No meeting next week as we welcome Art Wood who will be bringing us an update on Hillsborough County
=========================
Stories of a Christmas Miracle
#1 Miracle in the Desert
Ed and Julia were headed toward their home in Mesa, traveling a long desert highway in Arizona on Christmas Eve in 1931, when the car tire suddenly blew. On the side of the road, Ed set to work on the flat while his wife surveyed the desert scenery. Then, she heard something. A faint wailing. Unsure what could be making that sort of a sound in that desolate area, she investigated, spotting a hatbox sitting alone in the distance – as another muffled cry sounded.
Inside, the two discovered a baby – abandoned near the lonely stretch of road. How did the baby girl, wrapped in a blue blanket and nestled in the hatbox, come to be there? It was a miracle that she was found before the worst happened to the helpless infant. God protected and provided the young couple who took her to authorities, where she was later adopted into a loving home.1
Sheila Elliott was 55 when her mother finally told her she was adopted. Indeed, a shock at any age. Learning that she had been found 150 feet off the road in a hatbox by unlikely passersby – her life started with a miracle in the desert. It must have been a lot to digest.
Though she never got to meet her birth parents, an investigative journalist, John D’Anna, worked tirelessly with Sheila to uncover the truth. She never knew definitively why her parents chose to abandon her – though there were some clues, nothing provided a solid answer. 2 Whatever the reason – as the Bible says in Psalm 139 – “all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.” She was raised in a loving home and lived a rich life to the age of 86, passing in 2018.
Though Sheila lived much of her life unaware of her first Christmas, she was indeed a miracle baby!
