I read the book 90 Minutes in Heaven in a day. It helped that I had strained my back and reading was one of the options available. But I have an insatiable thirst for stories about heaven and its close proximity to us. 

The man, Don Piper, who was inside a car that was run over by an eighteen wheeler driven by an inmate who had no truck experience was in bad shape. Really bad. The paramedics covered him with a sheet and bowed their heads. But a priest was driving by and felt a strong urge to pray for this man, whoever he was. Then as the priest began to sing, Don joined in. 

Frantically he convinced the EMTs to check for a pulse which they reluctantly did... and found one. 

The procedures that helped Don rebuild his leg bones were both experimental and excruciatingly painful. For eighteen months he lay entombed in a Frankenstein like contraption that catapulted him not out of his hospital bed, but into deep depression. 

People came to visit, often, and always left with a question.

"Is there anything I can do for you?" Don was stubborn. He always said no. 

One day the man who had prayed earnestly for him was visiting and watched the dark spiral Don was in. Then he let him have it. 

"You are selfish. All these people would give anything to help you and you deny them that chance." Don was appalled. He had serious material for self pity and yet this man was chastising him?? But he listened. And begrudgingly, he tried it. The next time someone offered he asked for a milkshake. 

The friend was thrilled to be able to bring one, and it loosened the grip of Don's depression just an inch. Gradually after a few weeks of kindnesses not just offered but received, Don's depression lifted. 

While I am not in a hospital bed, the past few days I have been aware of pain in my back. Then an amazing thing happened. Friends offered to help. Probably if I had not just read that book I would have brushed their offers aside. But instead I said thank you. 

One woman picked up a basket of  dirty laundry and delivered it clean. It is incredible what a gift that was. Another came over to empty my dishwasher, as the bending was difficult for me. Then she showed me a few yoga positions, which felt remarkably good. Yet another friend brought over butternut squash soup, warm and golden. It tasted like heaven. 

When marriages struggle there are people as near as next door, or the other end of a text. Yet many couples resolutely refuse to ask for help. I wonder about this. The same people who flew across the country and took off work and squeezed into aqua bridesmaid dresses have not lost interest. 

They would show up again with a shoulder to lean on.