Chasing Heaven by Crystal McVea with Alex Tresniowski

Have you ever wondered what happened to people after they died, experienced heaven, and returned? Did the event really change their life?

McVea told her story of what she experienced on December 10, 2009, when her heart stopped for nine minutes, in Waking Up in Heaven. (You can read my review of that book here.) Now she shares how her life has been different from that time. Having realized how much God loves her, she loves others.

We learn how she has come to be ministering to homeless and to women working in strip clubs. She, along with others, show them love. They don't judge. They just love. They move toward people in the time of their greatest darkness, not away from them.

She emphasizes that God's love calls us to action. That's why she named her book the way she did. She is not sitting around waiting for heaven. She is actively chasing heaven. She is learning how to extend the love she experiences from God to others.

After her heaven experience, McVea wanted to be closer to God, to experience Him more here on earth. She got active in church, read her Bible and prayed. She did all those things she thought she was supposed to do. While those things are good, they left her frustrated. It was not until she asked God what He wanted her to do and actively began showing God's love to others that she felt she was on the journey God wanted.

McVea's book is a good challenge to each of us to find how God wants us to put our faith into action. It is also a reminder that we experience God's grace every moment. We are meant to have meaningful lives, she writes. Lives with purpose and passion for Christ. She reminds us we can have that right now, in our own circumstances. She also reminds us that we don't have to do it all ourselves. She shares great stories of just getting the ball rolling, so to speak.

I am impressed with this book. McVea has included inspiring stories from her own life and the lives of others. I have seen how her life has changed and am encouraged by her boldness in showing God's love to others. This book is an inspiration and I recommend it.

McVea retells in this book much of her life story that is contained in her first book. Even if you have not read that first book, you can easily read this one, know her whole story, and have your godly passions stirred.

Food for thought: “By dying, I learned how to live.”

You can read or listen to an excerpt from the book here.

My rating: 5/5 stars.

Crystal McVea is the author of Waking Up in Heaven. She is a schoolteacher and lives in Oklahoma with her husband and their four children. You can find out more at http://www.crystalmcvea.com/.

Alex Tresniowski is a former writer at People and the bestselling author of several books.

Howard Books, 304 pages.

I received a complimentary egalley of this book from the publisher for the purpose of an independent and honest review.