After an electrical fire destroyed three Texas homes during Hurricane Harvey, one Christian family was astounded to discover that a statue of the Virgin Mary had somehow survived the devastation.
KRIS reports that three homes located on the Rojas family property in Robstown, just outside Corpus Christi, were destroyed by an electrical fire as Harvey was hitting the area.
As they surveyed the rubble, they were shocked to discover a Virgin Mary statue still standing, seemingly untouched by the fire.
"Some may blame God and some may blame the hurricane but the only thing standing were holy things," homeowner Natali Rojas told KRIS. "As you can see this statue is the only thing that survived. I dug in there for things and all I found is a Virgin Mary."
Natali's father, Jesus Rojas, told the station that ultimately, he's grateful no one died in the fire - and believes God protected his family.
"I believe that throughout my life I've suffered a lot, we were migrants. We worked all of our lives in fields and trying to show our families how to stay strong, how to believe in God and keep everybody together as a family," Jesus said.
The Rojas said that while they will never know the exact cause of the fire, they will continue to rely on their faith.
"Appreciate what you have, listen to the warnings, hug your children and thank God for today and yesterday, and pray for a better tomorrow," Natali said.
This is not the first time a religious item has been left intact amid devastation. After wildfires destroyed much of Gatlinburg, Tennessee last year, a TV crew with CNN affiliate WVLT spotted something miraculous - a statue of Jesus still standing amid the rubble of a home burned to the ground.
A few days earlier, an employee at the Dollywood theme park in Gatlinburg found a partially burned page from the Bible's book of Joel. The part of the passage that's readable, from Joel's first chapter reads, "O LORD, to thee will I cry: for the fire hath devoured the pastures of the wilderness, and the flame hath burned all the trees of the field."
The employee, Isaac McCord, took a picture of what he'd found and posted it to Facebook, where it was shared tens of thousands of times. Many commenters took it as a sign from God.
"It provides hope and faith," McCord said. "That's why I shared it."
