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GOOSEBUMPS – Survived 3 NDEs (Her Story Will Shock You)

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Overview

Nanice Gonzalez, the guest on the Jeff Mara Podcast, shares her account of three near-death experiences (NDEs) and how they shaped her life, faith, and outlook on purpose.

First Near-Death Experience (2017)

  • Timing & context: Around her 27th birthday, during an intense personal crisis, including:

    • Back-to-back deaths in her family (grandmother and ex-mother-in-law)
    • Stage three liver disease diagnosis
    • Separation from her husband
    • Heavy alcohol use
    • Experimenting with cocaine

  • What happened: She describes collapsing while walking after taking cocaine—feeling like she was leaving her body, but still attached via something like a “string” pulling her back. She said she couldn’t clearly describe a “silver cord,” but felt the attachment was present.

  • What she reports in the NDE:

    • A dark, space-like environment where time seemed frozen
    • Seeing what was happening around her (friends calling an ambulance, CPR, and others present)
    • Feeling God’s presence as comforting, though not close in the way someone would be if it were “her time”
    • No “light” or meeting loved ones—more like being in another dimension/state

  • Aftermath: She says she stopped using drugs, reduced/quit heavy drinking, and left the marriage—framing it as a difficult but turning-point decision.

Second Near-Death Experience (March–September 2018)

  • Context: After CPS became involved and her children were taken, her situation worsened. She fell deeper into addiction and became an IV drug user through the man she was dating.

  • Medical and personal events:

    • An ischemic stroke leading to hospitalization
    • Increasing violence from her partner
    • Severe despair and extreme sleep deprivation (about two weeks awake)
    • A suicide attempt by severing her arm with a knife

  • What she reports: She describes dying/flatlining again while medical staff worked on her. Due to complications, she was moved between different hospitals.

  • What she reports in the NDE:

    • Feeling God’s presence again, but this time as angry or disappointed
    • A sense that she wasn’t meant to die because she had purpose and still needed to live for her children
    • Increasing detachment from the earlier “string” feeling

  • Complications: She reports major medical issues including MRSA infection and sepsis, along with medication reactions (including Red Man Syndrome after an allergic reaction). Her ex-husband later transferred her to another hospital, where she stabilized.

Third Near-Death Experience (Later, After Becoming Pregnant)

  • What happened: Her abusive partner later found her again. She reports waking to strangulation and then being stabbed three times while she was three months pregnant.

  • After the attack:

    • Police arrived
    • She collapsed before or during transport to the hospital

  • What she reports in the NDE:

    • God’s presence felt warmer—comfort without pain
    • A sense of being “judged,” while also being comforted
    • Receiving another chance, leading to major life changes (no drugs, no alcohol, and leaving toxic relationships)

  • Outcome: The attacker was later sentenced to eight years in prison.

  • After-effects and renewal:

    • She says she still experiences cognitive and speech difficulties
    • She reports reclaiming her voice by joining a worship team and receiving vocal training
    • She connects her survival to spiritual renewal: within about a week, she was interviewed by a program called “2911” (Jeremiah 29:11) and accepted into a maternity home where she could have her baby

Her Main Message and Beliefs

  • Purpose: She says her purpose is to lead people toward God and testify that God is real and present—even during suffering and addiction.

  • Faith after the NDEs: She describes her faith deepening and says she plans to be baptized soon.

  • Fear of death: She says she does not fear death because, in her accounts of “being gone,” it did not feel painful—she felt nothing physical once detached.

  • Advice for grief: For someone grieving, she urges:

    • Prayer
    • Reaching out for support (support groups/podcasts)
    • Allowing oneself to cry and process emotions (e.g., journaling, walking, music)
    • Not bottling grief

Contributors / Presenters (as listed)

  • Jeff Mara — podcast host/interviewer
  • Nanice Gonzalez — guest; NDE survivor and speaker
  • “2911” program — mentioned as a program she was interviewed by and supported through (not a live contributor in the transcript)

Original video