You can't be beat down. You can't be stopped. It's like this power that once you know who you are, you cannot ever be powerless [Music] again.
Welcome to Prioritize Your Life and Prioritize Your Life. com. I am excited to be sitting here with my new friend Lisa Bliss.
I don't know everything but uh remarkable life. Uh a lot of physical and emotional challenges that have led you to this point, but I'm excited to to learn more about them and have a conversation about it all. It'd be awesome.
Me, too. I'm excited to like get to tell my story finally. It's been a long time coming.
Where does it all kind of start for you then? So, I grew up in upstate New York. I had a f kind of a crazy family.
So, my parents um had gotten pregnant in high school. Okay. And back then, you just got married.
And so, I was the product of that. My mother came from this really hardworking farming family that went back forever. And my father raced motorcycles and was the bad kid trying to skip school and do whatever naughty things he could do.
And so they ended up getting married and I came along um and it was insanity. They they both drank a lot and there were probably a lot of drugs going on. I don't know.
Yeah. But every night up until I was about eight or nine years old, I would wake up to screaming and uh they would just be fighting and the next morning everything would be smashed to smithetheriness. And I had a younger sister who was a year and a half younger than I was.
And my job was to make sure that she didn't make any noise when my parents started fighting. So they didn't know we were awake and cuz I was always afraid they were going to come in and um yell at us or do something. So I would make sure that she stayed asleep and didn't make any noise and and until we could get back to sleep.
And so that was kind of my early childhood. And because there was so much alcohol in my family, I think by age seven, I was sneaking uh alcohol out of the fridge and no one knew in all the insanity of my parents being parents and and they really hated each other and didn't want to be married obviously. But the very first memories I ever had at around 3 4 5 were that I had accidentally been sent to the wrong home and in my mind I would I would be talking to um I didn't know who it was.
Now I do like it was heavenly father I was speaking to in my mind and I kept saying to him you've sent me to the wrong home. this is not a home and I can't do this. After we were all baptized, I noticed that my parents quit beating each other up and fighting and screaming and yelling like there wasn't any more of that.
However, they did not necessarily like each other and I loved the piece and I loved that we felt like more of a family, but it still in my mind we weren't a family and we weren't saved yet. And so for about a period of 2 years, everything that I learned and was taught, I would do absolutely everything, every commandment I could learn about, I would do. And to this day, I wish I could have I could be now as obedient and faithful as I was as a kid, cuz holy cow, I was crazy.
But um so I did absolutely everything I could do to try to help my family heal by being obedient. And so after 2 years, they still didn't love each other. I was 10 years old when I started to pray that I could go back home.
I did that because I thought if the gospel cannot save my family, then there's nothing on earth that can save my family. So, I want to go back home. And I didn't tell anyone.
I was I was a really serious, quiet kid. And so, I just kept praying the whole year. towards the end of the year.
It was the end of this summer. My grandparents had a cabin up in the Aderandac Mountains and we'd go up there once or twice a year and usually in the summertime it was pretty cold still even in the summertime. But in order to get to the cabin, you had to we we would drive like maybe 4 hours to get to the bottom of the mountain.
And then we'd have to drive up these crazy dirt roads that were barely roads for and that would take like I don't know an hour. And the last two miles we had to drag all our supplies to the riverside and we had to cross this major river to get to where our cabin was. My grandfather was had been in World War II and had grown up as a farmer and he could rig anything.
And so his whole family just were like, "Okay, let's just string up a a wire cable and go over um swings and pulleys and haul our food. And so there was no running water in the cabin, no electricity, and we had to bring everything that we needed food-wise. There were blankets and beds and stuff like that up there.
And so as as I was all hooked up on the swing, usually it was just like one adult, maybe a kid, and that's all you could put on a swing. Um, as they hooked me up on the swing with uh some camping gear, I was going across the river and it was quite a raging like there are rapids and not very far down were these waterfalls and so you could see the falls from going across the river. Anyway, as I was crossing, I thought, "Oh my gosh, this is the most beautiful place on earth.
" And I thought, "This would be a really good place to die. " And I I I had never felt closer to God ever than going across on on that cable. And so as I was listening to the raging waters and and the beauty all around me, I thought, "Okay, this is it.
" And and then I didn't think anything more of it. And the next day, my younger sister and I and my aunt Jan and my aunt Amy, who are just a couple years older, um the four of us made up this game where we would go down to the water base of the waterfall and there were boulders on either side and in the middle. You couldn't see the ones in the middle, but the boulders on the side.
We would jump up on the boulders and then dive right into the middle of the rapids beneath the falls and it would shoot us down this river and it was a crazy crazy I ride. I can't even believe anyone allowed us to do this but my grandfather was a little kamicazi himself. So anyway, we were having fun.
I didn't think any nobody knew we were down there doing it. Or so I thought. The cabin was way up on the hill and we were down below quite a ways.
Um, and so everyone had gone. The three others had gone in front of me. This is probably our 10th or 12th time down.
I was the last one to go and I knew no one was watching us. And so when I dove in, I dove too deep and I found myself lodged between these boulders underneath the rapids. And instantly, it wasn't it it wasn't that it was so deep.
It was just where I had um where I dove in. And so instantly I couldn't move a muscle and I thought, "Oh my gosh. " and and I was a really strong kid and so I just wrestled for a little bit but I realized very quickly there was no getting out of this and the falls above me were just like pounding down on top of me.
And so very quickly I was I had water going every which way and I was breathing it and and in my mind I thought the first thought I had after I realized I couldn't move I was like oh my gosh heavenly father really does answer prayers and I was like ecstatic and I was blown away and I'm going oh my gosh I have got to I can't wait to tell you know like my family and my friends and whoever. Heavenly Father really answers prayers. And so I as I was kind of waiting for the end, I'm going, "Well, hold it.
Can't tell anybody if you're uh Yeah, I can't tell anyone. Nobody's going to know. " And I thought, "I'm not so sure I want to die.
" And so in the very last moment, I thought, "Okay, Heavenly Father, I was just kidding. I take it all back. Forget it.
I take it all back. And then instantly I was out. All of a sudden, everything blasted into this bright light everywhere.
This huge field of flowers and a meadow opened up before me. And there was a path that went down the center of it. And on the outside it was lined by all these trees and lots of grass, lots of flowers, beautiful vibrant colors.
And what was amazing was that I could switch my eyes from the bright light that washed out all the color to just the color. And I could go back and forth. And so I started playing around with what my eyes could do.
And then I noticed that the colors, anytime I would walk by a flower, I would see these levels and layers of color to each petal of the flower. And it was as if I could dive into the colors or dive into the flowers. And all of me would just go right into it and I would start seeing all these layers, intense colors, colors that we don't have down here.
And I I kept getting distracted by all the beautiful colors. And then I would pull myself back out and look around. And I would I started to feel this magnetic pull down toward um down through the path that that split the meadow in half.
And it felt like something was pulling me and I felt like if I don't hurry, I'm not going to make it. And so I started picking up the pace and but then I would get distracted by a flower and I'd be like, "Hold it. I got to look at this one.
" And and then I'd pull myself out. And then I realized as I looked further down the path at at the very center, all the way down the path were these gates that were absolutely gorgeous. So I was surprised again.
And I was sitting there going, "Those are the pearly gates and the pearly gates are real. " And again, I had to stop and I was so blown away and I just had to take a moment. And then I noticed that there was a figure standing in front of the gates.
The gates were open and this figure was standing in front of the gate. And then lined on either side of the gates were these long lines of people dressed in white. I couldn't see their faces, but they all had white robes on.
Both lines went on forever on either side. And so as soon as I saw the figure, I thought, "Oh my gosh, if I don't get there before the gates close, cuz I could start seeing the gates closing, I thought, I'm going to have to go back and I got to get there. " And this magnet thing inside of me was just pulling me toward the figure.
And I knew who he was, but I couldn't get close enough to see his face clearly. But I knew who he was. And I was like, "Oh my gosh, I'm home.
I just got to get there before the gates close. " And so I was running and running and running. And then at the very last second, all of a sudden, I'm pulled back into my body.
Everything disappears. All the color. I come to I'm on the rocks by the back by the waterfalls in the river.
I had been pulled out and they had resuscitated me. I knew instantly I was back in my body and it felt horrible. Absolutely horrible.
My body felt like 10 times heavier than it was. And it was the middle of the day on a bright sunny day and the light just seemed dim and dark. It was horrible feeling.
The the worst depression I have ever felt in one moment. And so I realized I'm back and I didn't make it. And so I just laid there.
I let them keep working on me. I couldn't move a muscle. I was exhausted.
Now I need to switch to what how they saved me because it was quite a miracle in and of itself that they were able to bring me back. As I had gotten stuck under the water, the one thing I could move was my left hand. So I could reach my hand out and it it maybe stuck out this far.
And I thought, okay, I'm just going to stick my hand out, but I know no one's going to see me. It was one of the many little miracles, but somebody had been walking by up in the cabin. It was my aunt Carolyn had been walking by the window that overlooks um the waterfalls, and she noticed that I had jumped in and didn't come out.
And so she alerted everyone up there, all the adults, and it was quite a hike to get from the cabin down to the river. But I had a couple of uncles that were 20, 21, 22 and everyone just came running. And so Jan had gotten back to where I was lodged and I had passed out.
I had no idea that she had grabbed my hand. And um she just held on to it and people were were screaming up at the cabin that they were coming. So she knew just to hold on.
The problem was we were on the other side of the river and the adults were on the opposite side and to be able to cross the river but at the base of the falls was impossible to do it at the base. You had to go way down to where the river slowed down into this calm little pool and then you could cross over there and run up to where we were. And so a couple of my uncles were trying so hard to get across the rapids.
My uncle Rex was the first one to make it across. My aunt Jan had been holding my hand. So he took my hand and just started yanking on me, but he was working against uh the falls, the water that was pounding down on top of us.
And so it wasn't just the weight of my body, it was the weight of the water, too. And so it took him quite a few times to to pull me out, but he finally was able to yank me out, but it pulled so hard he lost me. And so I went back into the river and I was going downstream, but I was under the water and no one could see where I was.
And so now one of my older uncles knew he couldn't get across where Rex was crossing. So my uncle Stan went further down um the river and was crossing there where it was calm and suddenly he felt something brush up against his leg and he thought, "It's probably a fish, but I need to grab this in case it's Lisa. " cuz he had seen that Rex lost me in the water.
So he reached down and it was me. And so he grabbed on to my foot and then they just he just yanked me out of the water and threw me up on the bank, the embankment. And so then Rex got across and my other uncle Jim was able to make it.
And they uh resuscitated me. And they think I had been under the water for a good half hour, but the water was so freezing cold that they think that preserved my brain because I did I ended up not having any brain damage or anything like that. So I was the oldest grandchild um and my grandfather was now coming down from the cabin.
My parents had decided to stay home for this trip. So my grandparents were the ones watching me and my other aunts and uncles. And so because I was the oldest grandchild, I was uh my grand one of my grandfather's favorites.
And so when he heard that I they just told him I had drowned. They didn't tell him that they were able to get me out and save me. So he walked down thinking that I was dead.
He said, "Nope, I'm carrying her. She's alive. I get to carry her.
" So I thought I was going to give my poor grandfather a heart attack carrying me up to the cabin. But anyway, he took me he carried me up. Everyone followed.
It was really quiet, so time. When we got up to the cabin, no one knew what to do. And so the adults just started talking about, "We've got to take her to the hospital.
" And then my grandfather is like, "Yeah, but that's that's going to take us 3 hours to get there. So if she's going to die, she's going to die now in the next few hours. says, "We're not going to make it to the hospital, so we just need to stay.
" And then he was like, "Okay, we'll just do what they did in the old days. Just give her a shot of whiskey and that'll revive her. " And so they tried to make me drink whiskey.
And of course, there was no way. Decided to just let me go to bed and sleep. So, two of my aunts, my aunt Carolyn and my aunt Jan, helped me walk into the bedroom and helped me get dressed into my pajamas cuz I couldn't even lift my arms.
As they were helping me get into my pajamas, I started telling them about seeing the Savior. And what I told them before I went to sleep, I have no memory of now today. But I told only those two.
I can't believe that we never talked about this later, but it was probably 20 years later that we had the first discussion about Jan and I about what I saw and seeing the Savior and what I said to him and all that I could remember. And so I started telling her um how much I wanted to stay and everything he had told me and that I didn't want to go back, but I had to. I don't have any memory of that.
I went to sleep and I ended up sleeping for like two or three days without waking up and I was running a fever and just it was so strange. The sleep was just like I was in a coma almost and I don't remember anything from it. But when I woke up, I no longer had a memory of all the things that I had told my aunts.
But we didn't talk about it again until 20 years later. So every when I woke up, everyone was just anxious to get packed up and go home because they were so stressed out that I had almost died and they were afraid of what they were going to face when they had to tell my mom. They knew they were in trouble when she found out.
Calling on a cell phone then. So Right. Right.
So we got all packed up and everyone was just happy I was alive and awake. We get home. My grandparents owned a motel and so anytime we would have these big family gatherings, everybody got their own room.
So we returned back to my grandparents hotel and one by one they broke it to my mom. But nobody reacted in front of me and everyone carried on as if it had never happened before the drowning. I was in fourth grade and I had always had all these learning uh difficulties and and I had the hardest time reading anything and I was in the lowest level of the entire fourth grade.
In fifth grade, out of nowhere, I was able to read. And not only read, like I couldn't stop reading. And so I would try to find hide in corners or in the back of the classroom and I'd have my big textbook and I'd stick all these books in between and I would read my way through the whole day at school.
I'd come home, do my homework, keep reading into the night. like I could read a book a day or every other day and that's all I did from that point on was read. And so that amazed me because since in fact I had been held back in kindergarten because I wouldn't interact with my peers.
I wouldn't socialize. I was so shy. In fifth grade everyone noticed that something happened.
I also became this severely depressed teenager and um young teen. I was for years I just became more reclusive and I got into art and growing up in New York. New York schools have a lot of art programs and music and all of that.
And so in this new school, there was a really huge art program. So I just dove into art and just anytime I could skip a class, I was always in the art room. And I think that tied into everything that I had experienced on the other side with all the colors.
I was just constantly trying to bring color into my life. I could never get enough art. I don't know how I graduated because I was always skipping all my classes, but I did just fine.
And no one knew how depressed I was. They they just thought I was a super quiet kid. And but I I realized when I hit around 19, 20 that I was coming out of it.
And so that was the first time I ever talked about my near-death experience was around 20 when a coworker brought up the story of someone having a near-death experience. And I was like, "Oh, yeah. I kind of did.
I kind of drowned when I was a kid, and I saw some of the things you're talking about. " And it was the first time I had ever processed or thought of any of the stuff that I had been through or what I had seen. So, so I had put it on a shelf all those years.
Very slowly it started coming back to me and I could remember vividly as I would tell people the stories. And it kind of just shocked me that that was when I first realized I had a near-death experience. And I was like, "Wow, that's kind of cool.
" I was a really serious kid and I was very in very much into reading the scriptures on my own. And my parents marriage had had held together. They hadn't gotten a divorce, but they still didn't love each other.
And from time to time, they would talk about getting divorced. And so in this new house that we had moved to, my bedroom was on the main floor. Everyone else's bedrooms were upstairs on the second level.
I would go get the children's Bible every night and just make myself comfy on my big four poster bed and it was I was all by myself. It was always nice and quiet and I would just read stories and then get sleepy and fall asleep. And so it must have been about November or December.
It was snowing outside and everyone had gone to bed and it was probably like 9 9:00 and I had decided to read um the the story of Joseph in Egypt. Yep. From the children's Bible.
As I finished, I could feel this funny sensation that I had never felt before come over me. And it was super peaceful, but it was it had that sweet joy part of it. And it it almost felt like I couldn't move, like I was so taken with this feeling, I didn't want to move.
And I just laid there on my bed thinking about Joseph in Egypt and the story and and I'm thinking how much I love Heavenly Father for saving him. And as I'm thinking all of these thoughts about the story and laying on my bed on my back, the room starts to disappear. And first it's the walls and the snow goes and then the ceiling and then the bed.
And I'm in this vast dark expanse. It w it looked like it was like this blackish blue. And it felt like it went on forever and and I felt like I was suspended in this space but very safe.
It felt really warm and comfortable and I couldn't see anything, but I could feel Heavenly Father's presence. And I could hear him say to me, not not aloud, but to my heart telepathically. I could hear him say how much he loved me.
And then he ended up telling me that the Savior was here with us. And he introduced the Savior to me. And then I could feel how much the Savior loved me.
And I couldn't see either one of them, but I knew exactly who they were. And I knew their voices. And I could sense their presence.
And I was like, I don't know how I know what I know. But I just became wrapped in this in this space where they were soaking up all this love. And in my mind, I thought, I'm just this little 11year-old kid.
I'm I'm not anyone special. I don't ever talk to anyone. No one really knows anything about me cuz I never talk and I hide all the time.
And so I thought, why me? And and so I just laid there in the just soaking it all up. And at some point I just fell asleep.
But that experience changed my heart in such a way. It helped me understand that no matter what I do or don't do, I am totally loved by Heavenly Father. And it gave me this, it empowered me in a way that I could see people differently after this experience.
I would be able to see people through Heavenly Father's eyes and I could see how much Heavenly Father loved them. And I think I had to have that experience to prepare me for the therapy work that I do today. I do a lot of trauma release.
I feel really blessed to get to see people through Heavenly Father's eyes. That experience was the single most important experience of my entire life because from there I've been able to see the whole world differently and see things from Heavenly Father's viewpoint. And so after that experience, I didn't tell anyone.
I I never told anyone about any of these experiences until I was much older. And I generally would only tell them about the near-death experience at drowning, right? And seeing all the colors and flowers and seeing the savior at at the gate entrance, but that was it.
I wouldn't tell him about the other experiences. And from there it just got crazier experiences and like more and I and with every new experience I would just be blown away thinking like who do you tell like who do I tell this to? Like I just felt so strange and so weird.
And it before I got into doing therapy, I always felt like this was a burden to have and not be able to tell anyone about it. And so for the most part, I would keep it to myself. But from time to time, people would ask me and it would come up and and in special cases, I would start telling people.
So that's where it ends in my childhood, right? But it picks up with other stories that pick up at age 27, I think, is when the madness really begins. The work found me.
I bumped into a therapist who ended up training me and and helping me know how to utilize some of these really strange gifts. When someone would walk into my room for a therapy session, so would all their family members on the other side and those family members would be telling me the questions I should be asking to get to the main point to cut through all hours and hours and hours of just talking. This is the question you ask.
This is the problem. Ask it this way. and I would just listen to their family members and I'd be able to get in one session I could get to the heart of that pro problem.
And so it it just got wild after that where I would it would be word of mouth. People would hear about me and ask me to help them with their family members that were dying or having a hard time dying or like some people will call me and say, "My grandmother's hundred years old and she just wants to die, but she her body is still so strong she can't. Can you help?
" Like I get asked to do the strangest weirdest things. But the thing that all the gifts that I've been given from this near-death experience, all of these gifts help me help people transition, whether it's from the heaven we come from or it's the heaven we're going to. So, I actually even work with pregnant women when they have difficulties with their pregnancies, helping that baby adjust before they get here or, you know, helping people that are terrified to die to go peacefully.
And and it be both become joyous things. If there was just one thing I wish people knew was that there is a power you can tap into through the Savior and connecting to Heavenly Father. And that is a power that goes way beyond anything that man can do.
And anyone can have it. Anyone can get it. Like if you want it bad enough, you can ha you can connect and you can have experiences that will tell you exactly what you want to know.
Maybe not the way you want to know it, but you'll get to learn things and find out for yourself. Yeah. But it's not just pe certain people here, there, and everywhere that get it.
Anyone could have this. The thing that brought it for me was believing that we lived in heaven with Heavenly Father before we came to Earth. And that that is our real home.
And that's what we're all trying to emulate, the family that we had back there. And so I think that's the thing that's so different for my story is is going back to the heaven we came from. So sometimes I see people off track.
You're not who you're supposed to be right now. You're supposed to be over here doing this. Let me help you get on track with what you set out to do.
I know you can't remember your mission that you signed up for, but you signed up for a mission and this is what you're capable of and you're going to be amazing. And so I just try to get people launched doing the things they're supposed to be doing that they don't remember that they signed up for. And the other thing that I would say is the only tragedy here on earth, it's not tragic when people die or children die or whoever dies before it's their time.
A real tragedy is when you come to Earth and you don't fulfill the mission that you set out to fulfill. That's a tragedy. And so sometimes I think part of my work is also helping people get back on track and know how great they are and how lovable and wonderful and amazing.
So I feel so privileged to get to do all that. I I strongly believe that part of coming to this world that we all have and some of them I think maybe you're blessed with later. Some of them I think that we come here with these innate gifts and part of what's fascinating is obviously we're all unique.
You know, we all know we have the different fingerprints. There's nobody that's exactly the same and that's beautiful. And I feel like we all have these different amazing gifts that God gives us and part of this life learning to uh grow relationships with others and you bless them with your gifts and others.
But I think sometimes what people have a hard time with experiences like this is they one and maybe it's lacking faith but since they haven't had it they have a hard time believing or knowing you know that cuz I I feel like that one perspective alone that you know that you're loved that regardless of what you do I I just feel like if everybody actually had this knowledge if whether they do good whether they do bad there is a creator and a god that truly loves them more than they could understand. It would change a lot. Absolutely.
That perspective of your life and who you are. Um there's a lot of identity problems in a thousand different directions today. And just think if like the whole world could be washed over in that loved, which I feel like we will be eventually anyway.
Everyone will get to taste it sooner or later. Yeah. Yeah.
But if you had it now, it is a power that changes the direction your life will go in. And it and you can seek it also if you really want to have an experience even if it's not you don't have to die to have an experience like this. Yeah.
So I don't suggest that anyone ever pray for a near-death experience. just pray for experiences with the savior. But it is a power that will change the life that you can have on earth.
Yeah. But you don't give up and you get what you are seeking. where my near-death experience is a little different from most everyone else's is that I was praying to die and as a kid and so bec because children are so much more pure in heart and um like you have to be I always tell my kids be careful of what you pray for when you're a kid because your prayers are much more powerful.
Yeah. But the thing that I realized years later as an adult is I can't believe how smart I was to bypass man's power to like I was in a situation that was painful with my family and I needed a way out and instead of seeking man's way out or man's power I just went straight straight to Heavenly Father and was like, "Let's get the big guns out and take care of it. " And I that's one of the things that I wish people understood here is on Earth when you feel powerless, you need to bypass man's power.
You need to go to the source to get all the things that you want and are seeking. And you can have them. And so I think that would be the one difference.
And it taught me for the rest of my life to always go back to whatever it is Heavenly Father tells me to do when I ask or when I seek. And I do it in a heartbeat. Like I don't even hesitate.
And I've had to do some crazy things that I did not want to do, but I did it because I trusted because of those experiences. I also think if people could just have a taste of what it's like to be loved, to feel that love. No one can hurt you.
You can't be beat down. You can't be stopped. It's like this power that once you know who you are in Heavenly Father's eyes, you cannot ever be powerless again.
And so for people that feel powerless in their lives, and there are a lot of people that feel, and I do too from time to time, it's like I I'm always saying go directly to the source. That's beautiful. Well, thank you so much.
I'm always amazed at how many different lessons I learn and just what I love about doing this is I always feel some form of confirmation. I've only I've only done a couple of these where I felt like this wasn't authentic and I think you could I maybe that's one of the blessings I have. I don't know.
But I I've done a couple and I was like I I love you my friend but I think you you just had a little bit too many drugs in the hospital. there's this like really overwhelming cool feeling I feel like when heaven is testifying of of truth. And so I just I really appreciate having the time with me today.
So thank you so much, Lisa. If you're interested in receiving help um in whatever way in your life, direction, uh the many things that she mentioned, um she's starting up a new project and you can go to that in the description. She's definitely been blessed through her near-death experiences and everything else that's happened and she wants to bless and serve others with these gifts that she has.
So, but if you would like to receive some direct help, um, please reach out. All right. Thank you.
Thank [Music] you. Heat.
