Imagine opening a thrift store Bible and finding an essay you wrote 65 years earlier and 2,000 miles away. That is what happened to Marion Shurtleff. She wrote the essay about as a requirement for a merit badge and found the folded yellow pages in a Bible she purchased for use in a study group. While the essay was hers, the Bible was not. It was published in 1986, years after she wrote the essay. While Shurtleff believes God wanted her to have the old essay back, she is looking for answers as to how it fell back into her hands. She found the woman who donated the Bible to the store, but neither the donor nor her husband remember anything inside the book at the time of the donation.

Shurtleff also eliminated the possibility of the essay finding its way into the Bible from her own possessions. Having moved across the country several times, she tossed away most items of sentimental value.

Shurtleff believes her former scout leader is dead, but the papers have an additional clue in locating the person who held onto them for all those years. Bonnie Gene Edwards signed the papers and added a comment of “Okay” at the end. While Shurtleff does not remember Edwards, she is attempting to locate her.

For now, Shurtleff, a 75-year-old cancer survivor, believes that God wants to remind her of earlier times in her life or send a reminder that strange things happen and people should believe. We believe that God uses many different events to speak to those needing to hear His message. He spoke to Balaam through a donkey and to Jonah through a worm. He can speak to you if you are listening.Reading about God’s work in the lives of other people is one way to strengthen your own faith. Read about more miraculous reunions here.

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