“Touched by an Angel” star writes children’s book based on her childhood

Being a child is harder than ever in today’s secular culture. Actress Roma Downey, who starred in the hit television show “Touched by an Angel,” is helping make the journey easier with her new book, “A Message in the Moon.”

The book is based on challenges she faced in her own childhood.

“This story for this book has sat in my heart for a really long time,” she said. “My mother died when I was just a little girl. I was only 10. To say that we were heartbroken would be an understatement, because we didn’t even have the preparation for illness, which I know can be traumatic and painful for a child to see their parents suffer and go through a long illness.”

Downey compared her experience to a screenplay.

“There was no warning, so it was as if somebody just turned the lights out in our lives,” she told CBN News. “If I were making a movie of my own life, my childhood would be in full Technicolor, and then, when my mother died, it’s as if the movie went into black and white.”

Following her mother’s death, Downey drew closer to her father, and the family relied on faith to guide them through the difficult circumstances.

“If we hadn’t had faith to lean into, if we hadn’t been people of faith, I don’t know how we would have coped,” she said. “I really don’t know. As Christians and as believers, we have an understanding of the promises of Christ around this issue, and the promise of heaven, and the resurrection of the body, and all the things that we’ve been taught and believe.”

The title of the book refers to something her father told her when she left home for college. He pointed to the moon and said, “Whenever you feel alone, always look into the night sky, and you’ll be reminded of how much I love you. I’ll leave a message for you in the moon.”

Downey also the author of the bestsellers “Box of Butterflies” and “Be an Angel: Devotions to Inspire and Encourage Love and Light Along the Way.”

–Dwight Widaman | MV