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Melissa Anchutz Produces and Stars in "Lost Heart"

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. Read Transcript


(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.

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