Road To Redemption
Road To Redemption
Holli Detweiler's Journey of NDE, Faith and Healing
What if a routine surgery turned into a life-altering near-death experience? Join us as Holly Detweiler, a dear friend from Santa Rosa Beach, Florida, courageously shares her incredible journey from a career in real estate closings to an unexpected spiritual awakening. Holly recounts the harrowing moments when her heart stopped during outpatient surgery, echoing the tragic loss of her father under similar circumstances. Listen to Holly's gripping testimony of survival and the critical intervention by a compassionate nurse who became her angel in disguise, highlighting the fragility of life and the miraculous power of human connection.
As Holly awakens from a coma, her story evolves into an inspiring tale of faith and transformation. Through the challenges of ICU psychosis and existential questions, Holly's journey of recovery becomes a testament to the power of scripture, prayer, and unwavering community support. Discover how divine intervention and spiritual healing helped Holly find solace and renew her purpose, raising her children with the knowledge of God's love. We explore how Holly's faith and resilience were strengthened by the support of strangers and her local church, offering encouragement for anyone facing anxiety and life's battles. Tune in for an episode filled with hope, miracles, and the enriching journey of connecting with a spiritual community.
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Welcome to Road to Redemption, a show sharing powerful life testimonies, giving hope to those on their own road to redemption.
Speaker 2:I'm John Martin, your host, and I'm just so excited today to be sitting down with my friend Holly. I've known you a long time, going way back here in Santa Rosa Beach, Florida. I saw you at church I don't know, it's been several months back and we were talking in the lobby and I remember I said I remember you had an accident, pretty bad one, I think, it was like a near death experience, Um and I said you know, I'd love if you would share a little bit about that with us. And you were like I don't normally do that kind of thing, but you said I think maybe God's calling me to come on and share. But first, welcome. Thank you for coming on, Of course, but before we do that, I just wanted to talk a little bit about you and how you found Santa Rosa. Tell me a little bit about your background.
Speaker 3:Okay, so I was born in New Orleans, louisiana. We moved to Tennessee and I was there for probably until. I was in about sixth grade, and then the family moved down to Tampa area, new Porchie. And then we came to vacation here one year in 2001, 2000. And my parents decided they wanted to move. So here we are. I've been here since 2001. Okay, they love the area. It was quiet. They had the military base. My dad was um previous military, so so you.
Speaker 2:So you moved up here to santa rosa beach and you were, um, what, what about? What kind of work have you done?
Speaker 3:Well, I went to school for child development. I ended up in real estate closings.
Speaker 2:Talk to me a little bit about I know you had an accident and I think it was somewhere around. Was it around June 12, 2014? Yes that you had the accident. Talk to us a little bit about that.
Speaker 3:Well, I actually went in for an outpatient procedure laparoscopic surgery. They were just going to check for endometriosis and whatnot I was having a lot of stomach pains and they just wanted to make sure. I wanted to make sure that I could have children in my future.
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 3:That's how it all started, and so when I went in that night I was so scared. My dad had gone under anesthesia for a simple outpatient procedure as well, and he ended up passing away, and so it just made me nervous going back into the same hospital, you know, to do the same procedure.
Speaker 2:So you were a little nervous which everybody is? You go in for surgeries, you're always a little nervous. And uh, which everybody is? You go in for surgeries, you're always a little nervous. So what ended up happening?
Speaker 3:well, I went into my, I went to my sister's house my mind off of that feeling of anxiety. I just remember I just had this gut feeling and I was like don't go, don't go. And and I still went, you know, because I still needed to know that, that I could have children, you know. And when I went I was with my I had a boyfriend at the time my mom and he had gone into the hospital with me.
Speaker 3:About an hour later or so, they came down and they said that everything was great, everything looked great, but there was a minor complication. And so they're like, okay, well, what's the minor complication, you know? And they were like, well, you know, her heart stopped on the table, and you know they were like, okay, well, that's not quite minor, but, okay, we're going to deal with this, you know. So they ended up having to give me two shots of adrenaline and CPR to restart my heart.
Speaker 2:Wow, and you were. You were down, were you under anesthesia when this happened?
Speaker 3:Yes, I was. So you weren't? You weren't conscious. No, I wasn't coherent. Um, I wasn't conscious. Uh, and I guess at some point my mom had gotten on my Facebook and said if you know, Holly, pray. Um, of course, she left everyone in the dark about what's going on.
Speaker 2:I remember that I saw that she wasn't very technical technological.
Speaker 3:My sister, my younger sister, had to get on and kind of give everybody the updates about what was happening. You know.
Speaker 2:Yeah, what happened next?
Speaker 3:So they ended up putting me in the same ICU room as my dad was in the room he had passed away in. My mom was scared. She went out of here as soon as possible. I think at some point I was awake and trying to talk.
Speaker 3:I think my mom had told me and I don't still recollect any of it, but my stats were all over the place and so I don't think I even was coherent enough to realize I was even trying to talk, you know and so there was a point of they were deciding whether or not to send me home and there was a disagreement and I know the nurse had said you're not sending her home because her stats are all over the place. If you send her home, it's not going to be a good outcome. And so they ended up sending me over to Pensacola the whole time, and I can't thank this nurse enough. I mean, she was my saving grace. I don't know who she was, you know, but she stood up for me and she got in that ambulance with me and rode the whole way and she was texting my boyfriend and my mom the whole way, you know, just to make sure they knew I was okay and whatnot.
Speaker 2:She was an angel.
Speaker 3:She was an angel for sure.
Speaker 3:But when they got there, apparently there were probably about 10 doctors on phones, with 10 other doctors trying to figure out how to stabilize my heart. I think at this point my mom had said that they had put me under back under to kind of try to stabilize it. You know, having gone into cardiac arrest, it caused my heart to become arrhythmic and unsteady. There was a point that they had actually told my mother to call my five sisters and tell them, you know, just in case things didn't look good you know, to have them come down, because if my heart rate had spiked again my heart may not have restarted, because my heart was just so weak.
Speaker 2:Were you conscious at all when you got over to Pensacola?
Speaker 3:No, I mean I wouldn't recollect anything for seven days. I mean I was in ICU for seven days when you went down.
Speaker 3:Now I don't remember all the details because I was in a deuce of coma, but I went into the hospital Seven days later. I would come out and reflection of my experience during that time. There was a lot that I didn't and maybe still don't understand. I still very vividly remember a bright light and it would be overtaken by dark colors like red and purple and blues and then and blacks, and then the bright light would come back, you know, and then it would just be taken back over. I remember there was an out-of-body experience, experience that maybe for a moment, like a few seconds, I was just kind of looking over my body and I was just instantly sucked back in. There were points that I heard voices and saw images and I thought people were there and doctors were there and family was there and they weren't, and I later found out that that may have been ICU psychosis and maybe some sleep deprivation also, but I do believe that there was also the presence of God was there and I believe that you know the bright light and the dark especially. I'll get later into that about why I feel that way at the end, but I mean there was a moment All this was so jumbled because I'm just being told pieces, because I mean I wasn't awake for any of it. But there was a moment that I became at peace with dying. I know I was having this internal battle about dying because my dad had passed away and I knew what that did to my mom and my family and I was just so afraid if I had passed away, what would my mom do, you know? And then I finally just came at peace with it, that you know, and my mom had walked in. I think this is probably after I had woken up and my mom had walked in and I was like I'm good, I'm okay to go home, being with God, and she was like what do you mean? And you're fine. And so she ran out to the doctors and was you said she was okay, why is she talking about dying? And so I mean there was just a lot going on.
Speaker 3:After I awoke from a coma, I was more aware. I learned that there was a man that had frequented the hospital he had gone up to. I guess it was a normal thing for him to go to the hospital and just pray over people and he had gone that day right after I had gotten to ICU and he stopped at the doorway. My mom said and she's an angel, can I pray over her? And she said I'll take all the prayers you know.
Speaker 3:And so seven days have passed and I had gone to the regular room I think it was maybe a floor or two down from ICU unit and he had walked right back by the room and stopped in the doorway and he said I was here before and do you remember? And of I had no idea. And he's like yeah, I was here. And he looked at me straight in the eyes and he just said the devil was fighting for you, but you had God and angels on your side. And so he asked if he could pray over me again and I just wanted to cry and I was like yeah, you know, of course you can. So I later found out he wasn't even going to go to the hospital that day. He happened to be on a bus and he had lost his phone, and so he was there and he was like I just need to go in and pray over people again today and he just showed up. So I just thought that was really something you know.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I know people. I know there was a couple actually, when Christina was going through her cancer, my wife Christina and they were involved with John G Lake Healing Ministries and they would come to our house and to the hospital just every time and just keep battling in prayer and they were just called to do that. I mean they never asked for donations, they never. I was just always like, wow, I mean they're just showing up everywhere. We were from Panama City. So that guy reminds me of that, what he was doing. Praise God for people like that. So what happened next?
Speaker 3:Well, it wasn't easy in the beginning of recovery because I couldn't talk. Well, the ICU psychosis had set in so they didn't know if I had a brain injury or not. It was kind of a waiting game. I slowly started to talk more coherent and I started walking. I remember I was like oh, I can walk. I just jumped out of bed and I collapsed. I was like how can I not walk after being in bed for seven days? But I slowly regained my strength back.
Speaker 3:I was already a born-again Christian at this time. I was in this lull period. I wasn't feeling the presence of God a lot. So at that moment in my life I struggled. I went home, I hated life, I hated everything. When things happened, I wondered why God left me here. How could this happen to me? I mean, I struggled for years and sometimes I still do. At some point my mom had told me she can't really help me anymore. At some point my mom had told me she can't really help me anymore and that I needed to see a therapist or reach out to the church. And I did. I went to therapy and I ended up. I was in dark places. I just couldn't understand what had happened to me and why God just didn't take me home.
Speaker 3:You know that day, and I still struggle with that a lot. You know, I tend to write in those moments, and I wrote this poem. The world is full of lights, lights that mean nothing. Beautiful skies seem non-existent, yet they hold almost everything. Clouds take over and stars emerge. What's up there? God Daddy? Do you even hear me? Nothing is right anymore. I want to stand on the tallest tower and overlook the world. I want to spread my arms and reach for my God. My dad, where are you? I am lost and I need you. You are my rock. I love you God. I love you dad. I eventually went to therapy in church. Every service at that time has spoken to me, and somehow I climbed out of that dark pit that I was in. I'm not perfect, and I still struggle. I have a lot of anxiety and PTSD over this, though, but I know he's not done with me. God's not done with me. I'm here for a reason. I have three. I've been blessed with three beautiful babies and a great husband.
Speaker 3:It's my duty to raise those kids to know God, so they become children of God. So, if nothing else, that's all that matters. There's two scriptures that really hold dear. One is if God is for us, you can come against us Romans 8, 31. And the other one is God, your God, will restore everything you have lost. He'll have compassion on you. He'll come back and pick up the pieces from all the places where you were scattered Deuteronomy 33.
Speaker 3:And the reason those hold dear to me is because, clearly, the devil was fighting for me, and even after you know the experience, I still struggled. And so the other reason is because, when it stems back to when I almost, or when I lost my dad, I just feel like it was too soon and it was taken too soon, and so I just believed at that moment that, in anything that I did, that God would give everything back. And then some and I believe he did that. You know, for me, I was able to get my strength back, and I have my family and I have close friends. And I even learned a lot, because when I woke up, I was just. I was floored about the amount of people that had come together for me. I was floored about the amount of people that had come together for me and people I didn't know, from community, from different states to different countries even, and the amount of support and I was given funds and all kinds of things and prayers. I was just in awe over how people come together.
Speaker 3:And I will tell you, if I didn't believe in miracles before I do that day, I do now because I am one of those miracles and miracles happen after reading, or I've read a lot about what had happened to me. I don't want to go too in depth about it, but very few people come out of what happened and if they do, it's not without complications and I was very fortunate and blessed that I didn't have any complications after Sure, ptsd or whatnot. But as far as medically, I was fine, you're healthy, yeah, and I can only give God that glory. He's not done with me yet and, for whatever reason I'm here. I'm still working on hearing his voice and I by no means am perfect, but I'm doing my best, but it's it's been. I'm not great at at hearing his voice.
Speaker 2:I'm still working on that well, yeah, you have a great story, you have a ministry, you have a purpose, holly, and there was a spiritual battle going on. You're right. The enemy was was trying to take your life here on earth and I think you were, as you were, having a what we would call near-death experience. You were seeing a glimpse of heaven and you were were probably like saying, okay, I'm ready to go there. You know all of us, you know that's where we want to be. You know that's eternal life, with none of the world's problems. But God wanted you here. You have a purpose here on earth to serve him and your beautiful family. Holly, what advice would you have? Just speaking to anybody today, that, what would you want to share for someone that might be in a similar situation? Maybe just anxiety and things like that is a big thing. Today, I see so many people in extreme anxiety and you've been through a lot of that yourself. So what would you want to share?
Speaker 3:What I would start with is don't stop praying, don't stop believing and having faith.
Speaker 2:And.
Speaker 3:God's got you. He may not answer the way you want or when you want it, but know that he's always going to have your back. And I would just say keep praying. I mean, miracles still happen and God's there.
Speaker 2:Amen, amen. Well, and I just felt called to pray for those people that are going through anxiety, because I'm seeing it every day and I used to suffer from that.
Speaker 2:And not to say I still don't, but a lot of it has gone away and I truly believe it's because Jesus has healed me of that. So I just want to pray right now, dear Heavenly Father. We just want to lift up Holly and I any of those that are dealing with anxiety today and, lord, we just ask that you just fill them with your Holy Spirit. You take away all of this anxiety. We just say that it must leave them in the name of Jesus, and you fill these people with your peace, your joy, your strength and you just bless them and we just come into agreement that all anxiety is gone from the people that are listening now, and you know who you are. All of the anxiety is gone in Jesus' name. Thank you, amen. Well, as we come to the end, holly, is there anything else that you want to share that God's doing in your life today, or anything else?
Speaker 3:God's definitely still working in my life today. I'm just working on being a better Christian and, you know, having a relationship with God, amen.
Speaker 2:Well, folks, we're visiting with Holly Detweiler, a good friend, and she's been so kind to share her story with us, and we always like to close with their three key things. We always want to leave with you, and the first is to encourage you to just pick up the Bible and start reading the Bible. If you have a Bible, go, get it. Or get an app there's all these Bible apps and we promise you, if you just start reading the Bible, our Heavenly Father, our God, will start speaking to you through His Word. Now he will do it. That is the best thing you can do. Second is to find a local church, a Christ-centered, bible-believing church, and just start going. Go and give it one year of your life. We promise it'll change your life. And last, once you get into that church, get into a small group and do life People you can be accountable to and be transparent, and we just promise you that group will really help you. Holly, thanks for coming on, it's been great.
Speaker 1:Thank you for having me. You've been listening to Road to Redemption, sharing powerful life testimonies, giving hope to those on their own road to redemption. If you have any comments or questions, we would love to connect with you. You can reach out to us at destinyradiolive. Thank you for listening and we'll see you next week on Road to Redemption.