To act in Hollywood or to not act in Hollywood? That was the question that concerned Unplanned actress Sarah Hernandez, right before she got the opportunity to star in a faith-based pro-life movie.
Although raised in a Christian home, Hernandez didn’t surrender her life to Jesus until she was 21 years old. Prior to making Jesus the boss of her life, Hernandez had some bit roles on TV and feature-movies, but felt God calling her in a different direction.
“At 22, I decided, I felt God tugging on my heart to take a break from Hollywood. And God was putting on my heart, Matthew 6:33, to seek first the kingdom and His righteousness, and everything else would be added,” Hernandez told Movieguide®.
The verse would carry significant weight in the future as well, but she didn’t know it just yet.
“[After deciding to leave Hollywood], I ended up in a small little retail job in Orange County, California, at a Christian bookstore called Family Christian Stores. I started working there and quickly got into leadership and some management and ended up working at this little bookstore for seven years total. It was during my time there that I would watch all these faith-based films that just … blew my mind because I thought to myself, Why would you take me out of Hollywood if these guys could have found me, and I could have worked with them and [taken] my craft and used it to glorify you? Now? I don’t have an agent. I don’t have a manager. Lord, I don’t understand.”
The confusion continued in her heart until she talked with some wise friends.
“I had shared with them that I was struggling to see how God could take me out of somewhere and then send me back,” Hernandez recalled. “I thought maybe this could be the devil trying to mess with me, and I’m supposed to do God’s will and not my will.” They were like, ‘What about Moses? You know the Lord, let him be a son of Pharaoh, and he was in Egypt. Then, [God] chose Moses chose to suffer with his people. Then, God called him in the desert in the burning bush and then sent him back to get out his people.'”
The conversation made Hernandez think deeply about her calling in life. She remembered, “I was like, God sent him back to do His will. [Which made me think] Huh, OK, I guess I could see how God could send me back into Hollywood to do something for Him.”
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