In the show "Greenleaf," Deborah Joy Winans plays Charity Greenleaf-Satterlee, a pregnant woman who just discovered that her husband, Kevin Satterlee (Tye White), is gay.
It's a painful discovery for any woman, and Winans says if Charity were her friend, she would advise her to consider everything and lean on God for support.
"I would tell her to really get on her knees and pray about it," she told The Christian Post. "When you're married and you have that covenant then you bring kids into the world, you have to consider all of that before you make such a big decision."
Kevin has never cheated on his wife with another man, and even told Charity that he's willing to go to therapy for her. But Winans says that provides little comfort for any woman.
"Whoever that Charity is in life — that's a lot that they have to consider and handle. But I know that it's never too much for God," she says. "Whatever you're going through, it can be the Charity situation or it can be worse — it's not taking God by surprise and it's never too much for Him."
Winans says she's really grateful to be a part of the show, because she gets to reflect on her own faith in God when playing Charity.
"I often get on the stage as Charity ready to sing whatever song we have for that episode on that stage in the church and reflect on just the emotional state that I'm in when I'm in a great place of worship," she says. "It causes me to reflect and make sure that I'm trying to do this in a very pure way. That's the best worship you can get when the worship leader is there with no other intentions and ready to sing their heart out for the Lord."
A lot of people have observed that the show, which is produced by Oprah Winfrey's OWN network, has a lot of parallels to the megachurch built by Bishop T.D. Jakes.
However, Winfrey says the show is not based on Jakes' life, and the controversies that plague the Greenleaf family are all their own.
"I spoke to T.D. Jakes and said, 'I just want you to know I'm doing a show about a megachurch and the only resemblance to you, is that our main character is called Bishop and you're a bishop.' And he says, 'I'm happy to hear that because I've heard something's about it,'" Winfrey shared with Eurweb.
