Miracles in Movies: 'Miracles from Heaven'

Based on True Story of a Girl's Near-Death Experience and Miracle Healing

girl climbing tree miracle movie
The movie 'Miracles from Heaven' portrays the true story of a girl's near-death experience and miracle healing from a serious illness. Westend 61/Getty Images

Where is God when people suffer sicknesses and injuries? What spiritual lessons can people learn when they're healed -- and when they're not healed? How can those who have had miracles happen to them overcome their fear of ridicule so they can help others by sharing their stories? The movie 'Miracles from Heaven' (TriStar Pictures, 2016) with Jennifer Garner, Martin Henderson, and Queen Latifah asks audiences those questions as it presents the true story of 12-year-old girl Annabel Beam's near-death experience and miraculous healing from a serious illness (as told by her mother Christy Beam's book Three Miracles from Heaven).

The Plot

Annabel, who suffers from a severe, life-threatening digestive disorder, goes to play with her sisters in their yard one day and climbs a hollowed-out cottonwood tree. When one of its branches breaks, Annabel falls 30 feet headfirst into the tree. She spends several hours there until firefighters rescue her -- and during that time, she visits heaven during a near-death experience.

In heaven, she meets her grandmother who had died a few years before. Then she meets Jesus Christ, who tells her that he'll send her back to her earthly life because she still has more to do to fulfill his purposes for her life. By the time Annabel gets out of the tree, Jesus tells her, she will be completely healed from her illness, which doctors couldn’t cure.

Annabel does make a complete recovery. Going forward, she's able to drop all of her medications and eat any kind of food, with no symptoms of her previous illness. She and her family are thrilled and grateful for what happened. But they struggle with other people's reactions to them when they tell the story. Some people think they're crazy. As the movie's tagline says: "How do you explain the impossible?"

Faith Quotes

Christy (Annabel's mom) praying to God: “Free her from this! Can you even hear me?”

Christy: “So you’re telling me that when this baby girl fell 30 feet, she hit her head just right, and it didn’t kill her, and it didn’t paralyze her. It healed her.”

Doctor Nurko: “Yes.”

Christy: “Well, that’s impossible!”

Christy: “A lot of people think we’re crazy.”

Angela: “You either roll with it, or you get rolled on.”

Christy: “We need a solution, and we need it now.”

Kevin: “And we’ll get it.”

Christy: “How?”

Kevin: “By not losing our faith.”

Christy: "When I was growing up, people didn't really talk about miracles. I'm not sure if I understood what they were."

Pastor Scott: "There is one thing that we need, that can't be seen and can't be bought. That is faith. Faith is really the only true shelter."

Annabel (while she's still sick): "Why do you think God hasn't healed me?"

Christy: "There are so many things I don't know. But I know God loves you."

Pastor Scott: "Just because she's sick doesn't mean there's not a loving God."

Annabel (while suffering in the hospital): "I want to die. I want to go to heaven where there's no pain. ... I'm sorry, Mommy. I don't want to cause you pain. I just want it to be over!"

Annabel (describing her near-death experience): "I slipped right out of my body. But it was kind of weird because I could see my body, but I wasn't in it."

Christy: "You spoke to God?"

Annabel: "Yeah, but it was different. It was like when you can talk to each other without saying any words."

Annabel: "Not everyone is gonna believe. But that's okay. They'll get there when they get there."

Doctor Nurko (after Annabel's healing): "People in my profession use the term spontaneous remission to explain what can't be explained."

Christy: "Miracles are everywhere. Miracles are goodness -- sometimes showing up in the strangest ways: through people who are just passing through our lives, to dear friends who are there for us no matter what. Miracles are love. Miracles are God -- and God is forgiveness."

Christy: "Why was Anna healed when so many other kids are suffering around the world? I don't have the answer. But I do know that I am not alone, and you are not alone."

Christy: "We now live our lives as if every day is a miracle, because, to us, it is."

Christy: "Miracles are God's way of letting us know he's here."

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Your Citation
Hopler, Whitney. "Miracles in Movies: 'Miracles from Heaven'." Learn Religions, Apr. 5, 2023, learnreligions.com/miracles-from-heaven-movie-3571978. Hopler, Whitney. (2023, April 5). Miracles in Movies: 'Miracles from Heaven'. Retrieved from https://www.learnreligions.com/miracles-from-heaven-movie-3571978 Hopler, Whitney. "Miracles in Movies: 'Miracles from Heaven'." Learn Religions. https://www.learnreligions.com/miracles-from-heaven-movie-3571978 (accessed March 19, 2024).