Darryl Strawberry knows all about God’s grace and turning things around. During and after a stellar Major League Baseball career in which he helped two teams win a total of four World Series titles and hit 335 homeruns, Strawberry endured drug addiction, marriage challenges, prison time and battles with cancer.
Now a pastor and preacher of God’s Word, Strawberry wants to remind you that, no matter what has transpired in your own life, God can renew you and that you can overcome anything—that God can turn things around for you if only you ask for forgiveness and surrender your life to him.
He’s living proof there is redemption in Jesus Christ.
“My baseball career was set up because I was broken inside, because of the rejection on my life from my father, who was an alcoholic,” Strawberry told Dr. Steve Greene on a recent episode of Greenelines on the Charisma Podcast Network. “The platform of who I was, God would eventually use that for His glory.
“I was broken. Brokenness is real. Lawlessness brings about brokenness. The pain of who I was led me to greatness, but it would also eventually lead me into a destructive behavior because I didn’t get well. The wounds and the scars are real, and the pain was real. The great thing is that I eventually ended up leading my father to the Lord.
“I think a lot of people don’t realize that God uses every piece of our life—the broken pieces, the good pieces—to turn it around for His good. We’re still not good enough until we find Him. All that I went through, it was right for a time such as this, just so I could help that young man across the street. Everything God does for us is so that we can impact others and change the world. I’m just glad that God was able to find me and my broken pieces at the worst time of my life and then call me and qualify me and equip me to put me in the pulpit. It’s incredible how good God really is when people understand.”
And now, at 58, Strawberry travels the world with his wife, Tracy, preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ while teaching those who will listen how to navigate many of life’s most difficult challenges.
For more of how God miraculously turned Strawberry’s life around, listen to the rest of this Greenelines podcast here and be sure to subscribe for more stories like this. {eoa}
