Why the Movie, “Overcomer” Hit Close to Home by Lisa Burkhardt Worley

I didn’t know what to expect when I went to see the movie “Overcomer.” I just knew it checked off some boxes. It had a sports theme, it was a Christian movie, and I actually knew one of the actors, Camy Arnett, who played Thomas Hill, the blind man in the movie.

Camy and his wife, B.J., were involved in the same Global Media Summit that I emceed in June and we ended up at breakfast together a couple of times in the early morning. I will also be speaking at a conference later this month where Camy is the keynote. That, of course, added to the “cool” factor.

But as I watched the movie unfold, there was a connection I did not expect. It was about a quiet little girl, Hannah Scott, who did not fit in at school, was fatherless, or so she thought, and was raised by her grandmother, because her mother was dead. There were so many parallels to my own life.

I was fatherless at birth, my grandmother raised me off and on when my mom struggled, and like Hannah, sports was my outlet.

Instead of cross-country, I was a basketball and volleyball player. A poor girl in a very wealthy school environment, I did not feel like I fit in, except when I was on the court. As Hannah experienced, I also started to go down the wrong path before a friend came to my rescue and introduced me to Jesus. In the movie, Hannah was fifteen. I was fourteen when I gave my life to Christ. 

There were some scenes in the movie that made me cry because they were so close to home. There were other scenes where the tears flowed because I wished I had been able to have just one moment with my earthly father like Hannah had.

The one thing I know is that it’s only through a relationship with Jesus Christ that I was able to overcome my childhood and live with more confidence in my life. When I became a Christian in high school, the light turned on and the darkness fled. I had purpose, my grades went up, and I found a group of Christian friends who accepted me, even though I didn’t have all the material things their families had.

What is it you still need to overcome?

God never intended for us to live in defeat. When you know Jesus as Lord and Savior the battle is already won.

1 John 5:4 says, “For everyone born of God overcomes the world.” John 8:37 says, No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.” 1 John 15:57 says, “But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

These are promises that tell us we can overcome anything through Christ Jesus. We just have to believe them and ask for God’s help to rise above the problems.

While those childhood years are becoming a more distant memory, the transformation I experienced is still as vivid as when it happened in high school. I became an overcomer then. I am still an overcomer now and am confident that with Jesus leading me, I will overcome anything the future may bring. What about you?