-Mandy's Apartment; December 22-
"What was the point of saving her, if she's just going to die anyway?" Mandy asked angrily.
Andrew shook his head. "You gave her a chance for something else. Something neither of you will realize yet."
"What? The chance to die in a hospital bed?" she said scornfully.
Andrew put his hand on her shoulder.
"No one knows the reasons you were meant to pull that girl out of the fire. Only God knows, Mandy. He will reveal His purposes in due time."
"Don't even talk to me about God, Andrew." Mandy said, "If He wanted Faith to live, why did He give her that disease?"
"Mandy, God didn't give Faith cystic fibrosis. If He allowed her to be born with it, then He has a reason. It is not always clear why He does things, but everything is done according to plan. Even the most evil circumstances can be used to achieve great things."
"Whatever." Mandy said. "So what is His almighty plan for her if she has no family left?"
Andrew did not answer. He reached over to a table and picked up the charred star and handed it to her.
"Why did you pick this up?" he asked
"I-I don't know. I never really though about it. I just sort of did it. I mean, it was on their Christmas tree. I couldn't leave it there. It was part of something special that would never exist again."
"Just like you couldn't leave her there." Andrew said calmly, "Even if you'd have known Faith would only live for another five or six days, you still would have saved her. Why?"
"Because. I guess I couldn't have just left her, could I?"
"But you saved her. You don't know why, but you saved the burnt star from the remains of a Christmas tree."
"Is this going somewhere?" Mandy asked
Andrew looked at the star in her hand. "That is something only you can decide."
He stood up, turned and left, mumbling goodbye as he pulled on his coat and left.