In an age where miracles are regarded by many as concluded things of the past and have been reduced to magic tricks and gimmicks by some, this true-life story, adapted from a book written by Christy Beam, goes a long way to reassure us of the existence of God and the importance of faith and kindness.
Directed by Patricia Riggen and produced by T.D Jakes, Joe Roth and Devon Franklin, this one-hour, forty-five-minute movie takes the audience into the life of the Beam Family and their journey of faith, love and perseverance as their middle daughter battles a strange illness.
Set in Texas, United States, the film pictures the Beams as a middle-class Christian family who are respected and loved in their community, worship in their local church every Sunday and serve their community.
Their problems start when their middle daughter, 10-year-old Anna begins to suffer from a sickness that the doctors wrongly diagnose and prescribe treatments that seem to make her get worse. When she’s rushed to the hospital for the third time, her parents believe that something is drastically wrong with their daughter despite the reassurance of the doctor on call. On the insistence of the mother, Christy Beam, a senior doctor carries out some tests and diagnoses Anna with an abdominal obstruction that must be operated on immediately.
The operation leaves Anna unable to digest food and she must be placed on feeding tubes to survive. The local doctor refers Christy to Dr. Nurko, a foremost paediatrics surgeon at Boston’s Children’s Hospital and an extremely busy man. Determined to find answers, Christy leaves her two daughters in the care of their Father, Dr. Kevin Beam, a veterinary doctor, and flies with Anna to Boston to try and get an appointment with Dr. Nurko.
They meet a feisty waitress who takes them around Boston and encourages them when it seems they would not get an appointment with the doctor. Not willing to give up, Christy pushes till their first miracle occurs when the doctor’s schedule is cleared to see them.
He gives them the devastating news that Anna suffers from a rare incurable disease and places Anna on admission for observation. She meets a young girl, Haley suffering from Leukaemia, and shares her Christian faith with the young girl.
Sent home to die
After Dr. Nurko sends them home with a death sentence, Anna playing with her sister one day, falls thirty feet into a tree and passes out.
Responding to their call, the police and firefighters work together to rescue her while Christy who has reached her breaking point cries out to God to save her daughter and is joined by her family and neighbours. The officials warn the Beams that Anna may not survive the fall and even if she does, she might be brain damaged.
Anna is rushed to the hospital, where the doctor proclaims her fit with a mild concussion to the shock of everyone. A few days later, they notice that Anna is jumping around and when they ask her, she tells her parents of her encounter with God when she was unconscious. Despite her obvious recovery, sceptics in church question if she was ill and refuse to believe her testimony.
The film remains true to the obvious emotions they had felt as they do not gloss over their pain but show when Christy begins to question the existence of God and loses her faith. Also, despite Anna’s unwavering faith in God, she also gets depressed at a point and begs to die. The unbelief and self-righteousness of some church members portray the fact that not all in church have the character of Jesus; they go to church but do not believe in the power of God.
Acts of kindness can never be over-emphasised as there are different scenes that show people helping the Beams in their time of need, showing the basic tenets of Christianity, “do unto others as you would do for yourself”.
The soundtrack, though not entirely gospel, provides a good background for the story of the movie. The sound and quality of the movie picture all add to the beauty of a wonderful film.
Over all, Miracles from Heaven is a must watch for every believer seeking for an assurance of God’s wonder-working power and his ability to work out His miracles in the least expected way.