Do you love watching movies? When I ask this question, then I receive so many different answers. Some people love to go to the movies or to watch them from their homes. Others are too restless to sit through a movie and find it to be a waste of their time. For my two daughters and I, we love the movies whether it is at the theatre or watching them from our home. I love getting caught up in someone else’s story. I think I have used it to mentally escape different things through the years. I still love to get lost in someone else’s story. I especially love when it is a good story and that I feel inspired once it is over.
Through these past months, I have watched the previews for the movie “Breakthrough”. I love stories and movies that are encouraging to me in my faith. I believed that this would be one of those movies; however, I knew due to my own grief that I would need to watch it when I was in a good place emotionally and spiritually. Just like the movie “Miracles from Heaven,” I knew that in this movie that someone was going to get a miracle. Due to the deaths of my husband in a work related accident in August 2011 and my only son’s instant death as an 18 year old in a car accident then I knew that it was important for me to be in an emotional and spiritual state where I would not be lamenting on why my son was not a miracle. When I watched this movie then I wanted to be able to truly rejoice that their son was a miracle just as I was able to with the little girl in Miracles from Heaven.
One night a few weeks ago before I moved the girls back to the university, then I had a night where they were both gone. I decided that this was my time to watch this movie. Due to the previews, I knew that in this story that the boy, John, who needed the miracle fell through the ice on a lake in the winter. Before the tragedy occurred, there was some time that was spent developing different aspects of the storyline. We saw his mom, Joyce, as someone who was praying and attending Bible Studies while simultaneously being so irritated with her new Pastor. We were introduced to the new Pastor as someone who was bringing change to their church through a new style of worship and music. Joyce was very frustrated with him and even hated his haircut. As we got to know Joyce’s adopted son John who fell through the ice then we learned that he was very active in sports and at school. His adopted parents loved him so very much.
When he fell through the ice and was rushed to the hospital then he had been unresponsive for a long period of time. John was underwater for 15 minutes before resuscitative efforts were started. The medical staff brought the mom into the emergency room to say goodbye to her son. The shock was evident on the mother’s face. She could not believe that her son was gone.
My mind flashed back to seeing my son laying on a table absolutely lifeless. Tears poured down my face as my mind returned to that horrific time in my life in June 2013. I watched as the mom reached out and touched her son. I remember touching my son’s cold arm and face. I remembered the shock that I felt that my son was laying there lifeless. My body was shaking as tears poured down my face. The devastation made my heart feel like it was physically ripped out from within me. I had been through nothing worse. Burying my son was the worst thing in my life. This is why I knew that I had to be in the right place to watch this movie. I knew it would affect me in multiple ways which it did.
Joyce, John’s mom, began to pray. She prayed so loudly. She asked that The Lord would breathe life back into her son as she cried. The medical staff were outside of the room listening to this mom cry and pray. Suddenly, the monitors began to show signs of life, and the medical staff raced back into the room. This mom was told by that medical staff and then by the expert after they were transferred to a different hospital that they still did not expect her son to live through the night. Joyce stayed continually with her son and prayed. She prayed and prayed. Her husband stayed out in the waiting room that night. He could not bear to look at his son in that condition.
The pastor who continued to annoy her stayed with her. As I think about this woman’s faith then I look through the different areas of my life and receive the challenge to examine each area. I want to live as a woman of faith as well. I am encouraged by her faith and her consistency as she battled on behalf of her son. Her son was in a coma, and his family had to rely on their faith to keep going.
John’s parents were told that the expert had very little hope that John would ever recover. They were also told that if he did that he would probably just stay in the vegetative state that he was in. In the movie, Joyce has her own breakthrough time. Joyce was giving the medical staff a difficult time and separating herself from those that were trying to help her including her husband Brian. In Joyce’s breakthrough, we see her asking God for forgiveness and saying that she wants to be in His will.
Joyce and Brian learn from the expert doctor that the medicine that had been given to John was now becoming toxic to his system. John’s parents decided to take him off of the meds and to allow him to come out of the coma . When John is revived slowly then we witness his breakthrough when he regains consciousness and against all odds has full cognitive ability. In just a few days, John is discharged from the hospital and goes back to school.
The word breakthrough is used in different ways throughout this movie. We see the physical breakthrough of the ice on the frozen lake that plunges John into the water and brings about the trauma that almost takes his life. We see his mom’s emotional and spiritual breakthrough as she seeks to let go of control of her life and give it to God. We watch her work on giving her son’s life to God as well. We see improvements that Joyce makes in loving and accepting others. We see Brian, John’s dad, have his own breakthrough as he learns to hope for his son’s recovery and how he battles through with his wife on behalf of their son.
Lastly, we see John’s physical breakthrough that is a true miracle. Against all medical expert predictions, John has his miracle and returns to school and amazes all that knew his condition. I truly rejoiced at John’s miracle. That is what I wanted to do in the movie. I wanted to be able to celebrate John’s miracle. I did not want to be plagued in those moments of why our family did not have those miracles. I have been praying and working hard in my life to be at peace with what has happened. It is not a place of understanding. I seek the peace that passes understanding. I have wrestled with my why questions thoroughly. I do not understand the why of what has occurred. However, my goal is to be at peace without being able to understand the why. My goal is to strive to live in faith and hope. I want to spend my life loving others and being there for them during their traumas. Our world is filled with so much tragedy and trauma, and there are so many people in need of others who will acknowledge their pain, be there for them, and to surround them in love. There are so many people in our world who need to be surrounded in love and hope.
Once John is back at school then he is confronted by others’ questions… why did God keep him alive and not the loved ones of others. One of his teachers asked John these questions. She wanted to know why God kept John alive and did not do the same for her family. I was honestly very surprised that she asked this young student her questions. I was not surprised that she had those questions.
It is my belief that many people wonder those questions, but I also know that some are afraid to voice them. They are afraid that if they voice their questions and lack of understanding that they will be judged. I pray that if you are one of those people that you will find those that you are able to honestly talk with and share with. I pray that you will be received in love and not in judgement. We all need those people in our lives. That is one of the reasons that I have this blog. I want to be able to honestly share about the journey that one goes through after burying my husband and then my son. I want to share things that occur along the way whether it is physical, emotional, or spiritual. I want to share my journey of finding that peace that passes understanding. I want to share my journey of striving to live in faith and hope despite deep hurts and trauma.
It is my prayer that you will be able to find that too. I hope that if you have areas in your life that are in need of a breakthrough that you identify them and push through until you get your breakthrough. I definitely have some areas in my life that are in need of a breakthrough as well. I am going to do just what I am hoping for you. I am going to keep pushing until I experience my breakthroughs. Will you join me? Listed below are some quotes that I love and then a few songs that I love from breakthrough. Just click on the link to hear the wonderful, inspiring songs. 🙂
“… when your trial is getting hotter, you are getting closer to your breakthrough! Keep pressing!” T.B. Joshua
“You have been praying for a breakthrough and it seems like it’s delaying. Despair begins to fill your heart, but I pray that God will grant you strength in the face of adversity. May the spirit of discouragement be broken. Your breakthrough may delay but you will not be denied.” Pastor Mensa Otabil
“Often when things are not going our way, our own attitude can make a tough situation even more difficult. An accurate perspective is vital, especially when it is midnight in our soul. Giving thanks to God and singing His praise will alter our perspective as The Lord’s light of hope breaks through.” O.S. Hawkins
Praying and believing with you for our breakthroughs 🙂 The girls and I praise God for each one of you! Thank you for journeying with us!!
#noexcusesnoregrets
#ourjourneycontinues
- Happy birthday to my son PK on what would have been his 28th birthday - June 3, 2023
- He Sees - September 12, 2022
- Happy birthday to my PK on what would have been his 27th birthday - June 4, 2022
