Miracles from Heaven

Miracles from Heaven

a review by John Haynes

I went to see the movie Miracles from Heaven. It was a good movie overall. I enjoyed it. The acting is good. The most well-known actor in the film is Jennifer Garner, who plays the mother of the little girl, Anna Beam.

The film opens with the Beam family getting ready to go to church. The father, Kevin Beam, is a veterinary doctor. He is outside most of the time, and his wife, Christy, gets on his case about getting ready to go.

The church service shows the band playing the song “Soul on Fire” by Third Day. This is a great song, and I’m glad they showed it. The pastor preaches and talks about making sure you have your faith. That will prove very important later, especially to Christy.

When the family gets home, their middle daughter, Anna, gets sick. She is throwing up. They take her to the doctor, who tells them that he thinks she is lactose intolerant. But this isn’t her problem. She continues to be sick, and they take her to the hospital. The doctor, who could learn a few bedside manners, tells the parents that she’s okay. But Christy knows she’s not okay. She refuses to leave until they get another doctor to investigate. They get their wish.

The second doctor (Dr. Burgi) finds that she has a rare digestive disorder, but this illness is way out of his league. He recommends that they seek the help of a doctor in Boston, Dr. Nurko. He is a specialist, but the only way to get an appointment is if someone dies. Christy and Anna fly to Boston without an appointment and hope against hope that they can see him. They arrive only to be told that they will not be able to see him because they don’t have an appointment. Disheartened, they go for a bite to eat. At the restaurant, they meet a very nice waitress, Angela (Queen Latifa). She offers to give them a tour the next day of Boston. They take her up on it. They become fast friends.

One Sunday at church back in Texas, a couple ladies come up to talk to Christy about what is happening to Anna and why. They tell her that maybe she and Kevin should be asking the tough questions, like whose sin caused this: Christy’s, Kevin’s, or maybe even Anna’s. Christy is beside herself and decides that she will not go back to that church if that’s how they’re going to treat her. What, have they never read the book of Job? It is sad that some people, even Christians, don’t know when to shut their mouths and just be kind.

Anna’s condition continues to get worse, but the good news is that an appointment to see Dr. Nurko has opened up. As he treats her, he really doesn’t hold out much hope. Christy and Anna continue to make regular trips from Texas to Boston for the girl. At one point, Kevin decides to come for visit to Boston with their other two daughters, Abbie and Adelynn. But every card that Kevin gives to the clerk to pay for the tickets is rejected. He gives him his last card. All of a sudden, the clerk’s computer screen goes blank. He says that he will have to write the tickets for them. What we find out later is that the clerk actually turned the monitor off. No doubt God will honor him for his kindness.

Kevin and the other girls surprise Christy and Anna, and they are ecstatic to see them. But the happiness is short-lived. At one point, Anna is so distraught that she just wants to die. She knows she will go to Heaven, and that’s all she wants. Who can blame her?

At one point when Anna is in a hospital bed, there is another girl in the room (this is in Boston). Her name is Haley. She too is very sick, but she doesn’t have what Anna does. Anna wants to give her the cross that she always wears around her neck. Haley appreciates it, but her father isn’t pleased. He is an unbeliever, and he talks to Christy to tell her that he would appreciate if they would not give false hope to Haley.

Later, when all the family is back at their farm in Texas, Abbie wants Anna to come outside and play. Anna doesn’t want to at first, but she relents. Abbie wants to climb a tree, so both of them climb the tree. They get high up in the branches, when all of a sudden the branch they are on begins to crack. Abbie tells Anna to climb higher to get off the branch. There is an opening in the tree. Anna falls into the hole. Abbie cries out for her, and gets down from the tree to get her parents. They come and the fire and rescue are called. They send a man down the hole and are able to get Anna out. As time goes by, Anna is having no pain. Christy is wondering what is going on. It appears that she is now completely well. They take her to Boston one last time, and Dr. Nurko says he can find nothing wrong. But he cannot pronounce that she is cured. Understandable, given his position.

Anna tells her parents what happened when she was in that tree. She says she woke up and saw her body, but she wasn’t in it. Then she says she went to Heaven and talked to God. He told her she had to go back. So she did. And to this day, more than three years later, she is completely well.

Near the end of the film, the pastor has Christy come up and share her family’s story about what God did. During this service, the band plays “Your Words” also by Third Day. Great song. At the end of Christy’s talk, one of the reporter’s asks if maybe Anna wasn’t really all that sick. Then a man stands up to say that he believes her. That man is Ben, the father of the girl Haley. Haley died shortly before this. But because of the testimony of the Beam family, especially Anna, he has come to faith in Christ.

At the very end of the movie, we get to meet the actual Beam family, and they are as lovely as those who portrayed them in the film. I’m sure I wasn’t the only one whose eyes weren’t dry in the theater.

Now a big question remains: Did Anna actually go to Heaven, and did she actually talk to God? The answer is I don’t know. Could that have happened? Sure. God often interrupts our lives and does amazing things. Certainly the woman whom Jesus healed in Mark 5:25-34 would testify to this. I will not judge her. All I know is that God did see fit to heal her. And why did he do that? It’s simple. God is good, all the time. All the time, God is good!