How Dietlind von Loew was radically changed
In the morning, an acquaintance tells me about Dietlind von Loew. She had had a real near-death experience many years ago. As I am in the final stages of a New York Times bestseller on the subject, I am instantly wide awake. A few minutes later, I call the lady and make an appointment for half past two.
I am standing in front of a stately villa in Wiesbaden Sonnenberg, a little late. It’s not everyday that I stop off at an aristocrat’s house. And my hostess is already there to greet me. A rollator gives her the mobility she needs to get to the door. A hot cup of tea and some cookies are waiting for me in the spacious living room. The candles are lit in a pre-Christmas glow and cast a cozy light in the room, which is perhaps 35 m in size. I am told that the oak cupboard is 500 years old. My eyes widen. The paintings on the walls depict ancestors from centuries past.
I take the first sip from my cup and listen to a woman who has lived in several countries around the world. Her fateful day, or rather her fateful night, occurred in 1980 during her years in Paris. She was lying in a hospital in the French capital with festering tonsils. Her throat is completely swollen shut. The hours pass agonizingly slowly. She hoped that the intravenous medication would have a healing effect. But things continue to go downhill.
Sepsis sets in during the night. She senses that death is now taking her in its stranglehold. She suddenly falls into an absolute and threatening darkness. And she realizes that what I see here is my own life. The atmosphere is terrifying. Panic rises within her. In her hopelessness, she cries out: “God, don’t let me die like this!” And God answers immediately. The blackness suddenly changes into a colorful light. At first, she sees herself lying lifeless on an altar, like a dead sack of potatoes. But then the surroundings are full of life and the flowers sprout in all colors.
Dietlind survives the night and the subsequent operation on her tonsils. “Who is this God who answered me in the depths of my despair?” She embarks on a spiritual journey of discovery, and it is fortunate that she is invited to an English-speaking Bible study group for women in Paris.
45 years have passed. Dietlind celebrates the pre-Christmas period and the big festival as a committed Christian. At some point, she will be buried in her husband’s grave in Sonnenberg cemetery, but this thought does not frighten her. She knows she is on her way to heaven, to another much more beautiful reality. God and many of her loved ones will greet her there.
Christmas: Hope, fulfillment, forgiveness and anticipation. Security in God and confidence in eternal life. Can there be anything better? /KDJ
