The following story was told to Brad Steiger and Sherry Hansen Steiger by John Harricharan. It appears in the book, Undying Love (Berkley). The book contains dramatic, touching, true stories that prove love conquers all...including death itself. This story, A Love Story Beyond the Now, is reproduced here with the kind permission of the authors, Brad Steiger and Sherry Hansen Steiger.

"There are certain scenes and circumstances in life that seem to have been arranged by others with much more intelligence than I could ever credit myself for," John said. "One such situation was my marriage to the princess of my dreams. From the first day that I saw her, I knew that there was a bond between us that spanned time, distance, social position, and all earthly obstacles."

John and Mardai had met each other many years prior to their marriage when they were youngsters in a foreign country. "Though we were later to be separated by great oceans and countries," he continued, "we finally met again and were married. At the time of our marriage, she was only nineteen, and the joy of my life. Together we built a beautiful partnership and met the ups and downs of life.

With her by my side and with her constant encouragement, I was able to build a semblance of financial security. After the children came, we were even happier and looked forward even more to the future." But sadly, as John phrased it, "the cold winds of misfortune" began to blow across their lives.

Slowly at first, and then with ever-increasing speed, John lost his business and all of their financial security. It was as if the winter of his life had begun. Mardai, whose very name means "light," became the source of illumination that guided him through the darkness that followed.

"We lost our home and land and most of our material possessions," John stated. "With our two children we finally moved to a new city and started to rebuild our lives from ground zero. I thought that we had suffered enough, but our financial losses were nothing compared to the diagnosis that we received a few months later that informed us that Mardai had cancer.

"It took a while to get used to such disastrous news, especially since all of us had been relatively healthy and no one expected any problems."

Mardai's battle with cancer was a long and terrible one. Although she fought bravely, she could not prevail, and John lost the light of his life one summer's day. "We had been married for twenty years, and I had no idea how I would continue in life without Mardai. As I stood there that July day holding my two children close to me, the emptiness within me was so horrible that all I could think was, 'Is there no balm in Gilead?' "

In the days that followed, John's thoughts would run races between the sublime and the ridiculous. There were times when he looked around him and perceived life as a meaningless mess. But there were other times when a quiet voice would whisper in his heart that life was not as it appeared to be. Life was much more than a short span on Earth. A lifetime was but a blink in eternity. Slowly, ever so slowly, he began to understand.

Sometimes while driving, he would look at the empty seat next to him--the seat in which she used to sit--and he would wonder where she had gone. "Everyone knows where the caterpillar goes--it goes into the butterfly. But who knows where the butterfly goes?"

"So I thought of Mardai as a butterfly of the universe," John stated, "and I would pray that her journey be a joyous one and that she would find some way of letting me know that she was fine in her new world.

"One day as I was thinking such thoughts, I pulled up at a red traffic light behind another car. As I waited for the light to change, I silently said, 'Mardai, if you are around, please let me know. I would feel much better.' The light changed, and as the car in front of me pulled away, I saw on the license plate MEH 711. 'MEH' were Mardai's initials, and '711' stood for July11, the date she died. A calmness and joy welled up within me, and I heard a voice in my mind say, 'I am with you.' "

John told us that from that experience many others were to follow. "They seemed to come at times when I most needed reassurance about life and its direction. After a while it became commonplace to see Mardai's initials on billboards and license plates, and I would look at a clock for no apparent reason only to find that the time would be 7:11. I became so used to seeing signs that as time went on, I ignored many of them for fear of becoming too dependent on them. Yet, I found a strange, beautiful comfort in such reminders."

Sometimes John would be thinking of Mardai, and at that very moment, a song that she loved would play on the radio.

"It was as if she were saying, 'I just want you to know that I love you and am with you whenever you think of me.'

"It is my belief that our loved ones continue their lives in an area just beyond our physical senses," John said. "I feel that they reach out to help, to guide, to comfort us in a most loving way. there are signs of their presence all around us if we but look more closely and listen more attentively."

Furthermore, John explains, he believes that the bonds that exist between those who love deeply are stronger than death itself. Perhaps, he commented, love is the greatest reality in the universe.

"Although I no longer see Mardai's physical form nor hear her lovely musical voice, I know that she exists, and I have a notion that she is closer than I think," he said. "Sometimes I meet her in my dreams, and at other times, I feel as if she speaks to me in the quietness between my thoughts."

John's father died a few years before Mardai and he (John) continues to feel his presence as well. "Those whom we love will always be with us," he said.

"Sometimes on a beautiful, cloudless, starry night, I sit on my porch and look into the woods behind my house. I hear the voices of my loved ones in my heart and in the very whispering of the wind through the leaves. I look up into the sky and see the second star on the belt of Orion, the Hunter, and I can see, if I but look more closely, Mardai smiling at me.

"As I look and listen in the quietness of my soul, I hear her say, 'I have always loved you, and you will always be my joy, my pride and my prince. I have known you from Forever, and I will be with you again one day, even as we used to be together in the life you now live.

"'When you are sad, I feel your sorrow, and when you are happy, I rejoice with you. You must finish the work that you came to Earth to do. Time will lighten the heaviness in your heart, and then I will be able to communicate with you more clearly.

"'I watch over you and our children, and I know how difficult it can get at times. But you are not alone. There are others here who also watch and help. Our work on Earth was finished so it was time to move on. We are all brilliantly alive.

"'I visit you sometimes in your dreams. The veil that separates you and your reality from mine is very thin indeed. In your quiet moments, you sometimes pierce that veil and get a glimpse of our reality. It is gloriously exciting where we are, and one day, we shall all meet again. You have much to do before you join us, but know that we will be with you every step of the way.

"'My dearest John, I have always loved you, and I will love you through the hallways of time into the Fields of Forever. When you are ready to come here, I will be the first one waiting to greet you. Live life joyously and fully."

John told us that he does strive to live life as gloriously and as fully as he can. His son and daughter are happy and he has rebuilt a good part of himself.

"I find joy and comfort in the simple things around me," he said. "I know that our loved ones are always with us. I know that love prevails over everything, even over death."

"Listen to your heart and you will hear the sounds of Eternity. You will feel the ties that bind you in an everlasting love. May your journey home be a joyous one."

Note from John Harricharan: I trust that you, too, will find that death is not final but is just the beginning of other, far more glorious adventures. If you would like to read more about the continuation of life after this earth-plane, see chapter 15 in my book When You Can Walk on Water, Take the Boat.

To download the entire book, FREE of charge, go to http://www.waterbook.com. It is my gift to you. Share it with others. I further trust that your journey through this life will be a grand and glorious adventure, full of all good things.

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Download a FREE, online copy of John Harricharan's award-winning book, When You Can Walk on Water, Take the Boat  If you prefer a hard copy, you can purchase one directly from http://www.amazon.com   To read about the "Power Pause" -- 3 minutes, 3 steps to personal success and real happiness, click here

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