The 700 Club with Pat Robertson


God in the Whirlwind

By Gorman Woodfin
The 700 Club"I am so afraid of tornadoes to begin with. I grew up being afraid of them. My dad was afraid of them. Its always been a huge fear of mine," says Kim Bernhardt.


"At first I accelerated really hard when it first hit us, thinking, Im going to drive out of this. I can get out of this. And I couldnt. I was just stuck."

Kim desperately tried to get to her church, but the twister was already upon her and it would not let her turn into the church parking lot.

"We should have been killed upon impact," she says. "It just picked us up and carried us. Then we started being raised up more, being swept more, turning. Then I see its going up more and more to where were up toward the top of the houses, where Im looking down to the side and seeing houses just literally being sucked apart. I saw the shingles flying off. I saw the roofs just totally being taken off."

Kim had no idea how dangerously high in the air they were.

Candace Shelton was an eyewitness that fateful afternoon. She says that Kims van was about 50 feet in the airover power lines. She saw a white van "flying" in the air from her second-floor window.

"Things were blowing around everywhere, and then theres a telephone pole over here, and I saw a white van that was up in the air above the telephone pole. It was just as if you take like a little toy car and you set it in your hand and you hold it up in the air. It was just like someone had it held in the palm of their hand," says Candice.

In the midst of her unbelievable ordeal, Kims thoughts were focused solely on the safety of her son.

Kim and Evan Bernhardt"The darkest moment was when I looked back at Evan and had that thought of what if I live and Evan is killed?" Kim recalls. "I imagined his head being mutilated by debris. I remember loosening my seatbelt, and the next thing I knew, I was embracing him, telling him, 'God is with us.'"

Then Kim began praying a familiar prayer while she was shielding her son on the floor of their van.

"When I went above that house and was praying the Lords Prayer, right when I was at the part 'Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven,' this other overwhelming thought came to my mind: 'Oh, no! I dont think I put the van in park!' I reached up and put the van in park," Kim explains. "I got right back down over Evan. The van is still going sideways and moving around, and Im like, Why did I do that? I couldnt understand why I thought putting the van in park was going to help in a tornado."

Suddenly, their incredible flight in the twister ended. The van landed gently on the ground. Kim was stunned.

"Its like we were in a cradle," she says. "We were let down. I felt one gentle motion, and then I felt another very gentle motion. And we were gentlyI mean, gentlyset down."

While praying the Lords Prayer, Kim felt God spoke to her heart to put the van in park. She now says that simple act possibly saved their lives.

twister damage"I think we would have gone into a house. Where we landed was facing toward a house, and not that far," she says. "We landed in the front yard, facing a house , but we were in park. I looked out. I see all these homes torn apart. I see that were in a front yard headed toward a house, and were sitting there. I see all the trees down everywhere. It was very frightening."

Kim believes that Gods presence was very real in the midst of that terrifying twister.

"That prayer has a different meaning to me now, ' on earth as it is in heaven. Thy will be done.' I was right there between earth, being torn apart, and being close to heaven, because I really believe God was there with us. I really did not believe, at that point, I would live; yet there was a peace. I knew I was in the hand of God."

A level three tornadoThis is considered a severe tornado. There are five levels of severitycan carry winds in excess of 200 miles per hour. Kim is still amazed that she and Evan left their van without a scratch.

"To know that we were 50 feet in the air and that we werent just dropped and killed and crashed. We should have crashed into a house," she says. "I got onto the Internet. I found a car back in the '40s that had landed in a mans living room and was killed. We were just feet from landing in a living room."

Kim BernhardtKim says she learned some strong spiritual lessons in the midst of this powerful storm.

"He loves us so much. I never felt it more than I felt it in that tornado, and in that verse where I said, 'God is in the whirlwind,'" says Kim."He was in the whirlwind. He was with us. I feel like He proved His love to me. I know He did it a long time ago on the Cross, but He showed me that day how much He loved me."

Where can you find stories of God's divine presence and powerful miracles? On The 700 Club! Every day The 700 Club broadcasts inspirational testimonies like these that bring encouragement with stories of hope, perseverance, and miracles. These stories touch the very heart of people searching for the love of Jesus Christ.

The 700 Club is committed to showing life changing stories of people who have experienced miracles in their own lives. With your support CBN can continue to help people see the amazing power of God, and know that Jesus Christ is Lord and Savior. Click here and become a CBN partner today!

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