Answered Prayers is not only a something we all seek but it’s also the title of a new show on TLC this summer hosted by the actress Roma Downey and co-produced by her and her husband Mark Burnett. Guideposts Executive Editor Rick Hamlin caught up with Downey to discuss the show and how God has answered her prayers.
RICK HAMLIN: Where did you get the idea for Answered Prayers?
ROMA DOWNEY: It began with me not being able to watch the nightly news. Mark and I would put it on at the end of a long day, trying to catch up with what was happening around the world. The things we’d see were so sad, so upsetting. It seemed to be an endless cycle of bad news. In an exasperated moment I said to Mark, “Where is all the good news? I wish there was a good news channel.”
At once my heart lifted. What would a good news channel look like? Yes, bad stuff does happen, but there is also good. Prayer is a power we’ve known to be true in our lives. We’ve seen it at work. So we put a call out for true stories about answered prayers. We were inundated. When I first went through the stories, I was a mess, sitting here weeping. I went through boxes of hankies. I was profoundly moved.
Someone would call out to the Lord in agony and out of nowhere help would come. People who didn’t even know why they went down a certain road. There would be no logical explanation. When I was on Touched by an Angel we used to say that coincidence is God’s way of remaining anonymous. Here you could see God at work. There’s a story on the show of a family in a tornado and the mother hears a still small voice telling her to go get her kids.
RH: How do you hear God’s voice?
RD: I have to be silent and somewhere that’s quiet. We live in such a noisy world. It’s overly stimulating. We’re bombarded by computers, laptops, phones, texts, Twitter which we use to communicate. I need to find the stillness.
I’m blessed to live near the ocean. I have a special bench where I like to sit. I feel connected to God when I’m in nature. I love being in church but when I’m in a beautiful place in the mountains or next to the ocean it can still my mind. The voice I look for speaks through my heart. It’s less of a head voice – all my fears and doubts come through my head – but it comes to my heart. A deeper knowing. Every decision I’ve ever made, I’ve prayed about. I look for the compass that plays in your heart.
As a child I wondered how to hear God’s voice. I thought maybe it would be a big deep actor’s voice. My father suggested that it might in fact sound like my own voice. You know it when you hear it. I can look back at times when I acted upon that voice and when I ignored it. What a mess I made when I ignored it
RH: How has God answered your prayers?
RD: I look at the people in my life. I think of my love and affection for Della Reese. My mother died when I was young and I had been searching for that mother love for years. The first time I met Della was on the set of Touched by an Angel she didn’t just shake my hand, she took me in her arms and held me. “Baby girl,” she said, “I’m your momma.” It was so beautiful. Her friendship was such an answer to prayer and still is.
But then, during our filming of the show, her only daughter died. It was heartbreaking, but Della could still see God at work. “I always knew God brought you in my life,” she said, “because you needed it. I didn’t realize He was bringing you into my life because I needed a baby girl.”
My own beloved husband was an answer to prayer. Della suggested I turn to God when I was hoping to get married. “Ask God to choose a husband for you. Hand it over to Him.” I did. And one day I was getting a manicure and pedicure and I looked in the mirror at a man who was getting his hair cut. Our eyes met. That was Mark.
The show is full of stories of answered prayer, even love stories like that. It’s a summer show. You can watch it with your family. You’re meant to curl up on the couch with your kids. You don’t have to sit with your finger on the remote. You’ll see how God works in people’s lives and how prayer changes everything.
Answered Prayers premieres Sunday, July 26th at 10pm ET/9pm CT on TLC.
