God speaks to a little girl
My sister, Karen Delaporte, tells a faith story that involves her daughter – our niece – and a trip through a haunted house. Brenda and I also went through the house with them, making for a great memory. But I will let Karen tell the story. Karen posted this account online in a forum under the pseudonym, “Katie Delap.” She has granted permission for it to appear in this book, so here it is, in Karen's own words: One morning the weekend before Halloween my 13-year-old daughter came up to me and said "Mom, today I'm going to meet the man I will marry!" "How could you possibly know that?" I asked this daughter, who had never been boy-crazy like her girlfriends nor ever had a boyfriend or date. She answered as if a matter of fact, "Because I've been asking and asking God who I would end up marrying, and this morning when I was praying, he told me I would meet my future husband today!"
Needless to say, fear struck my heart. My impressionable daughter believing this crazy idea would make for an interesting – if not scary – day. Today, I would definitely keep her close to me and keep a strict eye on her!
That night I knew we had plans to take my daughter and her friends to a haunted house. I asked her if she thought she was going to marry one of her friends. She said "No, I'm sure it will be someone totally new that I've never met before." Yikes – fear again.
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Nothing eventful happened all day. But that evening the line waiting to go into the haunted house went down the street and around the block. The kids didn't seem to mind the long wait and talked to others nearby. I kept a very close eye on my extremely attractive daughter. Come on, I AM her mom, but others think her attractive too. I suspiciously eyed every boy who talked to her!
Finally, our group of teens got to enter. I was behind the group & directly behind my daughter. The long walk was dark, scary, and fun, and took us through pitch-black, winding corridors. Suddenly a man dressed as the Grim Reaper jumped out right in front of my daughter and scared her so badly she screamed and fell backwards - on top of me and those behind me - toppling all of us over! The now kind and sorry Grim Reaper helped us all up, and, noting her extreme reaction of fear, he came out of character long enough to offer to sneak us out a side exit. She said 'no, its okay' and we moved on - embarrassed.
That night my daughter was SO disappointed when she said "I was so sure God told me I would meet him TODAY." Fast forward 10 years. My daughter was the maid of honor for her best friend's wedding and gave a beautiful toast and prayer at the wedding. One of the men attending the groom was from out-of-state and took an interest in my daughter, emailing and calling her after the wedding.
Eventually they engaged and married.
After they were married, we were sitting around talking and the subject of haunted houses came up. My sonin-law said he had once helped construct one in an old grocery store building when he spent a year in our town.
"Really?" "Yes," he said, and I got to be the Grim Reaper for it and carry a fake scythe!" Comparing notes, they figured out that the exact year he had spent in our city was the year my daughter was thirteen! When asked if he remembered an incident at the haunted house with a frightened girl, he wasn't sure – as all young girls scream.
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But when he heard she toppled me and others over and he came out of character to offer assistance out a side exit, then he said, "That was you?!? But that was just a little girl I offered help! Usually I pride myself in never coming out of character, but she was so scared and I worried people might have fallen and gotten hurt!" So funny! Yes, a 13-year-old 5-foot girl to a 6 foot 2 inch 19-year-old young man IS 'just a little girl,' as it should be! So my daughter did, indeed, meet her future husband that day. Amazing! Out of the mouth of Babes...! They have been married now for almost 13 years and have 5 children.
So God came through for Sarah, and then allowed her to be so startled that he created a story that could eventually become a small gift of faith! Brenda and I, of course, have close relationships with the individuals in the story. The haunted house was a church based event, and Sarah’s future husband had traveled more than 300 miles from Minneapolis to help out. We were also handed Gospel tracts as we left.
Sarah was somewhat traumatized when she fell, and as we left I recall her saying that they shouldn't be allowed to make haunted houses so realistic! •
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