I know Zach, I know that voice, I know that energy. And so there were the five angels, and there were about another 15 Beings of Light, and everyone's like, hugging me, and they're like, You made it. And Archangel Michael says, Welcome home. We're so glad you're here. You've done nothing wrong. You are welcome to stay, but if you want to go back, you're going to need to make the decision quickly. So here's what I can tell you. And I'm like, wait a minute. I'm having my reunion here. Give me a second. And I'm like, Okay, I need to listen, because he knows better than me. And I think what he's referring to is that body in the bed's not viable for very long without without the soul in it, without the life force is absolutely gone from it. So he says, I can tell you three things, and you then need to make your decision. Number one, if you choose to go back, you will have a successful surgery tomorrow. You will fully regain your health. So I'm like, Ah, that is huge. Number two, your baby will be born. And healthy again. This is huge number three. So we all want to go back now, right? Number three is the kicker, and what he tells me is, if you choose to go back, your life will be very difficult, likely for many years, because you're not on your life path. I'm horrified, I'm chagrined, I'm embarrassed. I'm like, Oh my gosh, I want to do the right thing. What am I not doing? What should I be doing? Please tell me, what's my life path? And he just gently shook his head. I'm like, oh boy, no info there. I'm very fortunate. I've had this experience, I'm very fortunate. I've been told two huge things, and I'm just going to have to figure out the third. So Archangel Michael asked me at that time, what do you want to do? Do you want to do you want to stay home and or do you want to go back and finish out your life. The minute he asked me that all I could see was my daughter, Tara, my toddler who was about 18 or 19 months old at the time, all I could see was her face, but it wasn't normal. It was like the IMAX the 70 foot. It filled my world to see her adorable little face in her brown curly hair. I knew I was going to regain my health, and I knew I was going to have another baby that was going to be born healthy. So I immediately, I look at, I look at Michael, and I said, put me back in coach. I'm ready to play just like, just like the song, and I'm going to have to figure it out. So they gave me another huge hug, and that second hug that I got, I realized it wasn't just unconditional love, because that's what I felt the first time when I got up there and I wanted to stay. Because why would you ever want to leave that we don't feel enough of it, so we've gotta learn how to give it to ourselves, first of all, and not be so hard on ourselves. And we've got to learn how to give it more to other people in a way that they can feel it and perceive it and know, you know their love language so to speak. So I thanked everyone, and they put me back on the escalator, and I'm just looking over my shoulder and, like, waving, and everyone's like, in cheerleader mode. And they're like, you can do it. We'll be with you. We'll be helping. And I'm like, Wow, I've never felt any connection before like this. So I just went easily down the escalator. And this time, the escalator went straight into my hospital room, and I just went, plop into my body, and I'm like, Oh, dang, this thing hurts, but it's gonna get better tomorrow. I'm gonna have the surgery and everything's gonna be okay. So did have the surgery? What they found? They did they did ultrasound. They must have had some sort of imaging going on, because the surgeon was able to tell me what happened? And he said it was actually your fundus that ruptured, which is the top of the uterus, and it's an aorta, so it was pumping out blood, and they estimated I lost three quarters of my blood supply. But he also said we could see the fetus, which of course, is like less than a peanut. And he said just it was so far tucked down and like the lower left of your uterus, and we were so careful, we were sewing, we were surgically repairing at the top of your uterus. I believe the ultimate purpose of life is we're here to help God, to help the divine, learn more and progress more. We come here to experience emotions, and many of them are wonderful, and a lot of them are not very fun. And we come here to have the limits of a human body and to have that veil of amnesia that you referred to, and everyone on the other side thinks we're so incredibly brave, which we are. So we just need to give ourselves. You know that that pat on the back, that attaboy, add a girl, you know, you can do it. We're gonna figure it out. And just just keep helping one another and be kind. Just Be kind to one another, because we have no idea what they're going through. We have no idea.
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