Rediscovering 'Touched by an Angel'
It's better than you might remember
Remember these lyrics?
“When you walk down the road, heavy burden, heavy load. I will rise, and I will walk with you.”
These are the opening words to the 1994 TV series “Touched by an Angel.” It premiered years after the series “Highway to Heaven,” and while I liked both, watching TBAA again really surprised me.
I recently rediscovered this show on Paramount+ (you can watch it on other streaming services, too) and I have been down the rabbit hole of watching as many episodes as I could find. What surprised me was that I didn’t remember the insightful and adult content.
While my memory recalled a sappy, saccharine show, watching it again revealed a show full of complicated plots and diverse characters. And did you realize it ran nine years, from 1994 to 2003?
Hey, I’m not saying this show is better than anything on television (it did win several primetime Emmys), but these plots made my head spin: a former college call girl married to a man running for congress; an undocumented immigrant boy looking for a family; a homeless man sheds his pride; a successful teen tries to commit suicide.
Broken families and relationships featured heavily in the series.
Sure, there were the requisite sad stories about a child dying of a heart condition and a boy whose mother ran away after her daughter died, but these stories were told with beauty, dignity, and joy.
And the most repeated words in the series? “God loves you.” This is what TV watchers need right now.
Roma Downey, Della Reese starred as the main angels, whose missions to help people sometimes invited the angel of death, played by John Dye.
I have to admit I cried cleansing tears at several episodes, just like I did at “Highway to Heaven,” starring Michael Landon. But I had forgotten the joy of “Touched by an Angel,” and its beautiful song.
Here is the full rendition by Della Reese.
Your sister in Christ,
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Yvette Walker is a journalist, educator, and the founder of Positively Joy Ministries. Her ministry supports this blog, a podcast, publishing her many books and opportunities to share the message of joy.
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