A version of this story appeared in the Higher Ground newsletter from The Washington Times. Click here to receive Higher Ground delivered directly to your inbox each Sunday.
Dodie Osteen, a co-founder of the Houston megachurch now led by her son Joel Osteen, turns 90 on Sunday — a milestone her doctors had told her she would not see.
Physicians gave her a diagnosis of metastatic liver cancer in December 1981 and estimated she had only weeks to live. She and her husband, John Osteen, rejected the diagnosis and turned to prayer.
The next day, the couple lay at the foot of their bed and “there just happened to be a Bible there,” Mrs. Osteen told The Washington Times.
The pages opened to the Book of Nahum in the Old Testament, and their eyes fell on 1:9, which reads in part, “affliction shall not rise up the second time.”
Her husband uttered a prayer, she said. “I remember so, so well. He said, ‘Father, I need her, Jesus, you need her, the children need her, and the church needs her.’”
The prayers continued. As she walked around her home or down the driveway to collect the mail, she would offer a prayer of thanks for her healing. She copied Bible verses about healing and affixed them to the mirror, and posted photos of herself in good health and being active.
Three weeks later, she stood in the pulpit and prayed for the sick. She’s still at it today, for those who attend Lakewood Church in person and for followers who sign up for one of her monthly Zoom calls.
Founded in an empty feed store in 1959, Lakewood Church now meets in the 16,800-seat former Compaq Center arena. The building, an unofficial city landmark, is generally packed for three services each weekend, two in English and one in Spanish. Millions more catch services via YouTube, Facebook, Roku, Apple TV and SiriusXM satellite radio, a church spokeswoman said.
Joel Osteen, who became Lakewood’s senior pastor after his father died in 1999, is the “face” of the ministry, but he said his mother’s prayer ministry remains a draw.
“People come from all over the world to have my mother pray for them,” Mr. Osteen told The Times. “Once a month, she has [a] prayer service. It’s a huge part of who we are. My mom loves to pray.”
Dodie Osteen said interceding for those in need is a fulfilling ministry.
“I love to pray for the sick,” she said in a telephone interview. “I went through cancer and Jesus healed me in 1981, and I’m telling you, if I hadn’t prayed for the sick all these years, I don’t know what I would have done. It’s just my life. I just live to pray for people.”
Her eldest son, Paul Osteen, a surgeon who leads medical missions for Lakewood, doesn’t doubt that the healing was authentic. At his medical school graduation in the fall of 1981, Dr. Osteen noticed his mother’s jaundiced condition and said she needed to be examined.
“I was there, and I saw the results of the scans and I saw the results of the biopsy,” Dr. Osteen told The Times. “I know it wasn’t a misdiagnosis. Mama just didn’t get over something. She had a diagnosis from a reputable institution of cancer that had metastasized to her liver. So I mean, people just don’t survive that. She had multiple lesions that are different. … It’s just a remarkable miracle. It’s one of those things you can’t explain other than just to say, ‘God healed her.’”
Cancer healing not first miracle
Decades before the healing of metastatic liver cancer, the Osteens faced another medical dilemma. This one changed their lives and gave rise to Lakewood’s founding.
In 1958, the couple’s daughter Lisa was born with the umbilical cord wrapped around her neck. Although the hospital “didn’t think it was bad, we’d just have to wait and see,” Mrs. Osteen recalled.
“We brought her home, didn’t know anything was wrong, and then all of a sudden, we noticed she couldn’t move or anything, and actually she wouldn’t eat,” she said.
The Osteens were Southern Baptists, and John Osteen pastored a congregation in Houston at the time. Confronting Lisa’s illness, he spent a night in prayer, seeking what his wife called “the baptism in the Holy Ghost and with the evidence of speaking in tongues and so forth. It was just a change for all of us.”
By the time Lisa approached her first birthday, she was walking, Mrs. Osteen said. Today, Lisa Osteen Comes is healthy, is married with children and serves as an associate pastor at Lakewood.
“My mother has been a tower of strength for our family, leaving us a legacy that will influence our children and generations to come,” Mrs. Comes said via text message. “She has taught us by example what it means to love God and serve Him in all we do. To this day, I know that my mother will pray for me and my family every day without fail.”
Asked to sum up his mother’s life, Dr. Osteen said her persistence in the face of setbacks such as Lisa’s illness and her cancer diagnosis is notable.
“You know, at any point in time, she could have given up, could have quit or she could have not, not overcome,” Dr. Osteen said. “She’s just kept going.”
When Mrs. Osteen heard her son say they would ask her what she is planning for the next 10 years at church on Sunday, she jumped in to comment.
“I want to please my children,” she said. “I don’t want to give up on my children. I mean, if they expect me to, I need to do it.”
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