During the celebration of life service held for co-founder and president, Joni Lamb, Lakewood Church lead pastor, Pastor Joel Osteen gave some touching remarks about how his friendship with her was filled with encouragement and hope.
“Joni was a strong woman and she, and I saw the fight in Joni, the determination and the courage and the resiliency,” he said.
Osteen mentioned how he first heard about Lamb having some health struggles back in the early spring, which led him to send her a text message.
“I sent Joni a text, and I just told her…’Victoria and I are praying for you, you’re going to come through this…’ I was just going to do a little short text, but I just kept telling her more,” Osteen recounted.
“Just telling her what she meant to our family….I didn’t think anything odd, just trying to encourage her, and just telling her what she meant to the kingdom, and how many people loved her and just my little text turned into something a lot longer, but you know what? Holy Spirit was giving it to me. Well, I never dreamed two months later I’d be standing here,” he continued.
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Osteen now sees this as a great privilege and opportunity that he was given to share that communication with Lamb.
“I’m glad I got to tell her how I felt about her…think it’s a good lesson to follow the Holy Spirit and tell the people in your life how much you love them because, you know I hope we all live another hundred years, but if we don’t it’s nice to not have any regrets. I feel like I did get to tell Joni that.”
Osteen then shared about how Lamb responded to his message.
“Joni texted me right back and she said…some kind things about me, but then ‘I’m in the fight of my life, and this is difficult.’ I didn’t see that coming. She had a little crying face emoji…I told Victoria, ‘she must be fighting a real battle.'”
He also noted that Lamb said she would make it through the situation.
“…never heard Joni complain,” Osteen stated. “Never heard her say, ‘Why me?’ and all that. She fought the good fight of faith, and I think about even in the Bible it talks about many of the saints of old that died in faith. And I think about Joni. She didn’t die angry, she didn’t die complaining…she died in faith.”
Prepared by Charisma Media Staff.
