Lakewood Church Pastor Joel Osteen dedicated his Sunday message to Hurricane Harvey following a week of scrutiny when his church's doors were closed in the early aftermath.
"We're not going to understand everything that happens, but having a 'poor old me' mentality or 'look what I lost' or 'why did this happen,' you know, that's just going to pull you down," he said.
“God won’t allow it unless he has a purpose for it,” he said. “We may not see it at the time, but that’s what faith is all about ... He’s got you in the palm of his hand. He’s working in your behalf right now, behind the scenes, he’s lining up things in your favor.
Osteen put an added focus on moving on recovering after the storm.
“So let’s don’t have a victim mentality, let’s have a restoration mentality,” he continued. “Lord, we thank you, that you’re going to pay back what belongs to us.”
As people remain split on the truth, some church members alleged that the church was unable to house displaced Texans due to parts of the building being flooded. Filmmaker Tyler Perry said in a video that he spoke with Osteen and Osteen's wife, Victoria, and was told that there were safety concerns.
“It’s easy for somebody from a distance to make judgments without having all the information,” Osteen said amid the controversy. “Some people that don’t have the facts and people who don’t want to have the facts will continue to try to stir things up.”