Skip to Main Content

Chasing Heaven

What Dying Taught Me about Living

About The Book

From the author of the New York Times bestseller, Waking Up in Heaven, comes an extraordinary story about Crystal McVea’s personal transformation after visiting heaven and how readers can experience heaven themselves—and live a more meaningful life.

On December 10, 2009, Crystal McVea was being treated in a hospital for pancreatitis. Her heart stopped pumping for nine minutes before doctors managed to revive her. In those nine minutes, she went to heaven, stood with God, and was forever changed.

Ever since Crystal’s incredible experience, her life has been profoundly different. She has become a brand new person in every conceivable way—heart, mind, soul, and spirit. By dying, Crystal learned how to live. Crystal realized that heaven is real and our true home, but we are still meant to have meaningful lives full of passion and purpose right here on earth. She believes we have to chase heaven while we are still alive and allow God to turn our lukewarm love into a firestorm of faith. Chasing Heaven is the story of how God called to Crystal, what He told her, and how she found a way to get closer to Him again here on earth.

Crystal assures us that we don’t have to die and go to heaven in order to ignite our faith. We also don’t have to abandon the lives we have in order to experience God and heaven. Chasing Heaven is about following the path to the Lord, and discovering your spiritual destiny.

The journey that followed Crystal’s time in heaven has been difficult, complicated, and surprising—full of twists and turns, setbacks and triumphs, drama and comedy, and everything that makes life so messy and beautiful.

About The Authors

© Crystal McVea

Crystal McVea is the author of Waking Up in Heaven. With a deep rooted passion for the needy and lost, Crystal speaks around the country bringing a message of hope and redemption. She is a schoolteacher and lives in Oklahoma with her husband Virgil, a US Army veteran, and their four children. To learn more, go to CrystalMcVea.com.

Photograph by Lorraine Stundis

Alex Tresniowski is a writer and bestselling author who lives and works in New York. He was a writer for both Time and People magazines, handling mostly human-interest stories. He is the author or coauthor of more than twenty books. For more about this story and the author, please visit AlexTres.com.

Product Details

Raves and Reviews

"Chasing Heaven is a true testament to how Crystal McVea took God's words ‘Tell them what you can remember’ and put them into action. Crystal's time in heaven gave her a clearer purpose for her life on earth. Chasing Heaven is a beautiful story of how our faith is ignited through God and how we all have the ability to change the lives of others here on earth."

– Laura Schroff, #1 New York Times bestselling author of An Invisible Thread and An Invisible Thread Christmas Story

“Chasing Heaven is a beautiful story of how our faith is ignited through God and how we all have the ability to change the lives of others here on earth."

– —Laura Schroff, #1 New York Times bestselling author of An Invisible Thread and An Invisible Thread Christmas Story

“This intriguing book shares story after story of where this event has sent Crystal and whom she has met along the way. It reminds us that ‘God finds us worthy’ and that if we will listen, He will put our faith in action.”

– CBA Retailers and Resources, May Issue

Resources and Downloads

High Resolution Images