Joel Osteen's Mother Says Miracle Healing Is Real, Shares Family Stories in New Book, 'If My Heart Could Talk'
Dolores "Dodie" Osteen, widow of Lakewood church founder John Osteen, and mother of famous megachurch Pastor Joel Osteen, said during an interview that healing miracles are real, pointing to her own miraculous recovery from cancer.
"I could have died when I was 48," Osteen said in an interview with the Houston Chronicle, referring to her metastatic liver cancer.
"Now I'm 82, and I'm working for Him. I want people to know that God is a good god. He does want to answer prayers. All we have to do is have faith and hope. Sometimes life is hard, but God helps us get through," she added.
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Osteen shared in her new autobiography If My Heart Could Talk several similar miracles that she says her family has received, with her child, Lisa, somehow keeping from serious injury when a package bomb sent to the church exploded in her lap, and when Joel almost had a serious car accident on a Houston freeway.
The matriarch explained that she felt God speak to her and encourage her to turn to her faith when she was diagnosed with cancer.
"From that day on I did my best to build my faith every single day. ... I did my best to live my life as if God had already healed me. I did all of the normal household chores I could, and I never stopped envisioning myself healed and whole," Osteen said.
Osteen has opened up about her cancer experience in the past, including at a 2012 "Night of Hope" event in Washington. D.C.
She explained that before she started feeling heeled, she weighed only 89 pounds and her skin was "yellow" as could be. Another thing that helped her cope, however, was her dedication to write letters asking for forgiveness from anyone she might have offended, including her children.
"I think unforgiveness in your heart is like poison in your body," she said back in 2012. "You might say 'I can't forgive,' you can with God's help."
At the time she couldn't even receive chemo treatment because doctors did not know where the primary tumor was.
"But I found the place where it was written, and I read all those Scriptures and I still read them because they are like my medication every day I take," she said.
Pastor Joel Osteen continues holding "Night of Hope" events across America, focusing on a message of positivity. Last week, he argued that he isn't cheating anyone by not talking about hell and repentance, insisting that people have enough things to feel guilty about.
"You know, it's not hellfire and brimstone. But I say most people are beaten down enough by life. They already feel guilty enough. They're not doing what they should, raising their kids — we can all find reasons," the pastor said during an interview with CBS News' "Sunday Morning" program. So I want them to come to Lakewood or our meetings and be lifted up, to say, 'You know what? I may not be perfect, but I'm moving forward. I'm doing better.' And I think that motivates you to do better."
