Melissa Anchutz's latest film, "Lost Heart," reveals how faith and trust in God amid painful trails transforms one for the better. Like her main character, Melissa faced her own struggle when she and her husband found out they both had cancer.
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(Upbeat music)
- Melissa Anschutz stars inthe new movie "Lost Heart."
She's also the producer.
And as challenging asboth of those roles are,
Melissa's biggest challenge came
after the film wrapped.
Take a look.
- [Narrator] MelissaAnschutz is an actress,
producer and publicist.
Her most recent film, "Lost Heart,"
places her alongside well-knowcomedian Victoria Jackson
and Don Most of "Happy Days" fame.
- If she repents, will God forgive her?
- Well, of course.
He's forgiven worse than that, right?
- [Narrator] "Lost Heart" tells the story
of a music megastar who hits bottom
and finally faces the hurts of her past.
- Mom.
- [Narrator] What she finds is love,
forgiveness and redemption.
- Please welcome to the700 Club, Melissa Anschutz.
Melissa, great to have you with us.
- Oh, it's great to be here.
Thank you so much for having me.
- Well, you play the leadrole in "Lost Heart."
Tell us a little bit
about your character in this film.
- Well, my character has run away
from an abusive father
in search of a dream, too,
and she does reach thatdream in Nashville.
She becomes a major mega music star,
but she is quite broken.
She's run away from this past
and has never really faced it
and so throughout the film,
she's really trying to become whole again
and she doesn't know how to do that.
Her father does pass away in the film.
So she goes back to her small town
and she has found thateverything is different.
He has become changed man
and she really struggles with that.
One of the main messagesI think in the film
is how we all live infront of our own faces
and how things affect us
and it's not until westart to look outward
and to the person who's before us
that we really start to heal
and realize that, you know,
we don't have to live angry
and broken and how does that happen.
So that's kind of whatthe film takes you through
on that journey of her storyof redemption and healing.
- After the movie wrapped,
you experienced extreme heartbreak
and suffering yourself.
Tell us what happened.
- Yes, so after the film wrapped,
almost directly afterit about a month later,
my husband and I were bothdiagnosed with cancer,
two days apart.
We find out about his cancer first
and then mine.
He had something calledsquamous cell carcinoma,
which is cancer in the tonsil.
It's a curable form of cancer.
The treatments would be brutal,
but it would be cured.
I had breast cancer.
You can imagine you're trying
to be there and besupportive for your spouse
and yet, you know, you're going
through your own thing, too,
and we had quite a journey,
you know, over the last 10months of dealing with that.
Here I'm so excited I'm seeing my dreams.
I've got this lead in this film
and producing is so much work
and then I was faced withthis personal tragedy
that I really wasn't ready for
and I, of course, keptasking the Lord why.
You know, why now, I shouldbe celebrating this film
and, you know, praying that it has legs
and yet we're in the middle, you know,
of what really felt likea nightmare at the time.
Fortunately, I really leanedinto Jesus during this
and just prayed and prayed
and the outcome didn'tnecessarily coincide
with what I wanted.
I lost my husband on August 28th,
which was very hard
and I definitely feel like he put his arms
around me and carried me through that.
I currently am cancer free,
so I'm so grateful for that
and I do know that he's prepared me
for this next season in my life
and I'm so grateful to that,
but I daily, by the minute,
I lean into that strength
that he has given me
and the legs that hopefullythis film will have
because I feel like my life
would have been like Hannah's
had I not had him to lean into to.
- These are such hard life lessons
to learn and to have to learn them
when you've gotten tothe top of the mountain
that you were aspiring to climb
really almost takes the air out of you.
How did your faith make a difference?
When you say you leaned into Jesus,
how did you do that?
- I had to trust him in my own caste.
Right, it's so easy tosay we trust in him,
we believe and we have this faith,
but when you're faced
with the kind of tragedy
that I was feeling and experiencing,
you know, it just takes you to your knees
and you instantly justwanna say this isn't fair.
Why did this happen to me?
And I did say those things.
But I prayed, I prayed so hard
for him to make me understand
that he knew why and to not try
to control my destiny, thathe's got that, you know.
And I think as humans,that's a really hard thing
for us to except,
not trying to control the next moment
in our lives, you know.
With this film, Hannah, Imean, did all that, right?
She became this, you know,major mega music star.
She had everything as perceived
by the outside world,
but she was broken
and she was empty and she was miserable.
It was when she lifted her,
you know, that she finds that redemption
and that forgiveness of herself
and I experienced the same thing.
You know, I can only describe it
as this great comfort.
I'd walk through a day
and I would know that the reason
I got through that day
was because he carried me through it.
He lifted me through it.
It's not easy.
It's not easy every day,
it's not easy every moment,
but I feel the warmth of his love
and I continue to put my trust in him
and that's how I've beenable to come through this.
- I want viewers to know
the movie is called, "Lost Heart."
you can watch it November7th and November 21st.
It's on at 7 p.m. eastern time.
It's free.
It's on EncourageTV.
So check your listings for that.
If you'd like more information,
go to cbn.com becausewe'll have it listed there.
Melissa, thank you so much.
You have a remarkable story
and we look forward to seeing the film.
- Thank you so much, too.
I really appreciate you having me on
and I hope everyone watches the film.
- Me, too.
God bless you.