Salon@615-Roma Downey with Karen Kingsbury

[Music] [Music] [Applause] hello everybody I see some familiar faces this is so fun well it is my pleasure and an honor to be here with Roma Downey tonight and to talk about her beautiful book I brought a copy this isn't my cup because my copy frankly looks a lot more worn because I love this book and it is such a pleasure to share with you and to tell you personally that this was I mean Roma and I are friends but what a pleasure to sit down and feel like I really was having coffee with her and the book is beautiful but it is deep so don't don't think you know oh maybe it's just some sweet poems and some you know maybe some nice quotes it has that that has some very deep poems and deep quotes but this is a very deep piece of Roma's heart and when you read it you're going to find out more inspiration behind so many of the things that Roma has done have been a part of from you know her days untouched by an angel to bend her in the Bible series you are gonna find out what her inspiration was you're gonna see that person who made those things happen by God's power and you're gonna you're gonna really experience for very deep faith as you read this book so I'm excited for that I think I'm just gonna i'll start by asking you a question roma you had a to it you had a choice you could have written just kind of a straightforward memoir I mean your story's fascinating but you chose to present it this way could you kind of talk about that yes gosh thank you first of all thank you for being here with me I'm surprisingly nervous and you know and I've done a lot of performing in my life but this is a little bit different isn't it because I don't get to hide behind a character or a show you know is Here I am and this is my story it's really it's really a book about God though I think I just happened to it's where I show up and he always shows up and and I you know I and I realized in the moments where I felt maybe he didn't show up the disconnect was me never him you know I wanted to write this book because I believe that there's somebody somewhere who really will be comforted by it and encouraged by it and when I would write the book I learned so much from you Karen you have written 50 million books and they're all amazing and you know and you're you know you just use so eloquent with words and you so easily express yourself and you really have inspired me so when I would sit down use but you spoke to me about your process many times and and you know I never imagined I would have a writing process you know I I still had a day job you know I got so we get up very early in the morning I love to see the sunrise if anybody here is goes on social media you'll know that I post an awful lot of sunrises and sunsets my kids are usually not another sunrise but each one is beautiful and in each one we see the magnificence of our Creator and I just love that but I would I would have my I would do my morning prayers I'd have my cup of tea and I would sit down and I would set the intention for writing the book and and I always imagined that there was this person that had a had had a loss and and that I was writing the book for them and I thought if I would share if I could be brave enough courageous enough to really share some of my story that and invite the person to walk with me and my story that perhaps they could relate to what I'd been through and and the lessons that I had discovered and and that it might be encouraging to them so it really began there and that's exactly what you get when you're reading this book it's um you know she could have just written her memoir she could have just told her story it's it is fascinating she's been through a lot of heartache and a lot of tragedy that shaped her and through it she allowed the Lord to help her to handle it in a way that became very positive and centered around gratitude and so instead of just doing a memoir where you may have drawn your own conclusions and figured out ways that it spoke to you just like you're saying it's each chapter has a story that's from her life but it spins toward what is God saying to you about that very thing if it's strength or if it's loss or if it's love and I mean I I was wiping tears just I mean it spoke to me you might have been just writing it for me I don't know rum I think you're all going to really find that it's very you'll feel the Lord and the pages and it will be therapeutic in that way that sitting across from someone that's really we're very blessed to have her here today I just had all kinds of new respect for you not just I've always loved your work and I've loved you as a friend but to love you through your losses and your victories in those losses it's really just two different things so on that note maybe if I think you you don't gonna have time to share all the stories maybe I would love if you would share a little bit about your mom I don't many people may not know the story of your mother you know well they my mother she died when I was just 10 a week short of my 11th birthday and it was as if they lights had been turned out and all the color removed from my life she had been a very joyful person and and it was you know a real unexpected loss that she that she passed so quickly she died of a heart attack and it was no warning and I remember my father took me up to the cemetery I grew up in Northern Ireland if you hear a hint it's just a hint left I've been here a long time but I'm I'm Anna I'm an Irish girl and and I grew up in Northern Ireland and it's it's kind of a bit wet and windy up there to be honest and the northwest if anybody here has ever traveled to Ireland and and it was a very cold early spring day and I taken up a little bunch of pansies which were my mom's favorite flowers and she always said that the pansy looked like little butterflies and as I was putting the bunch of pansies on mom's grave a little butterfly flew up from behind the tombstone and my father said would you look at that little butterfly sure that could be your mother spirit right there and as a ten year old girl the idea that this beautiful little winged creature could represent the memory of my mother was tremendously comforting tremendously comforting the idea that my mother was still around and um my father said and when you see one you know you'll know that you're not on your own and so that's where this idea of the butterfly just became part of my you know my journey I I've seen butterflies my whole life they've just shown up when I needed them the most and not just in gardens but on a piece of jewelry or on at once out there was a tattoo on a woman's wrist in a diner and always at a time when I have been discouraged her feeling lonely or feeling unworthy or feeling insecure whatever the myriad of things you know that would that have happened in anybody's life right it's not every day is a good day right guys that a little butterfly would show up and so it's just been a real source of comfort for me but they've shown up in extraordinary ways you know and where it's very clear to me that when you have eyes to see and ears to hear and a heart to feel that that the little signs are everywhere the subtitle of the book is called box of butterflies but discovering the unexpected blessings all around us and if you imagine for a moment that your life is the box the box that the butterflies are in and the butterflies are the blessings that just keep showing up and here's the thing though they didn't always look like blessings I mean even losing my mom and there isn't a day that's gone by and it's well over 40 years ago there isn't a day goes by that I don't miss my that I think about my mom but you know one of the qualities that that had to develop in me with such an early loss was that I am naturally very compassionate to somebody else who is suffering because I know what it was to lose at such a young age and I feel that one of my gifts that God has given me is a compassionate heart and the gift of empathy is also something that God gave to me now if you cut to 25 years later in my life I was being asked to audition for a role to play an angel a character called Monica on a show called touched by an angel I'm sure of you who you might have seen it and and the very gifts that were required the job description said Monica has a lot of empathy she's very compassionate I was like oh this this could be a job for me you know in a sea of roles that you know if you if there if anybody knows anybody who's ever actors you get told no a million times before you hear yes you know and and you just have to learn that you can't be defined by what you do because then it would raise the question who are you if you're not doing it and but I remember when touched by an angel the opportunity first came up and the script first came in and I thought oh as a woman of faith the opportunity to play an angel to to be the messenger and to be able to share a message of God's love was an extraordinary privilege and that actually parlayed into your real life at so you know she did this role of Monica for nine years and it was filmed mostly in Salt Lake City Utah and on their off times and she of course you know what in real life was very very close to Della Reese who just passed on to heaven how many months three months yeah it's just a few months ago now yeah and so they took to doing things in their community that would show God's love to people including visiting sick kids in the hospital and there was just a touching story that you share in this book about how how the weight of the responsibility in on some days of knowing that wherever you went people thought they were seeing an angel yeah sometimes people would joke they'd say tell me you're real you know are you real but I tell you who got all the jokes I don't know if it did anybody here see touched by an angel yeah come on there we go so our actor who played Andrew the angel of death was a beautiful actor called John died and unfortunately passed away a few years ago very way too young but when he would get on airplanes you know you could see them getting a bit hot around the color that that maybe that wasn't the plane that you would want to be on he was just a beautiful man and dela oh my goodness there I don't even have words to tell you how much I loved not loved I loved her the first day that I met her in North Carolina we did end up shooting the entire series in Utah but the very first pilot episode we filmed in North Carolina and I wasn't told that she'd arrived on the set I had not met her before and I went over to the hair and makeup trailer to pay respects and and I went in and I I put out my hand politely to shake her hand and she just laughed this easy laughs and she said Oh baby she said I don't shake hands I hug and she just took me in her arms and she gave me the biggest warmest hug that I think I'd ever been given and it was just the beginning of a great a great great love affair and she was wise and smart and funny she called me baby girl and then that just sort of got picked up on the show you know sometimes those things we didn't know which started first did it start in the scripts or she I know though because I had Karen I was a young woman who had longed for a mother my whole life and Della Reese I'm sure it was God who brought us together stepped into my life as a as a mentor but as a mother and when we were filming her daughter passed and not long after she took me in her arms and she said you know baby girl god is so amazing because I always knew that he brought me into your life because you needed a mother I just didn't know that he was bringing you into my life because I was gonna need a baby girl she said will you be my daughter I say yeah she's at then I am your mama and she said she was always the one I would go to if I had confusion and their work there was a little bit of confusion in those early days on my part because I never wanted to pretend to be anything that I wasn't clearly I'm not an angel and my my family would be the first to say she's not I do my best but I I am you know like the rest of us I'm only human but teller was very wise and understanding that people you know the characters that we played appeared in your living room right I came into your living room every Sunday and you know you invited me in and you invited Ellen and John and we were we were there and touched by an angel so there's a I I think people just start seeing you as the characters you know and I living in Salt Lake it was a great community and I was raised in a home of faith and always encouraged to look for opportunities and ways to give back and so I was doing some volunteer work up at the local Children's Hospital and I was it was Christmas time I remember I had a an elf hat on and I was just going around really and seeing the mums and dads you know it was the the very young babies on the ward so they wouldn't have known who I was or cared but there are some of these young parents you know it you could just tell how scared they where and you know if you have anybody's ever had a sick child that's a terrifying experience and so you know they were delighted to see me taking pictures or or if they mum and dad weren't there I left a little Polaroid this is how old I am right remember Polaroids and and I'd leave a little note saying while you were you know at lunch or wherever if they weren't there an angel an angel came to see your baby you know loved Roma Downey just too trying to offer a little bit of comfort and wonder where I was walking in front of opened and it became apparent very quickly as they a gust of grief came out of the room that a child in this particular room had passed and the family was exiting in tears and so I didn't quite know where to put myself because I wanted to give them the dignity of their of the space of this awful moment I took off my elf hat and I tried to sort of squeeze against the wall and the mother said Monica is that you and she said I pray that angels would come for my baby and here you are and I didn't quite know what to say to her because part of me wanted to say well well I'm not an angel I mean but of course I didn't say anything I just took her in my arms and I held her and I prayed with her and I held her some more and she she got herself together and she said thank you thank you so much and they walked down the hall and they left and I was quite upset when I got home I was upset you know it was upsetting I got home and I called della ever wise della always just knew the right thing to say and she said I understand you're upset baby the little baby passes that's tragic it's very sad yes and she says but isn't it great you were there I said I know but she thought the God had sent an angel to which della said and who said he didn't she said to me if we're gonna be used on touched by an angel then we have to get out of the way she said you gotta learn to get out of the way and just allow God to work through you and I remember Pastor Rick Warren shared with me once Karen he said the most dangerous prayer that you can say is Lord use because they didn't you have to be ready that he might just do so so it was an incredible journey on touched by an angel for all of us but it was sure was lovely to be part of a show that took a premise that there is a God and that He loves us and that he wants to be a part of our lives and you know of course we we watched Romo leave that series and then go on to do some other extraordinary things including with your husband with Mark the Bible series that open the eyes to millions of people about the Bible just open their eyes to something they hadn't even considered before and can you I'd love to have you to share a little bit about the battle you faced even trying to bring that to the sky yes of course Mary as well oh yeah well Karen you know by I often joke that because friends say to me how did you work with your own husband I can't even do the dishes with my husband you know I my husband is a a great producer and and a great husband a great father and a great man of God so his name is Mark and over a cup of tea you know honestly when when you read my book you say that most things in my life happened there was a cup of tea involved I wish I don't know you y'all made me drink more coffee a tea drinker and there's something about the ritual of making a cup of tea that just requires you to slow down a little bit you know because you have to put the kettle on it has to boil that's the critical rolling boil is and then you know and then you have you know is there's a process there's a ritual and and when I look over the course of my life all the the tragedies and the triumphs there was a cup of tea in my house you know they would say oh my goodness there's been a death in the family we're like let's have a cup of tea or Oh Sheamus is gettin married oh it's great let's have a cup of tea we will just have a cup of tea so my mark and I sat down over a cup of tea and I would had felt the call and in my heart that we should bring the Bible to the screen to television and it was just when it was just like a little germ of an idea and Omar said what are you thinking and I said well the Bible he's like well which story I was like well no the whole Bible the whole Bible gonna take two cups of tea [Laughter] so anyway thus began this epic journey together to bring the Bible to the screen and as we started to discussing you know there's clearly a very you know a Herculean task to say the least and as we began exploring who you know where it could happen or you know what what it would cost to make that happen how we could break it down we started meeting with a tremendous amount of resistance and from you know from people in our own industry saying don't you don't think you should be doing that's you know it's in who would want to watch the Bible on television and I was like what some people said you don't want that associated you know what your name associated with it that's right could that could really ruin your career and you know you'll you you do not lose not only your investment you'd lose your reputation and anyway thankfully we didn't listen to any of those people and we went ahead and we made the and over a hundred million people watched it come on now it's amazing right it's all God we were up against a program called The Walking Dead and and the Bible will beat The Walking Dead and and and one of the news outlets ran with my favorite headline of that period that said god beats the zombies it's just lovely right but it was an extraordinary journey to put it together and not without stress and complication but but we prayed every step of the way there was so much prayer in that series for every decision that was made beginning of course with the with the writing and you know and what stories to include and particularly from the Old Testament you know there was a natural narrative once we got into these the life of Jesus there's a you know as the unfolding of of his story and his mission but in the Old Testament it was more complicated to try to link the stories together you know and yet the through line of course was that the Jesus was always coming and we can see written to the Old Testament where you know where where he they're they allude to and I tell the story in the book about Abraham Karen the scene with Abraham did anybody see the Bible series yes yeah a few and for the recipe that didn't coming into the Easter season it's really a wonderful series just to just to remind you of how magnificent our God is but there was a scene in in the series where Abraham is taking his son Isaac up the mountain if you remember God asked Abraham to sacrifice Isaac and they're carrying up some wood in our in our film for the for the sacrifice and the piece of music that plays over that sequence is the same piece of music by the great handsomer that we'll play again later when Jesus is carrying the wood to his sacrifice and so we try to layer in the through-line of course that Jesus was coming the scene and I know we're running are we running low on time is that probably true I gotta take some questions okay but I the scene where Jesus is crucified and you have your tremendous and god-given actor if it's yes and the snakes yes I just that's the fascinating extraordinary isn't it yeah they we we had a man on the set we filmed in Morocco and honestly I had dust in places I didn't know existed it was so dry beautiful but incredibly dry and we had a man whose job it was to clear the set of snakes and scorpions no I'm not kidding you and just the fact that that was somebody's job you know you're like oh my goodness that means there are snakes and scorpions here and so it was the crucifixion and you know we had all been you know it was a it was a dangerous piece to film because we had to put a man on a cross we had to make sure that a cross was bolted and the ground and that there was never any moment or danger of that cross falling over and that actor getting killed you know there were high winds there were a lot of challenges and I myself had stepped into the role of playing Mary the mother of Jesus and so I was up there in the morning with with my husband organizing the set but I was already in my sandals and my costume but we had reached out in a large prayer circle asking people to pray that day that that it would be safe and that it would be that we would do the scene justice that we could bring honor to the scene that it would touch people's hearts that it would open their hearts to Jesus we prayed we were praying all this under the scene when I got up to the Sattar early early morning the snake man who on any given day maybe there was two maybe three snakes that's what he had a a cloth bag on the day of the crucifixion he went up and cleared around the foot of where the cross was he had taken out over 40 snakes and he had a bag that was moving up by the cross and you know all of us there that that were believers all just looked at each other and it's like you know with the symbolism of the snake and what had just been cleared it would felt very powerful and it was for those you know of us who have seen that scene you now to know what spiritual battle was going on behind the scenes it just I I really want to thank you Roma for being brave you know it's you're a little girl and you're ten and you live in Ireland and you love your mom and you don't even have a clue what God has ahead for you and you go through this heartbreaking loss and then lose your dad your first year of college when he has sent you off to do this tremendous thing and believes in you as an actor my dad believed in me as an author so I understand that but to come to Hollywood where it's big and scary and to stand up in your little size and just say I'm gonna stand for Jesus and I'm gonna make this work in a way that brings people closer to him I'm a kid I just want to thank her [Applause] so many more stories and you know someone gives me a flag and says we have time then oh well I already wanted to if it is my last story and I don't know that it is but I'm Irish I could just keep talking but I wanted to just tell you how the book got its title because and it's a romantic story and for all the men in the room the pressure is gonna be on now because my husband a few years ago for Valentine's Day now remember I told you the butterfly is deeply significant in my life he gave me a very special gift he gave me a white box with a gardenia on the top and he said to take it out into the garden and open it very gently and so I did and when I took the lid out off and when I took the lid off out flew all these real butterflies and he given me a box of butterflies and it was the most beautiful meaningful gift and I you know it just made me weep with joy that he loved me in that way and that he you know wanted to do something so special and at the time I was writing the book and I thought box of butterflies box of butterflies that's pretty titled as now I thought that's I'm gonna call my book box the butterflies and so that's where it came from and I love that you have all these stories that are real that are your life but you sat down and wrote them with all of these friends these sweet people who are gonna read your book you wrote it with them in mind and we were talking about this before that it's a very vulnerable thing to write a book because you know I've read before that you know an author just cuts open a vein and pours it out onto the page you know it's it's a very deep thing to write a book when I write I get to hide behind characters like you're acting but to write your memoir to share these beautiful stories that are so deep and to do so in a way that comes up with a theme that will directly relate to each of you you every one of these chapters you were gonna walk away feeling like Roma just gave you a piece of her heart and I really I'm really just I'm touched by that I'm very glad you took the chance to write this thank you thank you well I you know it's like sometimes you there's a little bit of learning and I and I think that I realize that all of the stuff that happened you know the sunshine and the shadows it's all been a gift you know I think that's what I've have I had to conclude because even in the tragedy there was blessing and you know there were things that you didn't know at the time you know at the time I think I just wish this would be taken away from me I wish I didn't have to feel this way but it's only afterwards you go gosh if I hadn't been I hadn't gone through that I wouldn't have wouldn't have met that person and this wouldn't have happened and I you know there's like there's just a blessing and everything and that's where we just you know it's just a trust and then it becomes about what if you can really trust God you know then then it's all a gift one of the things that you also said just you know I'd love for you to kill me but we can I know we have a few questions right Becky do we but your emphasis on gratitude and I think you know some people might look at Roma Downey and say well I mean you know you you have it all and you've been an actress and now you have a book and and maybe not know about the heartache in her story and yet one of the things is she grabbed on to from God early on as she was walking out this journey of her life is gratitude and she actually incorporates it into her day in very specific ways can you just share that yeah of course I can cuz this one now you'll take this home with you and you'll never forget this when you get up in the morning and your first foot hits the floor right thank you second foot comes in thank you and then all your way into the bathroom say thank you God thank you and just start your day with a grateful heart it makes all the difference it really does no matter what you have there's something you can be thankful for right I know in my life that comparison is the thief of joy you know we could sit here and go well I don't have you know I'm saying I've got these nice red boots on but I mean look at your shoes are gorgeous right so I could immediately think I wish I had your shoes okay what about but it's the minute we look over there you think I wish I had that instead of just being really grateful for what you got and count your blessings so when your foot hits the floor tomorrow morning say thank your second foot hits the floor say you all the way into the bathroom thank you God so questions Becky okay do you want to come up and just use the microphone or do you want us here oh okay for me to read great okay oh good okay great all right this is a question that says miss Downey you are such a woman of faith and inspiration how or what do you do daily to keep your faith so strong oh it's a good question yes I I have a I pray I have morning prayer I I have a devotional called Jesus calling that I really love to read and then it usually sends me to scripture you know specific scripture that speaks to that thought for the day it's really I like it because it's written in a very intimate way and and I feel like I'm you know it helps me forget in communion and start my day in gratitude really then throughout the day you know I think nature is very important to me in that I really see the beauty of creation in it and it throws me again into gratitude for I love being near the ocean and and so that becomes part of my ritual is walking walking and praying and you know and I guess you know I I I think throughout the day I probably am you know when I remember it I try to think of thank thanking God when I wash my hands the reason I attach it to real tangible things as because the day's get so full don't they we get so busy and we're also distracted we're all on our phones you know and we're well I am I'm not talking about you guys I can only talk about me I know I get distracted and I get busy and I get overwhelmed I'm in a deadline driven business and so you know there's a lot to do and I you know and then I go in and maybe I'm going and I go to wash my hands and I've I've trained myself that when the water hits my hands I'll say thank you God you know thank you for this day and so it's just that when the water hits my hands because you think oh how could I wouldn't forget about God all day how could I forget about Jesus throughout the day but the day gets busy and so I just have a few little things just to help remind me but it's so important that we remember and then not beat ourselves up if we forget to be grateful when we remember and say thank you it's so good I don't know about the rest of you I know I have one too it's um brushing my teeth I mean it's just I'm going to be walking with Jesus through the day and I hate when I realized at the end of the day that oh my goodness where'd the hours go and I haven't even talked to the Lord in 8 hours or something but usually I'm walking with him but when it gets to the time of brushing my teeth to praise time scene they have it two minutes so you just have to like the toothbrush just will never stop it just keeps going and always during that time I pray so it's good to have that yeah I think it's just it just anchors it to something that you remember that's all and it's a it's good also to try and turn you know I try to turn the phone off you know and take and and that's where nature helps just to step outside and look at the sky or you know yeah we I love that going outside and just sort of saying God's got this mmm whatever it is whatever it is you're dealing with he's got it and I mean I know some of you in here and I know some of the stuff you've been through and it's not easy but you step outside and you just remember he created the universe he created you and he's got a plan it's gonna be okay and we need to remind each other of that okay this is a good one mm-hmm can you and Karen talk about the process of turning a book series into a TV series come on okay well I think we should at least just tell everybody what we're doing yes and Karen and I are not only great friends and we are great friends but we are business partners because Karen as you know has created an amazing book series around a family the Baxter family and my company is lightworkers media we're part of MGM studios and we are going to be working together to bring the Baxters to the screen [Applause] with well packer some of the team are here in the room and we're so excited and it's you know it's really happening the train is leaving the station yes train is leaving the station we have several people here who I'm working with now on a regular basis I've read the pilot and we initially announced that it was going to be a shorter form and now that's kind of changed to a longer form it's it's a work in progress and it is a work in progress that's part of it I think is we have had beautiful meetings at my house at her house where you know Katie Christian is here and new Jaime who's here where we've been able to talk about the heart behind this and we pray Katie makes a point that we pray for every conversation that we have whether it's on the phone or whether in person we're going to pray before that for God's direction because it's a super hard business to navigate a very difficult you know to be able to get a bead on where should this be how long should it be that kind of thing and the dream is that they'll be longer episodes at some point for sure the script the pilot and Episode two I've already read both and loved them and Katie is my aya it's like you're my other twin sister or something I mean you're young enough to be my daughter so I guess my twin daughter but she is on the like in the girl on the ground with it she sees something that comes along and she reads it and she knows the series and loves the series as much as Roma and idea it's fun and and what we're able to do because we're we're producing it ourselves is that we get to have that creative control over it you know because the Baxters are a family of faith and the concern is that you know if that it goes to end up somewhere else you know there's things get diluted you know there aren't that many shows that really speaks about people of faith and families that will pray together and although this family is is your average family with all the the challenges of the joys and the tragedies of any given family it's such a wonderful rich series the characters are so beautifully created Karen it's gonna make for really really really great viewing we're so excited I see people I see TVs clapping over there it's it's like and and what's beautiful is like now where we're at is like every episodes covering a couple chapters where the book redemption so we're right at the beginning we're not trying to morph it all into one story or I mean we're really going right back to the very beginning so they're hard there's some hard topics in that yes and they're all going to be there but dealt with the way we told that in the book and in a way that brings glory to God and hope to you so I'm excited yeah I'm excited too it's gonna be beautiful stay tuned yes okay in the book box of butterflies what's your heart's favorite verse or passage of Scripture well you know it would be hard for me not to select the 23rd psalm only because it was my dad's favorite and you know and the theme when you read the book you'll see that that my dad shared with me when I was just a teenage girl the poem footprints you know that one yeah and and I love that one I love the the that the person reflecting on the beach wondered why in times of trouble there was only one set of footprints and of course Jesus said because you know it was then that I carried you and so as this theme emerged through my life and you consider that the Lord is my shepherd and I shall not want it say it's them you know it just resonates with me I I read the 23rd psalm at my father's funeral and so it's um with his rod and his staff he brings me comfort so I've always found great comfort in it and there's that picture the famous picture of Jesus carrying the little lamb yes and very much like the footprints palm you know that at that time it wasn't Shepherd and lamb with two separate sets of footprints but just the one he carries us it's Scripture right in the Bible beautiful yeah okay what inspires you to produce good quality movies so we know that you do yes and what's behind that we kind of know that but just yeah it's well I you know one of defy God with my life and my work and you know if the job is worth doing it's worth doing well right so we have had so much fun developing our company to lightworkers and this last year we were able to go up if perhaps tomorrow when you're at home you can all jump online and take a look at lightworkers comm and it's my site where we have the beautiful inspirational content uplifting stories stories of people overcoming people you know a number of series celebrity interviews where people have shared their heart we've got Karen on there gave us a beautiful interview tons and tons of lovely content that we've got something called 37 seconds of good news and I don't care how busy you are you must have 37 seconds to hear some good news you know I think that we are all we're living in such frazzled times fragmented people are hurting people are struggling it's scary out there between the storms and the violence and our schools and I think it would be easy to forget that there are still good things happening in our world and so I was committed with lightworkers to making sure that we would be reminded that there are still good people in the world doing good things and we wanted to celebrate them at lightworkers and tell their story and so that's what I've really been up to you can you know come over and find those things and that's been I think really important I think we need to make more noise for the good guys and so that's what we've been up to well maybe we can close there are just so many beautiful stories and box of butterflies you are going to treasure this book one that I think would be maybe a neat closing story for you to share with us your mom's China oh yeah and I mean in some ways your mom's China you know when you hear this story be thinking about what it took for for Romo who like she said she was nervous when she came out here she said Carrie this is only my second book event in my life like this is crazy to be out here and it's vulnerable for her to be out here she came out here for you and that's why she put this book together was for you the things that God would have for you to take away I always say God puts a story on the heart of an author but he has you in mind and so there's in some ways that connects to the story of your mom's China and how you learned what how to take what was precious to you and share it so yeah yes thank you I could listen to you all day my my I grew up in a a wee little house I grew up in a small house in Ireland and we had a room at the front of the house that was called the good room and we weren't as children we weren't allowed in the good room so we were all squeezed in the back of the house cuz the good room was the good room you know and my mother kept it under lock and key because there might be visitors you know but although I don't ever remember really having too many visitors but within the good room she had a little china cabinet and in it she kept her precious things like her wedding China or is some nice pieces of crystal some beautiful items that she had she didn't have a lot but what she had she kept in this cabinet which was also under lock and key now I grew up in Northern Ireland as I mentioned at the beginning of our time together and without going into the the political landscape at that time there was a the British Army had been sent to Northern Ireland as a to keep the peace and and it all kind of turned ugly and it was a really violent time in our community but there were tanks and guns and armored cars on the street and on the hill that I lived on the Saracens their military armored cars would come up the hill and when they come up with the hill the whole house vibrated the whole house shook and so one day we were in the back kitchen my mother was preparing something to eat and we could feel the house shaking and so we knew the army was going up the hill and then suddenly we heard this smash coming from the good room and my mother threw her hands to her face and went running down the little hallway and she got the key from above the door and she opened the door and she ran into the good room and there on the floor of the china cabinet the little glass shelf in the middle had smashed with the vibration of the truck and all her China was broken and I remember she got down on her knees and she was kind of cradling these little pieces you know now my mother died not a year after that and you couldn't help but wonder what was she saving it all for you know what was she saving it for my wedding you know our birth of our children this is such a shame but it made me think of all the gifts inside myself you know or all the things that I want to do that you might delay I'm saving it I'm gonna be happy when I get there I'm gonna do that once I get over there once you know well when the kids graduate then we can do that all the things that we postpone in our lives or all the things inside of us that the Lord gave us that we don't use you know I always think I should have done that maybe I you know maybe I should right maybe I should you know whatever it is to it you know don't what are you waiting for it's like it's only fear that stops us and I often think of my mother in the good room and you know in the good room that lives inside of us and how we were each designed to share what we've got and to use what we've got so and so we will now thank Roma for taking the key thank you thank you all for coming thank you thank you Karen and just for taking the key to your very good room and letting us all be a part of it and where do we go next for the signing you have some direction because that way thank you all very god bless you [Music] you

Channel: Nashville Public Library

Views: 4,272

Rating: 4.875 out of 5

Keywords: Roma Downey, karen kingsbury

Id: mWJ11VZWNAk

Length: 58min 30sec (3510 seconds)

Published: Tue Jun 05 2018