33

Nia sat in the waiting room at the local hospital. Her eyes were closed in prayer—thanking God for watching over Tanya.

“Excuse me.”

Nia opened her eyes.

“Are you with Tanya Reynolds?” The nurse smiled. “She’s awake and wants to see you.”

“Is she OK?”

“Yes and no. She has an acute case of alcohol poisoning, but we pumped her stomach, and she should be fine. I’d like you to encourage her to get some help for her drinking.”

“I’ll try again.” Nia walked into the hospital room.

Tanya looked pale. She opened her eyes. Her voice was weak—tired. “Nia. You’re here. It wasn’t a dream.”

“It wasn’t a dream. Where else would I be?”

“I don’t know. How did you find me? The doctor told me I was in the woods unconscious.”

“You called me.”

“I did? I don’t remember that.”

“That’s probably because you had another blackout.”

Tanya held up her hand. “I don’t need a lecture.”

Nia bit her tongue. “I think—”

“I get it, Nia. I understand now. That’s why you don’t have to lecture me.”

Relief poured through Nia. “Oh, that’s good.”

“Everything’s fuzzy but you did something, didn’t you? Something to me.” Tanya reached out and took Nia’s hand. “What did you do?”

“I don’t know what you mean.”

“The doctor said my heart had stopped. But then you did something. I know you did. I can still feel your hand on my chest and something so warm and peaceful came over me. I never felt that way before. You did that, didn’t you?”

“Not me. God did that, Tanya. God chose to give you a miracle, and I hope you won’t waste it.”

“Why would God save me?”

“Because He loves you.”

“Nobody loves me and especially not God. Not after all the bad things I’ve done.”

“He does love you, Tanya. No one can do enough bad things to make God not love them.”

“I have.”

Nia squeezed her hand. “If He didn’t love you, then why did He save you?”

Tanya wiped at tears. “You really think God loves me?”

“Of course He does and…I love you too. I know we haven’t gotten along, but I do love you. And I want you to get some help. Not to waste this second chance.”

Tanya met her gaze. “I won’t waste it. I promise.”

Nia smiled. “That’s good to hear.”

“But you need to explain what happened. I don’t understand and I want to understand. I think it’s really important for me to understand. That warm, peacefulness…I’ve never felt that in my life. I…I want to feel it. All the time. ”

“That was God. God loves you. He didn’t want you to die without knowing Him.”

“You saved me.”

“Only God saves, Tanya. Right now, you need to get some rest. And you might be angry, but I called your parents. They’ll be here in a few hours.”

Tanya smiled. “I’m not mad. I really want to see them. But I want to talk about God.”

“We will. I promise. When you’re feeling better. OK?”

“OK.”

Nia walked out of the room.

Bart was leaning against a wall.

“I didn’t know you were here.”

“Actually, I left, but then I came back.” He grinned. “Tanya’s not the only one who’s confused. I want to understand as well. I saw something very special happen tonight.”

“We both saw a miracle. God brought her back to life. She didn’t have a pulse, and she was cold. If she wasn’t dead, she almost was.”

Bart nodded. “I know, but that’s not what I’m talking about. I’m talking about the things you said.”

“I want to tell you all about it. Really, I do. But I’m exhausted. Can we talk about it tomorrow?”

“No problem. I’ll take you back to the dorm so you can get some sleep.” He put his arm around her to help her out to his car.