The Girl Who Saw Heaven A Fateful Tornado and a Journey of Faith

A remarkable true story of one child’s journey into the afterlife after surviving a super tornado.

When Ari Hallmark was in kindergarten, her family was caught in a powerful tornado in their hometown of Arab, Alabama. On April 27, 2011, Ari and her parents, Shane and Jennifer Hallmark, were putting the finishing touches on their new home, which Shane had built from scratch. Shane’s last-second decision to drive to his parent’s house put the Hallmarks directly in the path of a devastating EF4 tornado.

Moments after the Hallmarks arrived at the home, the mile-wide tornado ripped the house off its foundation and flung it in the air. When Ari regained consciousness, she began sharing the extraordinary story of what happened to her during the tornado: she met her guardian angel and followed her family to heaven. The full story of what Ari went through—the six months of reoccurring dreams that foretold the tragedy, and the unexpected challenges she faced from the legal system after the storm—delivers a powerful message to the world: you will see your late loved ones again.

Ari Hallmark is now a high school senior determined to share her hopeful message with the world. The Girl Who Saw Heaven is a uniquely poignant addition to near-death experience and heavenly encounter classics. Ari’s story will leave you with a different perspective of death and more hopeful of what lies beyond.

Dr. Lisa Reburn has a PhD in education and spent twenty-three years in K-12 education and eleven years in higher education. Lisa met Ari for the first time at the only five-casket visitation she’d ever attended. She was there to help Ari understand and participate in the sad event. This first meeting led to an unbreakable bond between the two of them, when two months later, Ari asked Lisa to help her tell her story. Lisa had no idea what saying yes to that simple request would entail. Lisa lives in Alabama with her husband, Tom.

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.