While visiting the Holy Land, Amanda answers the prayers of a stranger . . . and begins an amazing Christmas journey. Amanda Vance is ambivalent about her husband’s idea for a big family holiday up north. Last year she planned a special Christmas in their own home, carefully preparing a nursery and the keepsake ornaments for their newborn. Now that room stands as empty as her heart. Then a neighbor’s mishap turns into a last-minute chance for Amanda to take a much-needed vacation to tour the Holy Land. An extraordinary turn of events allows Amanda to help answer a young mother’s plea for healing. Then, filled with a sense of awe, Amanda visits the place of Jesus’ birth. There she discovers anew the miracle of the Christ child―God incarnate as a tiny, vulnerable baby. Her return to Florida marks a momentous shift in her soul and in her marriage as she begins to realize that her journey didn’t end in the Holy Land. And that God doesn’t just answer prayers of strangers . . . but also those of her own heart. “A great story filled with emotion, depth, and spiritual beauty.” ―Debbie Macomber, #1 New York Times Best-selling Author Prayers of a Stranger A Christmas Journey By Davis Bunn Thomas Nelson Copyright © 2012 Davis Bunn All right reserved. ISBN: 978-0-8499-4488-8 Chapter One Amanda entered the hospital through the crash doors. They were named such partly because they opened into the reception area serving the accident and emergency wards and intensive care. But it was mostly because of the sound the ambulances made when they swooped in and pulled out the gurneys and came rushing inside. Florida summer deluges could dump as much as a foot of rain in a few hours, storms so intense they exploded off the pavement and splattered a fine mist out fifty feet. The winds that sometimes came with these storms, particularly during hurricane season, made standard ER entrances impossible here. So the architects had wisely built a recessed entrance, with the hospital's other seven floors extending over the entire circular ER drive. No matter how violent the tempest, people could disembark in safety and remain dry. The shelter came at a cost, though; namely, sunlight. The gloom was legendary. When she was appointed personal assistant to the hospital's director, Amanda's first act had been to rework the cave's lighting and institute free valet parking. She called them volunteers, but the parking attendants were all paid minimum wage. The free parking signs stated in bold letters that tipping was forbidden. A large number of patients and visitors were elderly. This was, after all, Florida. They should not need to walk from the parking garage. Amanda's volunteers, many of them as old as the visitors, made for a cheerful counterpart to the cave's oppressive nature. They greeted newcomers with a smile and the promise that the care they found inside would be the best available anywhere. And because of their genial welcome, most people believed them. Or at least they entered a little less frightened than before. The brightest light in the shadowy enclave came from the new miniature Christmas tree Amanda had put up the day before. Like so much else about Christmas in Florida, the effect was a bit jarring, but Amanda thought it was a nice touch nonetheless. Such actions came naturally to her. Others called it her gift, doing the things that made everyone feel better, staff and patients alike. She heard that time after time. The only trouble was, Amanda had no real interest in her present job. This had been true from the very first day. She had taken it as a means to escape. Nothing more. Frank, her favorite of the parking attendants and her next-door neighbor, was on duty when she arrived. When his only sister, who'd never married, became critically ill, Frank and his wife, Emily, had moved down to see her through her final days. They had never left. Frank's sister had been in and out of the hospital for nine very hard months. Parking cars and greeting newcomers was Frank's way of saying thanks. His smile was constant, his heart as big as the Florida sky. "If I didn't know better, I'd say there was going to be a coup today," he said. "Not a chance," Amanda assured him. "I would have seen the memo." "And I'm telling you, something more than the standard muttering is happening." Amanda stepped away from the doors and waited while Frank helped an older woman unfold her walker and passed the car keys to another attendant. He announced with a grin, "Dr. Henri is smiling." "Is this a joke?" "Nope. Forehead to shirt collar. And about two hundred teeth." "If I didn't know you, I'd say you had finally gone over the edge." Dr. Henri was head of the emergency room staff. He was a wrinkled prune from the Dominican republic and the finest ER doctor Amanda had ever met. He hated the American way of saying his first name, but if the French Henri was beyond the reach of many staffers, he loathed li