I Saw Jesus by Karen Templin

The vision

I had not been to church for many years, though I was a believer in Jesus, & I loved him.
Suddenly I felt like he was calling me to know him better.
I started reading other people's testimoneys of him,
& also people's near death experiences, who had actually gone to Heaven, & met him.
The more I read, the closer I felt to him.
I met a new friend who invited me to church.
I said, yes, anything that would draw me closer to him.
As I sat in church, the minister asked the question, "What is the mountain in your life?"
He told us to take a few minutes to meditate about it.
I thought about things I had not been able to overcome in my life.
My biggest mountain was definitely the lack of forgiveness I felt for people
who I thought had wronged me or hurt me in some way.
I could easily walk out of people's lives,
& hold a grudge for 20 years or the rest of my life for that matter.
As I thought about these things, I felt a deep wrenching pain in my heart,
even physical pain, as though my heart was being squeezed tight in my chest.
I bowed my head.
I knew what the bible says about forgiveness, & I thought, Jesus is probably mad at me.
Still feeling the pain in my heart, I thought,
Look for the face of Jesus.
I had read that somewhere, but I didn't think I would literally see him.
If I did see him, I was sure he would come condemming me.
As I was thinking I should look for his face, I raised my eyes,
& couldn't have been more surprised that he was actually there.
It was just his face, but he was alive, & moving around.
He was there, in that room.
He was wearing a crown of thorns,
& smiling at me with the most loving smile I had ever seen.
I just gazed up at him,
& the first thing I thought was, he looks a little different than in his pictures, but only slightly different.
I felt no condemnation from him at all. That surprised me.
Next, I felt him sending me love that was full of compassion.
It was an overwhelming kind of love that I was sure human beings aren't capable of.
I was in awe that he could love me that much.
It was blissful.
I was totally absorbed by that love to the point where I felt my heart could burst.
I have never felt anything like it, & I'm sure that I never will as long as I'm on this Earth.
I just continued to gaze up at him, & he continued to smile at me like I was so special to him.
Throughout the whole vision, he never once stopped smiling at me.
Next I saw him sending beams of transparent, white light towards my heart.
I felt the light penetrating my being.
The light was nothing but love, & compassion.
He was very kind, & loving, not condemming at all.
I only felt a strong out pouring of love from him.
Next he began to communicate with me, but no words were used.
He communicated by sending me feelings,
& there was knowledge in the feelings that I understood clearly as it was transferred to my mind.
He said that he already knew about it all,
my lack of forgiveness towards others,
how I had been hurt by other people, &
what circumstances in my life that had made me feel that way.
He said, "I know everything about you."
That surprised me greatly, but I also felt comforted by it.
It meant that he had never been far from me, like I had always thought,
but I had been constantly under his supervision.
Again, I felt more compassion from him pouring out to me.
He said, "I feel your pain. I grieve with you."
He was like a loving parent who will pick you up when you are hurting,
and hold you in his loving arms. He will comfort you, & wipe away all of your tears.
I actually felt like I had been comforted, & held in the arms of Jesus.
After he lovingly comforted me, he spoke again.
He told me not to worry or concern myself with these things because he would take care of it.
I felt like a burden had been lifted, & I felt like it was easy for him to take care of my burdens.
I sensed that it was no problem at all for him.
I was still looking at him, still surprised by some of the things that he said.
He still wore that loving smile on his face that would melt the heart of the worst hardened sinner.
He was still sending me love, & it was to over flowing.
There was so much love that I felt like my heart couldn't hold it all, & it may burst.
I felt like I couldn't handle it any more.
Seeing all of the goodness & purity in him, I felt like I may break down into tears & sobs.
I started to feel unworthy of his pure holiness.
He was a soul that had evolved to the highest level of pure perfection.
Seeing this makes you aware of even your smallest sins.
I felt unworthy of him, & then I looked away.
When I looked back, he wasn't there anymore,
but I was left with a feeling of total awe.
Jesus had been there,
I had seen him,
I had felt him,
He had communicated with me,
and the thing I was left knowing was that he loved me more than anyone had ever loved me in my life!
A few days later, I thought about how I had sat in church that day knowing I had sinned,
& yet, Jesus blessed me with a vision.
I knew he still loved me unconditionally, in spite of my flaws.
I thought to myself,
How can this be?
Later that night I started to read the Bible, The Book Of John.
Jesus answered my question clearly:
John 3:16 For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son,
that who so ever believeth in him should not perish,
but have everlasting life.
For God sent not his son into the world to condemn the world,
but that the world through him might be saved.
He that believeth on him is not condemned,
but he that believeth not is already condemned because he has not believed.
I had sought to know him with my whole heart & soul.
I remembered that he had worn the crown of thorns in my vision.
I now realize that they were meant to be symbolic,
a reminder to me of how he loved us all enough to be lifted up,
& crucified on the cross for the forgiveness of our sins.
The crown of thorns are a symbol of his love that he feels for each one of us.
He had truly shown me how to forgive.

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