At first glance, “Journey to You” is everything fans expect from a Hallmark romance: a picturesque European backdrop, a meet-cute along a winding trail and plenty of heartfelt moments. But beneath the surface, the film is about something deeper: placing one’s identity not in a career or romantic pursuits but in Christ.
Directed by Terry Ingram, “Journey to You” premieres on Hallmark on April 19 and stars Erin Cahill and Eric Valdez. It tells the story of Monica (Cahill), a driven ER nurse practitioner who, at the urging of her boss and her mother, takes a rare break from her relentless schedule and embarks on the storied Camino de Santiago in Spain, also known as The Way of Saint James. What begins as a reluctant vacation evolves into a sacred pilgrimage of the heart, steeped in faith, reflection and spiritual renewal.
In an interview with The Christian Post, Cahill, a Hallmark favorite, said she was drawn to film due to its spiritual themes and a series of seeming coincidences that felt divine.
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“The morning I got the offer … I had said to some friends, ‘Let’s meet up this summer,’” she shared. “I was like, ‘Yes, let’s go to Spain. I’ve never been to Spain, and it’s on my heart.’ That morning [I got the offer]. I literally threw my hands up and I started crying … I was like, OK, this feels totally divine. It feels like it was meant to be.”
But it was more than just wanderlust or timing that sealed her decision.
“Every single time I read the script, I cried at the end. So that, to me, is when I come across something that’s special and that unique. That’s it. There’s no denying it,” she said. “It was a privilege to tell this story about faith and love. I love how the title is ‘Journey to You,’ but it’s not just a journey to love. Obviously, that’s part of it. But it’s ‘Journey to You,’ meaning, it’s a journey to You, referring to the Divine.”
Cahill said she, like many other women, found deep resonance in Monica, a woman who has wrapped her identity in her work, her accomplishments and her usefulness to others. One of the most poignant moments in the film is when a fellow pilgrim asks Monica, “Who are you?” She reflexively answers with her job title until gently reminded that isn’t the question.
“That’s kind of what we’re taught in the Western world: I am my job,” the actress said, reflecting on the scene. “But no, that’s not who you are. I just thought that was so beautiful. When I read that, I was like, ‘Oh,’ … it was so vulnerable.”
Central to Monica’s transformation is a devotional journal, gifted by her late father, which guides her steps on the Camino and opens her heart to God. In honor of the film, Hallmark partnered with DaySpring to bring that journal to life for viewers.
“It was so amazing,” Cahill said. “Hallmark made sure they sent me the devotional that my character had, so I had one on my own to do. So to be able to have that journey concurrently with my character was so special. And to have it be from Monica’s father … Honestly, there were so many times I couldn’t help but get emotional on set when I was talking about it.”
Cahill, who is close with her own father, said the storyline’s emotional gravity often hit close to home. “We actually said a couple times, we were reigning it back a bit, like on purpose, because it was so emotional, just the beauty and the connection,” she said.
Filming in Spain brought the experience even more vividly to life. The Camino de Santiago, also the focal point of Emilio Estevez’s 2023 faith-based film “The Way,” is a popular pilgrimage for those in search of spiritual renewal. It was established in the ninth century as a path to the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela, where tradition holds that the remains of James the Apostle are buried.
Though she’s no stranger to Hallmark films — this marks her 11th for the network — “Journey to You” stands apart, she said, because of its spiritual themes and emotional gravity.
“I cried almost every day of gratitude,” Cahill said. “Even starting in rehearsal, we got to do horseback riding lessons and a pottery class, and I was like, ‘What is this life?’ I turned to Eric [Valdez] and I was like, ‘What is this life?’ It’s like, ‘Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.”
The actress, who has helped build schools in Nepal, Malawi and Guatemala through the nonprofit buildOn, added that spiritually, the process offered her a fresh reminder of what really matters.
“Anytime you get closer and more connected with the Divine, you get closer and more connected with yourself,” she said. “It’s a relationship like any other. Relationships take nurturing. What you don’t water, doesn’t grow. I’ve been on a similar journey where we feel closer to the Divine, and then further away, and we’re focused on exterior things versus internal. It was such an amazing reminder, such an amazing deepening, such an amazing opportunity to connect.”
Cahill shared that that opportunity came to a head during a scene that wasn’t even originally in the script, one conceptualized by Ingram, who asked her to journal in character at a quiet rest point on the Camino. A photograph of Monica’s parents tumbles out of the book, revealing they had sat in the exact same spot.
“We only did two takes, but they used the first one,” Cahill recalled. “After the first take … everybody on set, it was really sweet, multiple people came up … everybody was crying. It was such a beautiful moment.”
Released just ahead of Easter, Cahill said she hopes the film encourages viewers to slow down, listen for God’s voice and rediscover their purpose — exactly what it did for her.
“Anytime you give forward love, and you give forward kindness, that, to me, is using your life for a purpose,” she said. “Keep having faith. I have ‘faith’ written in a tattoo on my foot, in my grandma’s handwriting. It’s the thing that … it keeps coming. If you just have faith … it will work out, even when it’s hard to see and feel.”
Leah M. Klett is a reporter for The Christian Post. She can be reached at: leah.klett@christianpost.com
