34

Nia sat in the chapel with God. What an amazing gift that was—to know that God was always with her.

She stared up at the cross. “I’m so grateful that You chose to heal Tanya. I don’t have enough words to thank You. Rachel said there’s more than one kind of healing. And I’m pretty sure Tanya’s on the road to spiritual healing as well as physical. I’m not complaining, God. Really, I’m not, but I want to understand why that moment was different than all the other moments I’d prayed to heal someone. Why You chose that moment for me to become a healer?” The welcome sign at Puzzle House popped into her mind.

And now these three remain: faith, hope and love.

But the greatest of these is love.

1 Corinthians 13: 13

Love. Of course, Rachel had said she’d asked for a supernatural love for all people, and that was what allowed God to use her to heal people. “I thought I already had that love.”

As soon as she said that, her mind was filled with snippets of memories.

To Rachel. “I want to be a healer.”

To Cooper. “I think God took away my gift.”

To Auntie. “I’m tired of waiting.”

To Keisha. “I am holy and so are you.”

So many other incidents, and they all had one thing in common. I-I-I-I. And now she understood. She’d been so focused on herself. All those times when she’d gone to hospitals and prayed, it had been about her and her gift. She’d wanted Myra to be healed, to manifest her gift, rather than for her sake.

But in those moments when Tanya had stopped breathing—it had only been about Tanya and God’s ability to save her. Nia had stepped out of the picture and truly let God use her as the conduit of His power.

She tapped her fingers together, still remembering the tingle—the warmth—the power of God. It had been so wonderful. “I am sorry I got in the way.” Her eyes filled with tears. “How amazing You are.”

The chapel door opened.

Nia was pretty sure who was walking up behind her. A moment later, a hand touched her shoulder. “I got your message, but I couldn’t wait until tonight. I thought you might be here when you didn’t answer the phone in your dorm.”

“Just as Jesus said, where else would I be but at my Father’s house.” She scooted over.

Bart sat down. “How’s Tanya?”

“Not too bad considering what happened.”

“What did happen?”

“Apparently, she was out with friends. Drinking, of course. They’d gotten into an argument over something. And Tanya insisted they let her get out of the car. So they did.”

“Are they in trouble?”

“I don’t think so. Tanya’s parents are taking her home when she’s released. They talked with Dr. Danforth and she’s agreed to let Tanya finish her coursework while she’s at rehab. Again.”

“That’s great. Do you think she’ll make it this time?”

“I do think so. Now that she understands how much God loves her. With God…”

“…All things are possible.” Bart finished the statement. “So can we talk about you now?”

She nodded. “We can, but first I want to tell you how sorry I am that I messed everything up between us. I’ve been hiding myself from everyone for so long I didn’t even realize I was doing that to you until you called me out on it.”

“I told you that was the reason we were breaking up, but it wasn’t true.” He slipped his hand in hers.

“It wasn’t?”

He took a deep breath. “I lied to you. Maybe not in words, but by omission. When my mom died, I was so angry. At everyone, but especially God. How could He do that to me? I thought I was special to Him, but…”

Nia knew exactly what he meant. She’d felt the same way. Every time she’d tried to heal someone and had failed. “Oh, Bart. God does love you.”

“I was so angry. So hurt. I thought God had abandoned me. I thought I lost my faith. And there was no way I could stay in a relationship with you without it. You may not have been real forthcoming with me, but the one thing I knew was that God was very important to you. And that you wouldn’t want to be involved with someone who didn’t have that same sort of faith.”

“You knew that?”

He nodded. “I’ve known that since the first time I met you. Right here. You have a glow about you. A godly glow.”

She laughed. “I don’t know about that.”

“I do.” He reached out and touched her cheek. “That’s why I broke up with you. I didn’t have that kind of faith anymore, and I didn’t want to bring you down to that level. I didn’t want to interfere with your relationship with God.”

Nia’s eyes filled with tears. Dear sweet Bart. Even in his pain, he didn’t want to hurt her.

“Can you tell me what happened last night?”

“I’m not sure where to start. At the beginning or at the end of the story.”

“I love TV shows and movies that show the ending and then go back and tell the story of how the hero got to that point.”

“Well, I’m not a hero.”

Bart’s blue eyes twinkled. “I’m pretty sure you are.”

“Not in the least. God’s the hero of my story.”

“And mine.” He squeezed her hand.

“OK, so have you ever thought about how life is like a puzzle?”

“I haven’t thought about it but I guess that’s true.”

“Well my puzzle’s not finished, of course, because after all I’m only eighteen. I believe I have a lot of pieces left to live, but one of the most important pieces of my puzzle is that God gave me a gift. The gift to heal people.” She held her breath waiting for him to make fun of her.

Bart’s mouth formed an O. He grinned. “Now I have to hear the rest of the story.”

“I was hoping that’s what you’d say.” She squeezed his hand. “It all started when I was fourteen and I almost died...”