David Years

by Duncan, Lillian;

  She nodded but looked a bit sad. “OK, then. If you need to talk call me. We’re still friends, and I’m a good listener. Anytime, Bart. Anytime.”

  “I’ll remember that. And that same offer holds true for you. If you need me, call me.”

  “Thanks.” She walked past him.

  He turned to watch her. Call out to her. Tell her the truth. Those words screamed inside his head. But there was no way she’d understand how God had abandoned him. She’d be so disappointed in him.

  And why not? He was disappointed in himself.

  32

  A few days later Nia’s phone woke her up in the middle of the night at exactly 3:10 AM. Who would call her at that time of the night? Then she came to her senses. Something had to be wrong. She grabbed the phone.

  Tanya’s name and number flashed. Probably just called her by mistake in a state of drunkenness. It rang again. Shaking her head, she pressed the icon. “What?”

  “Need help.” Tanya’s voice was a whisper.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “Don’t…know…where I am. Need help.”

  “Tanya. Hang up and call 9-1-1. I can’t help you because I don’t know where you are. And even if I did, I wouldn’t have a way to get there. Call 9-1-1.”

  “Need yo...” Her voice trailed off.

  “Tanya, Tanya, answer me.” Nia flipped the switch on her light. “God help me.” She took a deep breath. Then she dialed Bart. Even though they weren’t dating, he was still Bart. He would help her. “Bart, this is Nia. Wake up. Wake up. I need you.”

  “What’s wrong? Are you hurt?” A bit more coherent.

  “It’s not me. I’m fine.”

  “What’s going on?”

  “Tanya called. She told me she doesn’t know where she is and she needs help and then the line went dead. I yelled and yelled for her but she didn’t answer. I think she passed out or something.”

  “It was probably just another one of her drunk pranks.”

  “Maybe, but that doesn’t mean she isn’t in trouble.” Nia was persistent.

  “I suppose.”

  “I should call 9-1-1.”

  “Might be the best thing for her. It might force her to get her act together.” Bart yawned.

  “Or it might not. It could make things worse for her. A lot worse.”

  “I thought the two of you synched your phones so you could find each other’s if you lost them.”

  “We did. That’s a great idea.” They’d done that at the beginning of the school year when they’d been on better terms.

  “You do that and I’ll pick you in a few minutes. We’ll go find her.”

  “Thanks, Bart. I knew I could count on you.” She threw on her clothes and ran down the steps. Bart drove up. She jumped in the car. “The app on the phone shows she’s about a mile down the road.”

  “Left or right?”

  “Right.”

  As they neared the spot, he slowed to a crawl. “I don’t see her car anywhere.”

  “Neither do I. But the app’s still showing her phone right in this area.”

  The car came to a complete stop.

  “According to this her phone is somewhere to the left of us. In the woods.”

  “Hopefully, she’s still with the phone. Let’s go find her.” Bart climbed out. “Tanya!” Bart yelled. “Tanya. Tanya!”

  “Maybe we should go separate ways.” Nia slammed the car door.

  “OK. You take the flashlight.”

  “But then you can’t see.”

  “I’ll use the app on my phone.”

  “OK.” Sweeping the flashlight in an arc, she searched one way and then the other. Ten minutes later she saw a dark form huddled on the ground. She hurried over.

  Tanya lay crumpled on the grass.

  Nia knelt down and put her hand on Tanya’s throat. It was cool to the touch. She knelt close to her mouth. Not breathing as far as she could tell. Nia pressed the phone. “I found her. Better call an ambulance.”

  “Will do. Be there in a minute.”

  Nia put her hand on Tanya’s chest hoping Tanya breathed. No movement. She looked up past the trees to the stars. “I know you’re here, God. With me. With Tanya. I know she’s done some stupid things, but I’m asking You to save her. She doesn’t know You. I want her to know You. I’m begging You to send Your power through me to help her. You are the God who saves…not only spiritually but physically. Please save her.”

  A sense of calm flowed through Nia’s body. Her hand tingled and then turned warm.

  Nia kept praying—begging for God’s divine intervention.

  ***

  As Bart got closer, he heard and saw Nia. She was kneeling beside Tanya, one hand on Tanya’s chest but the other held up high. To God? Was she praying?

  Her voice was loud and clear. “She doesn’t know You yet, God. Please don’t take her. It can’t be her time. I want her to know You. I pray that You will send down your healing power, Your precious healing strength. Use me to help Tanya. If it’s Your will.”

  The moon shone down through the trees, bathing them in an almost heavenly light. It was as if God was shining His power down on Nia and Tanya. He wanted to go to them, but he was frozen to that spot by something stronger than himself.

  Nia kept praying. Tears streaked her cheeks.

  And Bart was suddenly filled with God’s presence. He wasn’t alone any longer. God was there with him. With Nia. With Tanya. His gaze moved up to the twinkling heavens. “Oh, God. You never left me. I see that now. I’m sorry I was so angry. Please forgive me.”

  The stars twinkled God’s answer.

  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 alo
ng, 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.

  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...”

  35

  Her turn. Finally.

  Public speaking wasn’t her thing but it had to be done. Dr. Danforth was adamant about not giving anyone a pass on this part of their project. Even Tanya had to come back to give her speech. Her time was later in the afternoon, but they’d already talked.

  Tanya had
told Nia how she’d come to know Jesus in a personal way and apologized for all the times she’d called Nia a Jesus freak.

  Nia stood and walked to the stage. Her palms were sweaty, and she thought she might pass out. She told herself that she was more than prepared. She placed her pile of index cards on the podium. She took a deep breath and read the first card. “When I told Dr. Danforth I wanted to do my project on David, she asked me, which David?”

  This is your moment.

  Nia froze.

  This is your moment.

  Panic seeped in. She stared out into the audience. All eyes were on her—waiting expectantly. Nia looked up at the ceiling trying to collect herself. I can’t do it now. I have this project. It’s fifty percent of my grade. It’s what they’re expecting from me. If I don’t do it I’ll fail my class.

  The audience was growing restless.

  Nia scanned the crowd.

  Tanya gave her a thumbs-up.

  Bart sat beside Tanya and was nodding encouragingly at her.

  This is your moment.

  This can’t be my moment, God. I have something else I have to do right now.

  This is your moment. Choose it or lose it.

  She picked up her index cards. “Sorry. I…I…I did my project on David.” She took a deep breath. “I’m sure most of you have heard that David was a man after God’s own heart. You may or may not know why. Acts 11: 22 says, “After removing Saul, he made David their king. He testified concerning him: ‘I have found David son of Jesse a man after My own heart; he will do everything I want him to do.” In other words, David was obedient to God.”

  Nia went around the podium with the index cars and walked closer to the audience. “Like David, I have to do what God tells me to do. Dr. Danforth, I really did finish my project, and I’m more than prepared, but…” She tossed her index cards above her. They fell and scattered all over.

  People laughed. Many of them were sitting up eager to hear what she had to say.

  “That day in your office, you asked me why I picked David. It’s time to tell you.” She chanced a glance at Dr. Danforth. The woman’s hands were folded, and she was waiting patiently. But she had a huge smile on her face.

  Nia walked back to the podium. “My name is Nia Johnson. When I was thirteen, I was diagnosed with cancer. I spent the next six months in treatment, and then the doctors told me I was cured or in remission.”