My heart sank as soon as I read the text: “So everyone is hiding out. Jess is under the stairs now too.” At the time, I was in Florida - miles away from home, away from my wife Jess, away from my daughter Aria.
I was told that tornados weren’t common to the Austin area. So I was taken back when I first heard about the tornado warning. It came from seemingly nowhere, and so suddenly.
I was in Florida. My wife and daughter were at our home in Texas. Being long distances away from family is one of the sacrifices that traveling evangelists have to often make. The situation was completely outside of my control, and I didn’t like that one bit. There was nothing I could do to protect my wife and daughter except pray.
I was in Orlando ministering. Meanwhile, my wife and daughter were huddled under our stairs, bracing for a possible tornado. And there was nothing I could do about it.
The tornado warning lasted for just about 40 minutes. But it seemed much longer. I was hanging on every update. Then relief. Another text came through. It read, “Cleared up. Looks good.”
Life for my family then resumed to normalcy.
But just as quickly as I had been relieved, I became mindful again.
The tornado didn’t touch down upon our home. According to the reports, it had touched down somewhere in Round Rock. That’s when I realized: “Our new studio is being built in Round Rock!”
I sent a text to our ministry group chat, asking someone to check on our studio to assess potential damage. Several of our team members were already on their way.
Our operations manager messaged me saying, “The building took on some damage from the tornado. We don’t know the extent of it yet. I will give you updates when we get them.”
At this point, I know that my story sounds discouraging, but there’s a powerful testimony here.
Now, I hesitated sharing this testimony, because I was concerned that it may have come across as insensitive to those who suffered great loss from the tornado. But I think it’s important to share testimonies, even testimonies set in surrounding tragedy.
Our building was, in fact, heavily affected by the tornado. But, you see, we are still in phase 1 of a 3 phase project, which means that we haven’t yet taken over the entire building. There are still a few months left for the tenant who leases the other side. And then we’ll lease 100% of the property.
After a survey of the damage, it was discovered that part of the roof was removed from the building. But only from the other half.
There were fences taken out. But only on the other half.
Equipment was damaged. But only on the other half.
But our side of the same building was left intact.
Same building. Same tornado. Different story.
Even the house behind our studio was significantly damaged.
We only had a small hole in our roof which was patched in a matter of hours.
And, by the way, the water from the rain (that came through the hole in the roof) didn’t damage any of our camera equipment. It was all packed away, because we just so happened to have been in Florida.
Only days later, construction resumed on our studio.
A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand; but it shall not come nigh thee. (Psalm 91:7, KJV)
That’s God’s favor. That’s God’s protection. When you put God’s Kingdom first, He takes care of the rest.
Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need. (Matthew 6:33, NLT)
My prayer is that you too would walk in this kind of favor.
I want to thank everyone who has been praying for this project. It’s God’s project.
I also want to thank everyone who has given toward this project, who plans to give toward this project, and who plans to give again toward this project. Your support has been overwhelming. God will bring this to completion.
To give toward the completion of our new studio, to see our progress, and to help us meet our goal date, click here: https://www.davidhernandezministries.com/expand