From the time that they pronounced me dead was
a good 45 minutes. They cut my clothes and then
they paddled my heart, my heart stopped and I
could see people screaming and crying but I didn't
realize that was actually my physical body because
I was somewhere else. The only thing that I could
feel if you could imagine absolute love and peace,
there wasn't anything else to be felt. I was
greeted by people I'd known in the past. I'm
back home again. Incredibly safe and felt at
home. Welcome, welcome to Round Trip Death, everybody.
And a warm welcome to our special guest today,
Kara Marlene. Coming to us from Dallas. How is
it in Dallas today, Kara? It's beautiful. Like
we were talking about a little bit earlier, it's
starting to cool down. So we're all outside with
our dogs, our bikes and having a really good
time. A little fall weather can be a good thing
in Texas. Yes, for sure. Yeah, I've been there
in the summer and I'm sorry you have to endure
that. But lots of people love it there. And so
that's fantastic. Anyway, before we jump into
your NDE, and I think people are going to just
love this. It's just such a beautiful, sweet.
story that we're going to hear today. But tell
us a little bit about you before. Who's Kara?
Of course, my name is Kara Marlene. I come from
a very small town in Kansas and didn't know much
about that and then got into the big world, traveled
around, wound up in Dallas. I am a creative by
nature, so I sing and I write, did a little acting
or whatnot, and found myself on this journey
with love, and that's via a childhood NDE That's
how we met, which I'm very grateful for. So are
you going to sing for us today? If you all sing
a little ditty for you, then it'd be fine. We
can end with that if you want. That'd be cool.
Okay, cool. Do you have one that goes with your
experience? No, but I am writing. So the funny
part about where my life is now, I'm a blues
singer and classic country singer. And so, you
know, lots of those, it's almost like a broken
heart to a beat kind of thing. I found my love
of writing with music is coming back. So there's
actually, now that you mention it, I've got an
EP of more bluesy things coming out. So I don't
have anything with me because I don't have my
guitarist or my backups, but you'll be the first
one to know about it when it does come out. Send
me a link. I'll stick it in the show notes. If
anybody wants to hear the bluesy Kara, that'd
be fun. I just think, wow, Andy, he's fit right
in with that kind of stuff because it can be
sad what happens you know before and for a lot
of people it's a struggle afterwards and we'll
talk about how you did afterwards but all right
let's go back to when you were a little kid about
eight years old what led up to the fateful day
of the bike crash thank you for asking so I was
just a normal eight -year -old on bikes outside
with my little sister. I was raised, like I said,
in a micro town. It's about 500 people in Kansas
and on a ranch outside of that's where we had
the home I grew up in. And I was outside, beautiful
spring day. My older sisters were inside and
one of them hollered for us to come in and I
wanted to take one more round on my bike and
my father owned a very large construction company.
Next to the barn is a garage they called it the
the tool shed and it had a water lip which is
a cement block that kind of goes on the bottom
of the garage door to keep the water out. I remember
seeing this gouge in it and I thought that that
would be a really good ramp because it looked
you know like a ramp. So our house was on top
of the hill I took off down towards that garage
and I Hit that bump and I went over the handlebars
because my bike just stopped That's like that
split seconds when everything changed because
as I lifted off the bike and the seconds between
Lifting and hitting the ground my awareness just
opened up full throttle It's almost like oneness
and awareness just literally just and I didn't
know that at the time that's what happened but
that's what I know now today and it's like it
encircled me in this bubble of protection and
I hit the ground, but I heard it. It was almost
so, it's so odd because I heard it. I know I
hit the ground, but it's almost like I heard
it from a distance. And I remember hearing myself
crumble and kind of letting out a sigh and then
just blacking out, I was gone. And I remember
waking up on my back. And I could see the blinding
light coming into the garage door and then the
darkness around it. Immediately I knew something
was terribly wrong because I could not, I couldn't
move my body. Like it was like I was trapped
in like a thousand pound weight but I could see
and I could move my mouth. So I looked at the
garage door again and the light and there was
a figure there. I couldn't tell if it was female
or male or what age it was but I thought it was
my sister because my little sister was out there.
She was like five or whatnot. I asked her, I
was like or I told her I need help. I can't get
up. There's something really wrong. Go get mom
and dad. And the figure didn't move. And of course,
I thought it was my sister. So I got upset and
scared. And I got a little upset and said, mom
and dad are gonna be so mad at you. I need help.
Like you have to help me. Like go, go get help.
And as I was... Speaking to her pleading with
her my awareness kicked in and I was kind of
taking in what was going on and I eventually
like I stopped speaking and I remember Looking
around at the darkness that like held that light
the more I looked at it the more I realized it
wasn't like the garage because she see the you
should see the ceiling and the walls full of
tools and things didn't see that what I saw was
like space that darkness was like the blackness
of space and it went on forever, but Immediately,
I'm like, okay, if this is space, there's nothing
there holding me. But there was, as grounded
as I'm in this chair. And then I looked at the
light streaming in and I tried to see past it,
like it was sunlight or whatever, kind of focused
my eyes. I should have seen like the sky, the
cattle trailer, things like that. I couldn't
see any of it. And all of a sudden it clicked
that I wasn't in my family home anymore. And
this light coming in was light in life itself
and the darkness, the vastness of space was the
space that holds that, like that void they sometimes
call it. With that understanding, I looked at
that figure again and I spoke to it and I said,
am I dying? Am I dead? Is this heaven? And inside
of me, I call it the dwelling space, but it's
like this never -ending Cravasse of just love
cracked open and it's like it filled everything.
It's almost like it literally oneness with just
love just poured not poured out of me. It's almost
like it just opened up as I was like taking all
of that in like just feeling the purest presence
of love. I realized taking in the light and the
dark and the love itself. I realized there was
no fear. Like I didn't, I wasn't afraid of anything.
It's almost like it couldn't even exist. I just
honestly like basked in that for a while. As
I took it all in, I looked back at that figure
and for the first time I heard it speak to me,
but with an inner voice. Like I didn't, I didn't
hear it. It's like I heard it inside and it said,
are you ready? In almost a few seconds, there
was like a very small life review. Like dogs
are okay, my family's okay. But the most... present
realization was this is love and wherever it
is taking me wherever it goes whatever it means
I'm in and I said yes and so as I said yes I
fell into that that love within that dwelling
place and as I fell into that like body mind
and soul it was getting darker and I remember
there was a there's a space where like that Fear
-free love existed and then fear could exist
and we're crossing over that and that's when
I was going back into my body. I woke up, oh
gosh, hours later, speaking to my mom like I'm
speaking to you and I stopped and I was like,
Mom, what am I doing here? Where am I? Because
I was on the couch. covered up. It had been a
while because it was actually in the afternoon,
like into the evening when I was on the couch
and she was confused. She didn't know why I was
asking all these questions and trying to tell
her things about what happened. And so she left
and I had a mirror in my hand. I remember seeing
this part of my face, my little second -grader's
face, and I tilted the mirror up and I remember
just absolutely screaming because there was a
contusion, a huge dark black contusion that had
like bubbled out like if you took like a large
lemon or an orange and you just cut it in half,
it was like on a second -grader's head. I remember
when my mother finally did like take me to the
doctor, he was like, he was so mad. My mother
had eight natural children and he was the one
that took care of all of them and I never, I
mean I was only eight, but I never from that...
Point before and that after ever yelling at my
mother and he was like you should never have
waited You should have come immediately. I don't
know what you were thinking Like um, she should
be dead one and two she ever gets hit there like
for the rest of her life She's like she's gone.
She's dead. Like she shouldn't be here cut. Anyhow
after that my life turned into this Beautiful
love story with me in the divine. I call the
vine God guy Whatever you want to call it. I
call it love and this unrelenting pursuit of
love in my life Okay let's take a break there
I want to dig into some of this I want to ask
you a bunch of questions and then we'll move
forward with how your life changed. Well I'm
not sure where to start but one of the things
is did you have any kind of feeling for this
figure as you called it or a personage or whatever
what did it look like did you have any feeling
for who maybe it was? I'm so glad you asked that
because that took me years to really kind of
vet out and the feeling was it was so familiar
that I didn't doubt that I was unsafe. You know,
I never doubted I was safe because the light
coming in was so blinding. I couldn't tell if
it was female or male, but I know it wasn't like
an angel. It wasn't it wasn't an alien. I don't
believe it was a guide. A lot of times people
see that like guides or whatnot on their way,
and it wasn't like a family member, right? What
I believe happened is that having a narrative
experience and walking the path that I've had
with love, I believe love meets us with exactly
what we need. at that time. And so I believe
that it was love itself taking a blurred form,
familiar enough for me to speak to it and not
be afraid and whatnot, but also reach me at eight
years old, have such a defining, beautiful connection
with it. And the reason I say that is because
I don't actually, I don't... Connect with like
guides or Family members like it wasn't a grandmother.
I had passed it wasn't like anything like that
I don't actually connect with that like I've
never had that as a guide in my life. I've always
just had like very Tangible moments with love
itself, and maybe that's confusing for some people
But that's the only way I can explain it because
it was like I said it was familiar enough To
where I wasn't afraid, but it wasn't someone
else or something else and so I believe that
it was love showing up Wow, yeah, but in some
kind of a figure so an eight -year -old could
relate to it as if it was a person Yeah, versus
if it was a blur or a blip or whatever you may
not have talked to it, right? Yeah, cool All
right. I want to talk about this love and fear
Two words that you used you talked about the
lack of fear, but why I mean what a love and
fear have to do with each other. What do you
think? I believe that there is an option of fear
in the human form and I believe outside of that
like let's say when I transition because this
is my experience when I transition out of this
after this body dies I believe we I walk into
the purest presence of love itself like in the
afterlife whatever form that some people will
know heaven some people will know other worlds
or whatnot and I believe there is an option for
allowing fear or love to run your life. So we
all know like healthy fear, right? Like we know
the healthy fear that keeps us alive. You know,
that's, you know, don't go pet an alligator.
That's something that you shouldn't be doing.
Good example. I don't know where that came from.
I'm sorry, I have no idea. But what I found on
my journey is that I could either give in to
fear or doubt. So everything that comes from
love, like love, joy, peace, patience, kindness,
goodness, gentleness, face and self -control
are all really great little flowers from like
the love garden, right? That's kind of how I
see it. But then there's fear and there's like
doubt and lack and scarcity and whatnot. And
so I believe that outside of this, we have this
world or this life, we have honestly nothing
but. love, but here in this life we have the
opportunity to know the opposition of love, which
is fear, and we can choose to have a love -based
Existence, it's almost like when people, I was
raised Christian, when they says heaven come
down or like bring heaven down. I think that
we can live that existence now because a lot
of times I was taught that heaven comes later
we just have to kind of like suffer to be here
and I was like I just don't think so. Like I
think that there is an option to live through
love, live in love and the opposition of love
is fear and I think that that gives us a beautiful
experience here in the human form for me anyway.
allow that to happen every day because I wouldn't
necessarily know the depth, the breadth, the
width and the height of how beautiful love is
without the opposition available to me. So it's
like balancing the dichotomy in my personal opinion
of living as a human and having that opportunity.
I think you summarized and explained that so
well. And that was a little bit of what I was
going to talk about if you didn't, but As I've
interviewed hundreds of people that have had
experiences like this, well like this, they're
all different but NDE type experiences, one of
the things that I've learned is that love and
fear are opposite emotions. And if they're opposite,
can they exist in the same place at the same
time? Probably not. And you also mentioned doubt,
fear and doubt go hand in hand, both negative
emotions. But when people say they feel Love,
peace, joy. They're not feeling fear. I believe
that's because they're opposites. And if you're
in a place of love, you don't feel fear and doubt.
The love just overcomes it. It's such a strong
emotion, obviously. And then we could go further
down that road with people who believe in God,
whatever form they believe in. God is love, okay?
Now, I'm not saying that you saw love, I'm not
saying you saw God, I'm just saying the best
definition of God is love, because whatever form
of being you believe in, that is the overwhelming
definition that always comes out. The overwhelming
feeling that people have when they're around
that being is love, it's not fear. Some of our
scripture is written to make it sound like we
need to be fearful, but we don't. Okay, I didn't
want to go too far down that road, but thank
you. You did a fantastic job with it. Leslie,
you mentioned a very brief life review. Is there
anything else you can tell us about that? No,
I mean as an eight -year -old, no. My, I think
because it was a childhood near to the experience,
it was as un... filtered as possible. Like it
was just so raw, it was so real. I mean it was
like my dogs, because I love my dogs and whatnot,
my animals, I knew my little sister was safe
of course in that situation and then like my
family was okay. It was just so short and I had
such, so little to worry about, you know, I think
that it was just okay, that's where I was. And
that's okay. This is what happens after we die,
right? And this is my form of heaven and it is
love itself. I'm like, they told me so, okay,
like what's next? Wherever that love takes me,
wherever that love goes. Cause I didn't think
I was coming back. I didn't even think about
that. Like it was just, I was just following
that love within. Like it could have popped me
out on Mars. I don't know. I would have been
fine with it. Like it was just. It was lovely.
So, yeah, the life review was so very little,
so very short, but so focused on that experience
with love. You were only eight years old. Yeah.
Yeah. How much can there be? Yeah. How much can
there be to learn from? OK, I'm surprised when
this, I'm going to use your terms, this figure
asked if you were ready. Did that mean ready
to what? See, that's the thing. It just said,
are you ready? And the feeling inside the thought
was follow me. Like it was, are you, it was just
like, are you, are you ready to follow me? Cause
it didn't say, oh, are you ready to go back?
Are you? Cause a lot of, you know, sometimes
like Indies are like, okay, you're going, you're
going back or you're going forward. It was, it
was literally as if it was just, are you ready
to be with me? Are you ready to follow me? Cause
it was, it was just so focused on. On that connection
with with love and so i think that's why i was
just like okay yeah like wherever this is going
i'm with you yeah i'm surprised you came back
after that me too i almost wonder if there's
a piece in there that's missing from your memory
that maybe you're gonna remember someday that's
so funny you bring that up i'm so glad you did
eric because someone else brought that up on
a podcast there like there was a space there
was a there was hours actually. My little sister
went inside and of course she was just beside
herself. She ran into where my mother and my
sisters were cleaning and she said, the car is
dead. The car needs help. Like you have to go
help her. She literally used those words. Like
my older sister said, yeah, she just kept saying
you were dead. And so we just laughed and just
kept cleaning because we thought she was joking.
And she, they found her literally later in her
room, like on the floor crying, like because
they just didn't, you know, I mean, my mother
had eight children. Like, what are you? or a
farm like things happen and kids are kids there
were hours like in between there that I could
have gone somewhere had an experience and then
was sent back and just didn't necessarily need
to be something in my memory this this lifetime
or all maybe I'll find it in a meditation later
on but it had to have been beautiful it had to
have been an absolute glorious situation because
when I came back I was nothing but love walking
it was just beautiful Yeah, I think that's very
likely. Yeah. Because it would be really unusual
to be going with that being and then all of a
sudden you're back. It's just like there's a
piece of that puzzle missing and that's okay.
These things don't always all come back at one
time. That doesn't mean it's any less real or
anything like that. So that's something maybe
you have to look forward to, to learning more
about it as things go on. All right, let's talk
about You're back. You're at the doctor. Give
me an idea of first physically of all the injuries
that are going on and how you recovered and Then
let's talk about where we left off. How did your
life change from that point on? I had the blunt
force trauma to my right temporal lobe and I
was on I mean, they wouldn't let me do anything
No, they couldn't like I couldn't play really
and I was like such a social butterfly and I
remember My second grade teacher, Mrs. Durier.
Like she was like, bouffant hair. When she walks,
she kind of like this little head thing. It's
so funny. And she was just the sweetest, kindest,
most, you know, gentle spoken person. And I remember
I was in class. It was my cousin, maybe it was
my cousin Jeremiah or my friend Clay, and they
did a cartwheel. And so without thinking, I did
a cartwheel too. And I got really, like I was
really dizzy and like I fell off the floor. Mrs.
Durier. She lit into me and of course she made
sure I was okay, got ice and whatnot. But she
stapled this note of my sweater or my shirt going
home just to make sure that my mom knew. She's
like, Kara, I did a car wheel. I want you to
know I'm so sorry. I wasn't watching it. So I
was on lockdown basically until they knew I was
okay. With the injury. It is such a stark difference,
starting in third grade, because I was an excellent
student. But in third grade, so I was on second
grade, then third grade on, my grades dropped.
I was so funny, I remember going through them,
I don't know, in college or something like that,
I was like, what is going on? And I put two and
two together. So the injury took a lot of my
reading comprehension. and my math skills. I
could still do that, but I'm an audio learner.
My mother said, she's like, you never brought
home any books. And she's like, I never really
understood why. And it's just because I heard
what you were saying and what I retained, I got
right. But they never really put the two together
to help the correct way until I actually was
in college. So moving forward, that's really
the only. followed I had from it but like spiritually
and personally like I was like I said I was like
walking love I was always a social butterfly
my mother put me in school early because she's
like you're you were ready so I was like young
for my age yeah like a year almost younger than
everybody I had a very deep connection with nature
with specifically animals I love being outside
the only way I can explain it is that being outside
in nature because I was raised in a ranch like
there's nothing around there's no city and it's
just obviously it was almost like that was the
only place my soul fit because the oneness that
I had experienced that was obviously so vast
I mean like I it's like basically love just opened
up and it's like never ending now like it just
kind of felt like underneath the stars in the
sky really I could just breathe then connecting
with people specifically I was already socially
a bubble but like I wanted to love everybody.
I wanted to tell them about love. I wanted to
share that with them. I wanted to be their friend.
I didn't understand why there was conflict. Why
are we arguing and whatnot? Why can't we get
along? Love is everywhere. Can't you see it kind
of thing. Moving forward, that was a little bit
of a challenge to balance, but because I had
such a unique experience with love and I... basically
after that developed this beautiful relationship
with love. So anytime that I had a challenge
like my family home wasn't supportive and so
I felt I felt myself alone a lot and that gave
me time to meditate and pray and I found that
helped my connection with love and it turned
into I would be in stillness and then I would
meditate and breathe like breath work and stuff.
So anyway, what could have been a negative in
the isolation actually turned out to be a beautiful
positive because I've just got this amazing connection
with the divine that I've developed since a child.
And so it's actually it's easier for me to kind
of slip into that dwelling place. ask questions
and find answers and whatnot. Some of the connections
that I have, I call them the fingerprints of
love, like those undeniable moments where like
love shows up and that inner voice is developed
with that relationship with love. I had like
premonitions of the deaths of loved ones when
I was growing up, three of them. had an experience
with a cow. I know that sounds funny, but I knew
she was going to die and no one else believed
me. Like she was in labor and it was going poorly
and they're like, oh, just let her let her alone.
Anyway, long story short, I knew that was going
to happen. And that was the first one. And it
led into my grandmother's passing, a family friend,
and then a brother -in -law. And I knew beforehand.
And it was because the inner voice showed up
like love was like, it's grandma, you should
say goodbye to her and then it was Jenny and
then of course my brother and again though each
time this happened it was just a deeper solidification
of that connection with love and there were other
moments a few other moments where they were like
now I know there are many like energetic healings
that was beautiful because that started my journey
because it was before I graduated high school
that it kind of set me off into the world with.
Did all of that love also open you up to some
hurt? Gosh, thank you for asking that. Yes, because
they didn't have my eyes to see and my ears to
hear. They didn't have that experience with love.
It really, I could not understand. how they function,
the way they function, why they were so distant
or hurtful. Being an empath, of course, I know
that word now, but I didn't know that then. That
experience made me just like a fully open empath.
I was feeling their emotions and so I was trying
to help them because I was like, oh no, like
if you feel like this, let me help you, let me
introduce you. And then it just, it really was
very difficult. And I went on a journey after
high school, coming back to understanding. That
that was why but yes, it was very difficult Yeah,
I heard something funny recently just somebody
else that I interviewed a couple of days ago
And I don't know if her episode is gonna come
out before or after yours It doesn't matter but
she had her experience as an adult and it made
her feel all this abundance of love Not just
around her but for everybody and for all these
people she was saying it kind of screwed up her
dating life because she would like See all the
good and fall in love with nearly every guy and
sometimes just tell him and it didn't go so well.
Poor soul. What a sweetheart. But what a wonderful
thing. You know, what a wonderful problem to
have to love people too much. Absolutely. All
right. Before we let you go, I just wanted to
mention you've got a book out called meant for
miracles. I can't wait to read it. I have a feeling
it's a beautiful story, but I haven't read it
yet. So anyway, we'll figure that one out. We'll
talk later. So we mentioned your book, you have
a conference coming up too? I do. Yes. So this
is a little flyer for it. It's called the Truth
Tellers Conference. It's going to be hosted here
in Dallas, Texas. The keynotes I have are Scott
Drummond, Benny Tolman, Jeff Olson, and Barbara
Bartolome and myself will all be speaking. What
I wanted to do is I On my journey, I realized
that it was honestly in the chaos of COVID. We
were all working through things. We all kind
of had a spiritual awakening at one time, I believe.
But I realized the perspective of my life and
what my truth was, what my life was. And so I
couldn't help but... be overwhelmed by how transformed
I was from that. And when I started writing my
book and then speaking about it at all these
conferences and then the podcasts, I was transformed
and I'm finding other people who are transformed
by just sharing our truths, right? And so the
Truth Tellers Conference is where truth and transformation
happen. I wanted to bring people together that
feels like coming home, not just... with each
other because we love each other, but to yourself,
to know your truth, to own your truth and to
be inspired by these stories that the people
have near -death experiences and miraculous healings
and whatnot. It is an opportunity to be with
others like you who may be on the journey of
finding out what your truth is or are literally
speaking your truth and you can find others to
just... be with, to connect with. And I really,
I wanted that and it's coming together beautifully.
So it's Dallas, Texas, February 20th through
the 21st in 2026. My website is caramarleen .com
and the Truth Tellers conference is up there.
You can click on it. I'm doing an early bird
special for $129, but also an Erica special promo
that you can get discount code for 30 more dollars
off. So the general admission would be $99 and
the VIP would be $200. Great. We'll stick a link
in the show notes for everybody. I would love
you to leave everybody with some kind of a message
of hope today. Okay. I love this because I cry
every time. I want everyone if I could just leave
everyone with something is that I want you to
understand how miraculous and magical you are.
On my journey after I really understood what
happened to me and everything made sense like
looking back from the near the experience and
all these other moments with the divine with
love I really dove deep into the miraculous of
life itself and I want everyone to understand
you are a walking miracle like you were meant
for miracles like this entire universe from the
fact that we are in a galaxy right in a universe
we're the only place with life that the odds
of that statistically is outrageous like it's
literally miraculous and then the fact that you're
here listening to this like it's 14 trillion
to one that you're here anyway and that goes
up exponentially just every moment you're here
and I hope that by you listening to this podcast,
hopefully it hits home that you are like you
are meant for miracles because everything here
is a miracle and love holds it all together and
it wants a connection with you and that you are
here for a reason and whether you are on your
path and you're living your best life or you're
in a situation where you maybe question things
or you're looking or whatnot either way I want
to remind you how beautiful you are and and how
strong that love wants you to know that and that
it set this entire world up to keep reminding
you. And so I hope you have the eyes to see that
and the ears to hear that and the heart to understand
and the sound mind that it is your birthright
to live a free life. And it is just literally
like a breath away. And I'm so glad you're here.
That was so beautiful. Kara, Marlene, thank you
so much. You're welcome. Thanks again for listening
and sharing this podcast. Don't forget to hit
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want to share your near -death experience or
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Until then, I wish you everything good that you're
looking for in this life and the next.