Beverly Brodsky says her entire understanding of life changed after a terrible motorcycle accident in which she believes she came face-to-face with God. What she experienced, she says, was nothing like what she had imagined or what she had been taught.
Beverly grew up in a strict Jewish home in Philadelphia. As a child, she was deeply shaken when she learned about the horrors of the Holocaust. By the age of eight, she rejected the idea of God completely and became an atheist. For years she held onto that belief—until one day everything changed.
In 1970, when she was 20 years old, Beverly was in a motorcycle crash near Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles. The accident left her with a fractured skull, and the right side of her face was torn open. Doctors at UCLA Hospital worked around the clock to save her. They told her they usually saw injuries like hers only in war zones. She was wrapped in salt-soaked bandages, endured intense treatments, and spent two weeks in the intensive care unit. When she was finally discharged, they didn’t give her any pain medication. She felt broken, both physically and emotionally.
Feeling completely hopeless, she cried out to the very God she had stopped believing in. “God, if you’re out there, you can take me now because I’m finished,” she said. And at that moment, according to Beverly, something unbelievable happened. All of her pain disappeared, and she felt herself rising out of her physical body.
She says she looked down and saw her body on the hospital bed. Then she noticed something on the ceiling—an angelic figure. She described it as having a masculine presence, glowing softly from within. The figure reached out and took her hand, and instantly all her fear, confusion, and questions faded away.
She later told author Kenneth Ring that she felt stunned but calm. She said, “I was still myself, but I wasn’t in my body anymore.” The glowing being next to her didn’t have wings, yet it floated effortlessly beside her. She felt overwhelming love and gentleness coming from him, and she sensed that this was not an ordinary angel but a special messenger sent to guide her.
Then, holding her hand, he took her straight through the hospital window. Beverly said she wasn’t even surprised—everything felt natural and peaceful in his presence, as if the world was suddenly operating the way it was always meant to.
Together, they traveled toward a bright light over the Pacific Ocean. He guided her into a small opening that led into a dark tunnel. She continued moving forward until she reached what she describes as her final “destination.”
At the end of the tunnel, Beverly saw a radiant presence made entirely of light. She felt intelligence, love, compassion, truth, and wisdom pouring out of it. The being had no shape or gender, and yet she instantly understood: she was standing before God.
She said it felt like a “deep recognition,” as if every part of her already knew Him. All the questions she had ever carried—about pain, injustice, and suffering—burst out of her at once. She didn’t speak; instead, God seemed to know her thoughts instantly and answered them telepathically. She felt completely open, with nothing hidden.
Her sense of having a spiritual body faded, and she felt herself become pure consciousness—just a mind or awareness communicating with this vast, loving intelligence. She said the light was so powerful that no physical eye could ever look at it directly.
Beverly said God didn’t just answer her questions—He allowed her to understand everything. She described it like witnessing endless flowers blooming all at the same time. Knowledge, she said, flowed into her instantly, and she experienced a feeling of becoming one with God. But she also felt that her journey was only beginning.
She remembers one last extraordinary vision before it all ended: a bright, fiery star glowing at its core, which she believed symbolized a blessing she was being given.
Then, just as suddenly as it started, she was back in her injured body.
The experience changed her forever. Beverly eventually joined a church and spent many years sharing her story to help others understand what she went through. Her near-death experience is included in the book Lessons From The Light by Evelyn Elsaesser Valarino and Kenneth Ring, who called Beverly’s account “possibly the most moving” he had ever collected.
Since then, Beverly’s story has appeared in McCall’s magazine, on the BBC documentary The Human Body, and she has given interviews around the world, including the first NDE interview ever broadcast on Israeli public radio. She was also listed in the 2006 edition of Who’s Who in America.
For Beverly, the accident that nearly killed her became the moment that reshaped her entire life. She believes she met God—not the God she grew up hearing about, but a presence far more loving, powerful, and peaceful than she ever imagined.
