He had gone on to talk about the famous section in Mark where Jesus is asleep in the boat with his disciples. A storm comes along and the disciples panic, but Jesus simply calms the waters. How true it is that our faith faces the greatest test when we’re in the middle of difficult times, Carolyn thought. In less than an hour, Joanna had restored so much of her faith.

She was on her way to call Mitch when the phone rang. Now she was starting to have visions of her own, because she knew with absolute certainty that it was her husband calling, and of course she was right.

“Hi, Mitch,” she said, as she picked up the receiver. “I have something really important to tell you.”

“Hi, honey. That’s exactly what I was going to say to you!”

“Okay, you can go first, but I have a feeling you’re going to tell me you’re coming home tomorrow, right?” Carolyn couldn’t wait to hear his reaction.

“How did you know? Are you a mind reader now or something?”

And then they both laughed. Laughter was something they hadn’t shared very often in recent months. Mitch thought Carolyn sounded like her old self—maybe even better than her old self.

“No, I’m not a mind reader, but someone just left who is just about the most amazing person I’ve ever met. Her name is Joanna and—”

“Wait a minute, Carolyn. Stop there. Does she have really white hair? Almost glowing?”

“Well, in fact she does. But how would you know that?”

Then Mitch tried to describe the experience that had taken place after his meeting with Logan Vonda. He knew his words were inadequate, but he took a leap of faith and tried. Carolyn could tell that Mitch had been through something powerful and listened intently. He sounded like a different person, but she sensed she was hearing the real Mitch for the first time in her life. She closed her eyes and could clearly see him sitting on the terrace outside his hotel room, gesturing and talking with his hands in the way he always did when he was excited. She sat cross-legged in his chair, and listened as he rambled on until he had said everything he needed to say, concluding with, “I know that probably sounds completely insane to you, but I just have this feeling that I’m different now.”

“Mitch, I was just thinking that you sound like a different person. That’s sort of how I feel after meeting with Joanna.”

“So tell me about this Joanna.”

“Oh, where can I begin, Mitch? I was sitting in your chair—where I’m sitting now, by the way—and I looked up because someone was knocking on the glass doors, and there she was!”

“You mean she just appeared there? You didn’t meet her someplace? You let her in? Why?”