Letters to God helps Iraq veteran heal

Mailman Brady McDaniels (Jeffrey S. S. Johnson) befriends Tyler

Brady McDaniels, is an Iraq veteran. He lost his son after drunk driving with his young son in the car. The beginning of the movie has him clearly troubled but with a wise boss, finding "something worth saving" there, he filled in for another mailman. Brady was missing a lot of work but his boss found something special in him and wanted to do what he could for Brady.

Brady had a friend running a bar, where he spent most of his nights. The bartender also saw something worthy of him and watched over him. It was not until after half the movie was over that the fact he was an Iraq veteran was known. Brady was lost, trapped in a world he didn't need to talk about. Yet because people cared about him and a young boy inspired him, Brady began to heal with faith he didn't know he still had and the kindness of strangers.

There was no mention of doctors or medication. This was all about healing because God answered the prayers of a young boy sent in letters. The same young boy dying of cancer but wanting God to hear his prayers for others more.

This is based on a true story. It takes place in Florida and Arnold Palmer Hospital.

Letters to God
Carolyn Arends | posted 4/09/2010
Tyler Doherty is an eight-year-old cancer patient who loves God first and soccer second. Brady McDaniels is a mailman struggling with alcoholism and the break-up of his family. Tyler writes direct, heartfelt Letters to God as a means of praying his way through his illness. Brady picks up those Letters on his postal route and is touched and changed by his encounters with Tyler's faith; so are many of the other characters who populate the unabashedly Christian family drama Letters to God.

The film's co-director Patrick Doughtie, who lost his real-life son Tyler to cancer in 2005, wrote the initial screenplay for Letters to God. Although Doughtie fictionalized many of the elements of Tyler's story for the big screen, it's clear that this film comes from a deeply personal place. The compelling raw material was a perfect match for newly minted Possibility Pictures, director David Nixon's production company. Nixon previously produced the mostly volunteer-made surprise Christian hits Facing the Giants and Fireproof. Letters is his first time in the director's chair and his first opportunity to work with a budget large enough to secure a professional cast and crew. The result is a film more technically polished than Facing the Giantsor Fireproof, but equally overtly evangelical in its narrative—meaning it will likely delight viewers who loved those earlier movies and further frustrate those who longed for subtler storytelling.

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Letters To God

Brady found the goodness inside of him and he ended up beating the bottle and the devil away. He healed because people cared about him and a young boy inspired him to be a better person.

This happens all across this country everyday. Brady's life after combat was not the focus of the movie but it was to me. It showed what can happen when men and women sent into combat can find so they can heal. PTSD is like an infection. It eats away at the "person" and changes them. There is a struggle going on between that which is good inside of them and that which is dark, selfish, nasty and mean. The goodness inside of them has been attacked and they are made weaker, unable to stay fueled by all that is good inside of them. When they are treated as if they have become evil, that is all they see and the dark side wins. Yet when they see the all that was good inside of them, have hope restored and know they are cared about, they heal.

Experts know PTSD is a wound to the emotional part of humans, yet they do not know what else lives there. The soul of man can be found there and PTSD is a spiritual wound detaching man from God. The absence of God is what allows all the negative emotions to take over. When good people see them as hurt or in need, then they find they belong again because someone still sees "them" as they used to be. There are miracles happening all the time but they come when someone cares enough to reach out with the patience enough to keep trying to help instead of giving up and walking away.

When they step out of the darkness that holds them captive to the past, they end up better, stronger and more compassionate than ever before. This is why it is so important for the clergy to get involved. If they find no value in helping these men and women we sent into combat. then they will find little reason to heal after being judged and written off.

If you want to see a good movie, go see Letters To God and know what the love of a stranger can do to heal a soul. This is what happens when a letter to God is answered.