Actress and producer Roma Downey has kept a special story in her heart for the last 35 years with the dream of one day sharing it with the world. Now, thanks to God’s perfect timing, that story is available to families everywhere via her new children’s book, “A Message in the Moon.”
The “Touched by an Angel” star recently sat down with Billy Hallowell of the Washington Times’ Higher Ground to talk more about what inspired this delightful tale — especially the comfort her father brought her after her mother died and the actress was experiencing homesickness after going off to college.
“[My dad] pointed to the sky and he pointed to the moon and said, ‘If you ever miss me or are feeling homesick, just look at the moon, Roma, because I’m going to leave a message in the moon,’” Mrs. Downey explained. “And so it brought me great comfort for those first few semesters. I looked to the night sky and I would feel great comfort and strength because my dad would leave me his love messages in the moon. And in return, I would send a message back to him.”
The longtime actress and producer, who lost her mom when she was just 10 years old, hopes that the book will offer a source of comfort to kids suffering from separation anxiety for whatever reason. Just like it did for herself and her own daughter, who even now as an adult will text her pictures of the moon saying that she left a message.
“Remember that the moon has no light source. The moon is simply the reflection of the sun,” Mrs. Downey noted. “And so I’d like to remind children that if we all stopped and sent a message of love to the moon, that the moon would do what she does best, which is reflect that back to all of us. And maybe the moonlight would become love light and we could all just remember that we belong to each other… It’s just a way to assure the little ones that they’re not alone. That we’re always connected.”
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And while the moon has always held a special place in Mrs. Downey’s heart, it was ultimately her faith that got her through life’s toughest times, including losing her father while she was still in college.
“[My faith] is completely a really central part of who I am,” she explained. “I’m just always encouraged I think as a Christian we have a different maybe regard for death. That doesn’t make the passing of a loved one easier in that we still miss, we still hurt, we still have the pain of loss, but we hold a different hope in heaven, and the promise of the overcoming of death.”
That’s a big part of why she’s also trying to share a bit of that hopeful faith with her young readers and their families.
“I grew up in a family where we prayed… and I included a little prayer at the end of the book for anybody that might want to make that a simple practice with a young child because the moon is a little bit like the love of God,” she said. “The moon, we don’t always see it. We don’t see [the moon] in the day sky, we don’t see it in the cloudy sky, but it is always there and a little bit like [the] love of our Heavenly Father who is always there too.”
“A Message in the Moon” is now available everywhere books are sold.
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Marissa Mayer is a writer and editor with more than 10 years of professional experience. Her work has been featured in Christian Post, The Daily Signal, and Intellectual Takeout. Mayer has a B.A. in English with an emphasis in Creative Writing from Arizona State University.
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