Hello Steve,

You wrote,
I have often wondered how we appear to others in the afterlife. Do we appear as we did when we were younger on the earth plane?

Generally, people who are older have bodies as they were in their twenties or thirties, but that is because they have a preference for them at those ages. In the next planes of life, people have what fits their attitude and desires. A person at a normal spiritual level of development on physical death will come into a realm that fits that normal level of development, including a younger body.

You asked,
Do we remain male or female as we were in the physical realm?

Yes. We continue exactly as we were at the time of physical death. The only thing we don’t continue is the old Earth body. All the rest is the same, except that the body on the next plane of life is younger and has no defects or ailments.

You asked,
Can we change gender or change our age/appearance from adult to child?

No. That would be fantasy, and the life we will be living is real life, based on who we are when we drop off the physical body. However, we know that the next realms of life are times of opportunity and growth. We will continue to grow spiritually and at the same time will be able to pursue interests we have that may not have been fulfilled on the Earth plane. I can imagine (without any support from actual examples) that someone who wanted to experience being another gender could reincarnate to do so. Then, of course, they would be a child again. However, all of these interests, such as gender and youth, fall away and become unimportant as we continue to mature spiritually away from the Earth plane. It’s our own attitude, however, that determines that.

You asked,
Can we modify our physical characteristics to appear as we wish?

Yes. But those are physical realm interests. They are limited to the Earth. We are able to eat or drink or otherwise act as we did on the Earth plane until we’re able to grow out of that. Eventually, interest in more vain things that were important on Earth fall away.

You asked,
There are numerous descriptions of children in the afterlife, but is that because they were children when they passed over? Do they grow up over time as they did on the earth plane?

Yes, they were children, and the grow up on the next planes of life. That takes time, although there is no time as we know it—no sun days or years. They go to school and learn. They become spiritually more mature. After a while, they reach their late teens or twenties. I’ve never heard of a child older than that, probably because for them, that is a desirable age and we have what our attitude of life and desires give us. Children are reunited with their parents when the parents cross over.

Love and peace, Craig