Before answering a ringing telephone, do you already know ho is calling? What about the “sudden” urge to check on your child in another room—only to find he is about to stick a bobby pin into an electrical socket? Welcome to the world of spiritually transformative experiences, or STEs.

A Glimpse of Heaven, by Carla Wills-Brandon, Ph.D. explores premonitions of disaster, death-related visions, prophetic and visionary dreams, pets with a “sixth sense,” and communications from those who have died. These STE’s, although almost impossible to prove in a science laboratory, happen all over the world every day.  These experiences suggest not just an afterlife, but an extra life - a realm that lies beyond our own three dimensions, yet that is capable of interfacing with our ordinary lives.

Wills-Brandon has had her fair share of STE’s and feels that having them validated by others adds weight to their testimony. Here is one of her personal examples.

My two sons loved their grandfather. Several weeks before [his] passing, my youngest son made an announcement. While traveling to the grocery store, he informed me that there was a “red-haired kid” sitting with him in the backset of the car.

“Honey, what’s your friend’s name?” I asked. While pulling at the legs of his [toy] dinosaur, Josh looked at the seat beside him and answered, “Who, him? That kid? His name is Damus.” “Sweetie, how long has Damus been around?” I asked. “Oh, Damus just got here a few days ago,” answered my son. He came here for Da! [their name for their grandfather]”

Wills-Brandon then asked her friend, Rabbi Jimmy, if he had ever heard the term “Damus.”

He looked up and said, “Sure, Damus or Damas translates to ‘messenger of death,’ a positive being who assists the dying. Where did you hear this term? It isn’t that common.”

Shortly afterwards, Da passed away… and Wills-Brandon’s son received no more visits from Damus.

A Glimpse of Heaven is filled with incredible experiences and life-changing anecdotes from people around the world. STE’s provide evidence that we are all connected by the strings of a fantastic and vast universe that works in ways we are only beginning to understand.

Carla Wills-Brandon has published 13 books, one of which was a Publishers Weekly best-seller. A licensed marriage and family therapist and grief expert, she has worked with individuals impacted by the explosion of the Challenger space shuttle, the bombing of the World Trade Center, Holocaust survivors, and veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, among many others. Wills-Brandon is one of the few researchers focused on the departing vision as proof of life after death. Having researched nearly 2,000 such encounters for more than 30 years, she is a sought-after lecturer and has appeared on numerous national radio and television programs.