When her latest film, Miracles From Heaven (from the same producers as Heaven is For Real), came to theatres a couple of months ago, my sisters-in-law and I made it a girls’ night out…and we weren’t disappointed. If you missed it then, now’s your chance to see this powerful movie – Miracles from Heaven is available for purchase on July 12th.
The film is based on the incredible true story and memoir of Christy Beam, Miracles from Heaven: A Little Girl, Her Journey to Heaven, and Her Amazing Story of Healing, which recounts how Christy and her husband Kevin’s young daughter Anna was diagnosed with an intestinal motility disorder (her body wasn’t able to digest food). The prognosis was not good.
What followed was not only physical suffering for Anna, stress for her two sisters, and financial and marital strain for her parents, but also a crisis of faith for mom Christy, who naturally wondered how God could allow a young child to go through so much. If the story were purely Hollywood, you might roll your eyes at the ending and deem it completely implausible. The fact that the story is true makes it a miracle. (I can’t give any more away than that, in case you don’t know how it ends!)
I was interested to read that while doing press for the movie, Jennifer Garner shared that she grew up in a religious family, attending church services every Sunday, and as an adult took her children (she has two daughters and a son) back to West Virginia to be baptized. Living in Hollywood, however, regular church attendance was not part of the culture. Working on Miracles from Heaven helped reaffirm her own faith, and she began taking her children to weekly services. “That decision was a direct gift from this movie and for that, I'm very grateful,” she shared during a question and answer session.
What does this celebrity mom want us to take away from the movie? "I will be so thrilled if it lifts people's hearts…if it asks anyone to re-examine their own faith and their own beliefs; that would be the pie in the sky for me. I can't think of anything better," Jennifer shared with The Christian Post.
Faith is huge for my own family – my husband and I both work in the Catholic school system which our daughters attend, and we go to Mass every weekend – so I certainly appreciated the spiritual side of this film. That said, even if you aren’t religious you can still take something from the story, including lessons on family values and determination. Either way, stock up on Kleenex before you watch.
Miracles From Heaven also stars Martin Henderson as Kevin Beam (you may know him as Nathan
Riggs, the doctor Meredith Grey just, um, became close with on Grey’s
Anatomy) with Queen Latifah making appearances for some comic relief
(though really her role is a touching one as well).
Miracles from Heaven is a feel-good, inspirational film worth adding to your collection. Watching it at home I caught several things I missed the first time around in the theatre, and I also look forward to sharing it with my daughters, as I’m always eager to expose them to messages of faith, hope and love.
Disclosure: This post was brought to you by Sony Home Entertainment but the opinions are my own.
For more information, visit http://www.sonypictures.com/movies/miraclesfromheaven/.
