14 
Reflections on Their Guest

Sister Hope sat at her desk with several papers in front of her. The afternoon was unusually warm for fall, and her window was open.

The snow everywhere but on the mountains was gone. It felt as though summer had returned for a brief visit. From outside she now heard a voice singing a bright melody.

She rose and went to the window.

It was thus that Sister Gretchen found her a short time later as she entered Hope’s small office. Hope turned, her eyes full of tears.

“What is it, Hope?” Gretchen asked with concern.

Sister Hope smiled. “I was just so overcome with gratitude,” she replied. “How the Lord manages to use this chalet in lives is so wonderful. Even after all these years I find myself amazed by it, and thankful anew.”

“To what do you owe this day’s outbreak of gratitude?”

Hope motioned her closer, pointing outside. Gretchen smiled and nodded. She had noticed the change in their guest too.

“I heard our dear Amanda singing as she was gathering a few flowers for the table,” said Sister Hope.

“The transformation is indeed remarkable,” returned Sister Gretchen. “When I saw her in the station at Milan, never had I seen such despondency on a girl’s face.”

“Obviously it is nothing we have done,” rejoined Sister Hope. “It is never anything we do. Yet once again we are privileged to behold one of God’s flowers beginning to unfold. All it takes is a little warm human sunshine, and it is astonishing how the human plant blossoms of itself.”

“The Lord is good to allow us to watch him fill people with hope.”

“My thankfulness to him never ceases.”

“Such was your vision in the beginning, Hope. I can only imagine how gratifying it must be for you.”

“I could not carry out this work without all of you, and you especially, Gretchen. I am so glad you brought Amanda to us. Although I do not think she is meant to remain long.”

“Nor do I,” rejoined Sister Gretchen. “I sense that the Lord has another destiny awaiting her.”

“My thought exactly. Somehow she will become a significant woman in his plan. I do not see what it is, but the Lord has a wonderful future of service marked out for her.”

“Has she spoken more to you about herself? Do you know anything about her?”

Sister Hope shook her head. “Nothing,” she said. “Her background is not important for now. If the Lord desires for us to know more, Amanda will tell us in her own way and at the proper time.”

“Though she appeared as forlorn as a waif, almost from the moment I saw her,” said Sister Gretchen, “I had the impression that she was a young lady of breeding and culture. The way she expresses things, her mannerisms, how she carries herself, they all speak of parental care and training.”

“I have noticed it too.”

“It would not surprise me to discover that she is a young lady from an important family.”

“The moment I heard her name I immediately thought of the seventeenth-century Scottish covenanter Samuel Rutherford.”

“Do you suppose there is some relation?”

“I have no way to tell. Whoever she is, it is clear the Lord brought her to the chalet for a higher purpose than we are able to see at present.”

Meanwhile outside, having no idea she was the object of such a discussion, Amanda was walking with Sister Galiana in the direction of the barn. They were chatting freely as they went.