Billy continues to believe that his triumphs and successes in the face of hardship are owed entirely to God’s benevolence. Rawls, however, shows that while God may or may not have intervened, Billy’s faith has allowed him to feel stronger and more capable—a sensation which makes him feel more in control of his own reality. Rawls purposefully blurs the lines between divine intervention and human determination in order to show the important role that faith and prayer can play in an ordinary life.