Preview:
Darryl Strawberry: Inside I had nothing. I was empty inside. I was bankrupt inside, you know, and I needed to fulfill what was going on inside of me. So I used, I used drugs. I was a liar. I was a cheater. I was a womanizer. I was a alcoholic. And I was a drug addict. And I was a sinner.
End of Preview
John Fuller: From our last Focus on the Family broadcast, Darryl and Tracy Strawberry, and, uh, they talked about the brokenness they experienced in their lives. You’ll hear how God restored and redeemed them on today’s Focus broadcast with Jim Daly. And I’m John Fuller.
Jim Daly: Uh, John, last time we learned how a former major-league star and his wife, uh, got caught up in drugs and alcohol addictions, all the things that many people are struggling with. Um, these are not unique struggles. We talked about how they were trying to fill a hole in their heart, a void that was there. And today we’re gonna talk about how they discovered the way to fill that void, and that’s with a relationship with Jesus Christ. And if you didn’t hear last time, I would encourage you to get the download, get the CD, get it, because I’m sure if it’s not you, someone in your life is going through something very similar. Of course, we’re talking about Darryl Strawberry, his wife, Tracy. Darryl played, uh, many years, 17 years, in the major leagues. He played for all the teams you wanna play for, the Yankees, the Dodgers. Those are the two I’d play for if I had any talent. But, uh, it was so good to hear from them, not so much about that and the exploits of, of being talented, but being right before the Lord. That’s what I appreciate about Darryl and Tracy, and we’re continue that discussion today. Let me say welcome to both of you. Welcome back.
Darryl: Well, thanks-
Tracy Strawberry: Thank you.
Darryl: For having us.
Jim: Um, last time we did talk about, uh, right where you were at, the brokenness, uh, for both of you. Darryl, you expressed how you had made a commitment to the Lord, but kinda fell back into the traps of this world, those things that were keeping you snared, but you had an encounter with God. And Tracy, you mentioned so eloquently, uh, what God was doing in your life and the way that you came from a good home, uh, your parents did the right thing-
Tracy: Yes.
Jim: They were working the right-
Tracy: Mm-hmm.
Jim: Parenting formula, but you were just on a wayward track, and how they continued to love you and how that made a difference for you, uh, coming closer to God. Um, I wanna pick up the conversation right there, because I wanna know how God got a hold of you.
Tracy: Yes.
Jim: Um, what did he do to reach into your life and shake you up and get your attention?
Tracy: Sure. He brought a person into my life that was just like me. And there was a woman who came from my lifestyle, so I could relate to her. But then I saw this other side of her that was attractive to me, and she didn’t promote Jesus. It was attraction, not promotion.
Jim: Huh.
Tracy: And she loved me right where I was at, but kept inviting me and kept inviting me to come to spend time with her. And I wanted what she had. So she had something to say that I really wanted to hear, because I couldn’t wrap my mind around Jesus loves you. Well, if you want a new life, you just have to stop using drugs. Well, I know that. If you can tell me how to do that, then I, y- th- I’ll listen to you, because I already know that.
Jim: Yeah.
Tracy: I’m beating myself up enough with my lifestyle. And I’ve lost my children. I’ve been divorced twice. I already know I’m a horrible person. I already bel- I believe that Jesus doesn’t even want anything to do with a woman like me. So it was difficult for me to connect to a Christian who would just come up to me and say, “Jesus loves you”-
Jim: Yeah.
Tracy: Because I didn’t believe that, and my life certainly didn’t reflect it, and I didn’t feel like that.
Jim: Tracy, can I ask you a question about that?
Tracy: Sure.
Jim: Darryl, jump in. Um, it seems to me, as Christians, we tend… Uh, it’s a weird thing. We know you’re in pain in that moment.
Tracy: Mm-hmm.
Jim: And it’s almost… I don’t know if it’s to make us feel more comfortable.
Darryl: (Laughs)
Tracy: Uh-huh.
Jim: That look at you.
Tracy: Yes.
Jim: Look at that poor girl.
Tracy: Right (laughs).
Jim: I mean, “Don’t you know God loves you if you just chose a different way?”
Tracy: Right.
Jim: The way you’re describing this friend that you encountered-
Tracy: Yes.
Jim: Um, something was attractive to her. And we… There’s a lesson in this for all of us-
Tracy: Yes.
Jim: How to get down in the messiness of life.
Darryl: Right. Yeah, th- that’s a good point, ’cause we have to really be able to show people that we are overcomers by the blood of the lamb through the way we live and the way we act. I think a lot of times, we can talk about it, but if people see the way you walk, um… That was just the way my mother… I saw the way my mother walked the walk.
Jim: Yeah.
Darryl: She didn’t have to talk it for us. You know, that’s why I came to the point in my life, uh, being able to repent to God and ask God to forgive me for my sins, because I saw the way my mom walked. She was an example. So we have to be… As Christians, we have to be an example, y- not to boast about us.
John: And not an example of perfection.
Jim: Right.
Darryl: Right. W- Th- Y- (laughs)
Tracy: Right.
Darryl: It’s not an example of that. It’s, it’s an example of we need to walk with meekness and, and humbleness and humility, uh, to show that I’m not that important.
Jim: Mm-hmm.
Darryl: You know, um, I’m able to lead people to Christ today. Uh, they look at me, and they goes, “You don’t even care about baseball.” I goes, “No, I care about God.” It’s a process that God has to go through with you because he has to, he has to do a inner surgery inside of you to break off things on you.
Jim: Hmm.
Darryl: I, I… Not anyone else. I think too many people are looking at the other side instead of looking at this side of yourself. You know, and that’s what happened with me and my wife in, in our marriage, you know, The Imperfect Marriage. What happened in that, uh, was so different from compared to, like you said, the confidence, the ego and all that stuff I have as a baseball player, um, came to walking in a different way because God had to deal with me first before it’s a we.
Jim: Right. And we need to get to that. I wanna talk about how you guys found each other-
Darryl: Mm-hmm.
Tracy: Sure.
Jim: And what the Lord has been doing and teaching you in your marriage.
Tracy: Mm-hmm.
Jim: Uh, Tracy, how did you meet Darryl Strawberry?
Tracy: Sure.
Jim: (Laughs)
Tracy: I met him in a recovery convention. We were both broken, not living for the Lord, far, far, far from the Lord. Um, we were just broken, and we came together. And you can read The Imperfect Marriage for the details of the story. But, um, we came together broken, incapable of loving, because there’s a difference. God teaches us in the Bible those who don’t know Him cannot truly love because they do not know God. He’s very clear in His Word, which I love the Word. It’s so simple.
Jim: Uh-huh.
Tracy: It keeps it clear for us.
Jim: It is.
Tracy: So when we came together, we came together full of disfunction, full of all of these things that two were gonna become one. And what Darryl brings… He’s and individual. I’m an individual. And what is inside of you is what you bring together to make one.
Jim: When you met-
Tracy: We didn’t have much to bring together.
Jim: I was gonna say when you met, how far along in your faith journey were you, just-
Tracy: Not far at all.
Jim: Not far-
Tracy: I was one week-
Jim: At all?
Tracy: Literally saved. I still-
Jim: One week saved?
Tracy: One week. And I was still trying to figure out what that word saved meant.
Jim: (Laughs) Right.
Tracy: So I was very rough around the edges (laughs).
Jim: Right.
Tracy: Not, um, living for the Lord yet. Darryl knew the Lord, but was so far off from Him in his lifestyle. Faith didn’t play a part in it-
Jim: Yeah.
Tracy: Until we started growing in faith. We came together. He was $3 million in debt. We had divorces. We had all of these children. We have nine children between the two of us. I had lost my children. He was estranged from his children. We were hurting people. This was a nightmare situation that, if you look at it through the natural eyes, say it is impossible. How could two people ever come out of this and make this work? Now, notice I said through the earthly eye-
Jim: Right.
Tracy: And from an earthly mindset and an earthly perspective. What we’re gonna jump into in this program and I’m excited about-
Jim: (Laughs)
Tracy: Is an eternal perspective-
Jim: Right.
Tracy: The power, the divine power of our Lord, Jesus Christ, that can come in and will breathe life into a situation for two willing people, two willing people who are willing to say yes and make that choice to say yes because it all begins at the foot of the cross. At the foot of the cross is the new beginning. From wherever you came from, wherever your marriage is, however you met, if you didn’t meet in the right way, if one spouse is on board with Christ, if one is not, if you have estranged children, whatever nightmare or great thing that you think you come from or you think you have it together, a new beginning, eternal life, eternal perspective and the way we should really live, according to God’s word, begins at the foot of the cross-
Jim: Mm-hmm.
Tracy: For everyone.
Jim: Boy, I mean, you are the preacher, girl.
Darryl: (Laughs)
John: (Laughs)
Jim: I mean, it’s amazing. And-
Tracy: That’s the central location.
Jim: What you’re saying is so true. But I’ve gotta ask you, Tracy and Darryl, um, what were the steps that the Lord took you through right there? There are couples that are hearing you.
Tracy: Absolutely.
Jim: Maybe a wife who is just at the end of her rope-
Tracy: Yes.
Jim: ‘Cause she doesn’t know what to do with her husband-
Darryl: Right.
Tracy: Yes. And-
Jim: Because it’s not working.
Tracy: Yes.
Jim: And you’re speaking to her-
Tracy: Yes.
Jim: Right now.
Tracy: And there’s a whole chapter in the book just for a spouse in waiting, whether you’re a man or a woman, a spouse in waiting. And when Darryl and I first came together, God was working on my heart, and I responded. Darryl did not. So when we came together, we got married full of disfunction-
Jim: (Laughs) Right.
Tracy: And full of pain. And how can this marriage work?
Jim: Mm-hmm.
Tracy: It would, it would’ve worked that way.
Jim: What did it look like? Uh, just to, um, get-
Tracy: Fighting.
Jim: Yeah.
Tracy: We fought dirty. We called each other names. We threw things at each other. We fought over money because there was no money to have. Um, we had a blended family that we were trying to make work, and our hearts weren’t right with the Lord, so we didn’t treat the other spouse’s correctly. We didn’t treat the mother of the children and the fathers of the children with respect, like it should be done to make right a wrong situation.
Jim: Hmm.
Tracy: We had all of these dynamics that were happening. We were broken inside and blaming each other and trying to find our way and trying to lift each other up through brokenness. We had nothing to give. It was horrible.
Darryl: What I think happens, uh, in some areas, people don’t deal with their own insecurities.
Jim: Mm-hmm.
Darryl: Uh, and, and God challenge you to deal with your own insecurities in your marriage, ’cause you have to deal with yourself first. You have to look at yourself first, because we come together as two people, and yeah, we can be married for, uh, a long period of time, and we still don’t know each other, and we still don’t know our self-
Jim: Uh-huh.
Darryl: Um, until we, uh, allow God, uh, to come in and do His surgery on you and allow you to, um, act according to, you know, the biblical principles. It wasn’t till we started diving into the biblical principles and obeying and coming into obedience with God’s Word that we started to line up and realize that it was a different way that we needed to do this to make this work.
Tracy: Yes.
Jim: But practically speaking, um, you didn’t fall into that. You had to take action. You had-
Tracy: We did.
Jim: To realize-
Tracy: We did.
Jim: Okay, this isn’t working. And we gotta read together. We gotta pray together. What were some of those things that you-
Tracy: Mm-hmm.
Jim: Started to do together functionally that gave you the tools-
Tracy: Absolutely.
Jim: To, um, disagree more respectfully-
Tracy: Right.
Jim: To do it more biblically?
Tracy: Right.
Jim: How did you… I mean, that’s-
Darryl: Well-
Jim: Like going from this, uh, low level-
Darryl: (Laughs)
Jim: To a high level.
Tracy: Right.
Darryl: Yeah, but you know what I think? I think you learn over time as you start studying the Word of God. I think sometimes, um, a lot of people just go to church, and they go to church for that Sunday, and then they hear the word from the pastor, and they don’t go home and apply it to their life, and they just put the Bible on the shelf until next Sunday come or next Wednesday come. And they just keep doing the same thing. Well, nothing’s changed. You know, nothing’s changed until you actually start, um, start getting in the Word for yourself. I think the Word is what really changed me. Tracy was always studying the Word, and I kinda like really looked at her, and I wanted what she had. Well, God says, “You gotta do what she does.”
Jim: (Laughs)
Darryl: You know, she studies the Word.
Tracy: Mm-hmm.
Darryl: So the Word is what really transforms a person’s life. And I think, um, you know, most people don’t realize that, you know, the Bible is the really transformation of who you are. You know, everybody in that Bible, when you learn and go through it, and you learn that all those people and the disciples and everybody that came across Jesus, all of them had issues-
Jim: So true.
Darryl: In some kinda way. Even being in front of Jesus, they saw the miracles, the still had issues. So we’re gonna have the same issues here too, and we’re gonna have to learn to do exactly what, uh, is taught to us in the Word of God. And I think most people don’t realize that their marriage could be strong when Christ is the center, Christ is the center of you-
Jim: Yeah.
Darryl: First. It has to be the center of you first to make a we. You know, th- we want the we, but we won’t put Christ in the center. We wanna do it in a natural, and we won’t allow the Spirit to dwell in us, ’cause the Spirit that dwells in us and once we start operating in the Spirit and we start listening to what the Holy Spirit is telling us, that’s when you start coming together in a marriage that’s been broken.
Jim: I mean, t- yeah, you were saying it, and, uh, I would say this too, when you look at that whole design that God created-
Tracy: Mm-hmm.
Jim: For two people to come together-
Tracy: Mm-hmm.
Jim: And really what (laughs)… The simplicity of it, as you said earlier, Tracy, is-
Tracy: Yes.
Jim: “I’m gonna bring the two of you together, and you’re gonna really irritate each other, but I want you to learn my character-
Tracy: Yes.
Jim: “Which is to lay your life down for the other.”
Tracy: Right.
Jim: And the more I think about it, the more obvious it is. Even in the marriage, the most intimate relationship you can have on this earth-
Tracy: Mm-hmm.
Jim: What He’s trying to say to you is give your life over to somebody.
Tracy: Mm-hmm.
Jim: Lay your selfishness down.
Tracy: Yes.
Darryl: Right.
Jim: It’s so hard for us-
Darryl: (Laughs)
Jim: As human beings.
Tracy: It is.
Jim: It works against the flesh. And it-
Darryl: But it works.
Tracy: Yes, it does.
Jim: It does.
Tracy: It does.
Jim: But you gotta do it.
Darryl: Yeah.
Jim: That’s what you said-
Tracy: Well, and you have to do it.
Jim: Darryl. You gotta do it.
Darryl: You gotta do it.
Tracy: You do. And when you come… Darryl and I came from adulteries, um, repairing things with our children. Restoration needed to be there. Addictions. We lost everything financially. So we had to be restored in every area of our life.
Jim: Huh.
Tracy: And there was a woman who came into my life. And I keep saying that. There was a mentor who came into my life. Discipleship is key. Um, I think we need to be very careful. When we meet someone who’s struggling, um, the goal is not the sinner’s prayer and conversion in 20 minutes.
Jim: Right.
Tracy: The first step for me was getting me right on the inside.
Jim: Not looking at Darryl.
Tracy: Not looking at Darryl because-
Jim: Even with all his flaws.
Tracy: Even with all his flaws, because I was like but look at him. He’s committing adultery. He’s with these women. He’s the one, and he’s spending the money, and he, he, he. And he treats me like this, and he treats me like that. And when God got hold of me and I was praying one day, He said, “Darryl is none of your business right now. You can’t change him. You do not have the power to change him. I am the power that will change him. And you’re not looking at you. You are lost. You are far away from me.”
Jim: Uh-huh.
Tracy: “You’re not living out your purpose in me. And I need to heal and restore you. You need to get on board with me.”
Jim: Yeah.
Tracy: “You need to surrender to me. So what’s your answer gonna be, Tracy?”
Jim: Wow.
Tracy: And my answer to the Lord was yes.
Jim: Yeah.
Tracy: And I surrendered everything. I didn’t know what to do with the marriage. I didn’t know what to do with the kids. I didn’t know what to do with the money, but the Lord taught me what to do with him. And I would… This woman, I showed up at her house, and she would go through the Word with me. She would pray with me. But it was also practical steps. I had to get a job. I had to do what was right and work on my relationship with my children.
Jim: Mm-hmm.
Tracy: I learned to treat Darryl with respect, even with the way he was living. I became that wife that lived for the Lord. And he started to look at my behavior. I didn’t try to change him. I let it go literally.
Jim: How do you do that? Because I’m thinking of many wives whose husbands have been unfaithful.
Tracy: Absolutely.
Jim: And w- Fill in the blank.
Tracy: Yes.
Jim: And they’re just abusive. They’re ver- They’re distant.
Tracy: Yes.
Jim: To find that center of gravity-
Tracy: Yes.
Jim: Called the relationship with God-
Tracy: Right.
Jim: So that you are whole, even when someone is not treating you appropriately. And in many ways from a human perspective-
Tracy: Yes.
Jim: You have every right to go after him.
Tracy: Mm-hmm.
Jim: You have every right to divorce him-
Tracy: Sure.
Jim: Even.
Tracy: Absolutely.
Jim: Yet to say, “Okay, Lord, what do you want me to do?”-
Tracy: Yes. And that’s-
Jim: That’s-
Tracy: Key.
Darryl: Well-
Jim: Powerful.
Tracy: That’s key.
Darryl: Let me explain to you how that happened.
Tracy: Because-
Darryl: I can explain it ’cause I had to watch it, you know, because I was that way and I was that person. Um, and, and what I saw was a transformation shift of her love for God. That was real. I saw her getting up every morning at 5:30 to go study with God. And she still do it, does that today. But I was watching how she was doing it over and over, regardless of what I was saying and what I was doing. Um, she wasn’t feeding into my madness. She wasn’t feeding into my sickness. And, and I got kinda jealous ’cause I saw that she… I would wake up every morning, come down, she’s done already been up since 5:30. And I come down at 9:00, 10:00, and she’s like, “Hi, hon.”
Jim: Right.
Darryl: And I was like why is she so happy?
Jim: Uh-huh.
Darryl: But I realized that, you know… I kept seeing and kept seeing it, and I realized that it was the joy of the Lord that had become her strength.
Jim: Uh-huh.
Darryl: And it wasn’t me anymore. And, and that r- I really got-
Jim: Mm-hmm.
Darryl: Jealous of that.
Jim: Interesting.
Darryl: You know, I really got jealous of that, ’cause I saw joy that was surpassing every understanding of what was going on in our life, and I was like, well, why is she so joyful? Why is her life so good? You know-
Jim: So what’d you do with that?
Darryl: And… I took it as a sign from God that I needed to do something different in my life. And w- and watching her, I realized that she had said yes to Jesus. And I think a lot of people don’t understand what yes to Jesus means. You know, I know what it means today. I didn’t know back then, but yes to Jesus is a three-letter word. It’s you enjoy salvation. You yourself get to enjoy salvation when you say yes to Him.
Jim: Yeah.
Darryl: Not someone else.
Jim: Right.
Darryl: You know, it’s… And, and that’s what happened to Tracy. She was enjoying salvation in her life and-
Jim: So her circumstances weren’t dictating her joy or her-
Darryl: You could see it.
Jim: Relationship with God.
Darryl: And I got, you know, and I got, I got curious. You know, it’s like, man, who is she going down there to be with every morning?
Jim: (Laughs)
Darryl: Who’s in the house? You know, I’m thinking in myself and, you know, realizing that she has entered into a serious relationship with Jesus. You know, I was still struggling in, in all my areas of, of my life as a person and my hope. And, and she had… I could see clearly that there was a great, uh, relief in her life. There was, uh, there was hope no matter what, no matter what the condition we’re in. There was hope for the marriage, and, and there was hope for her, and there was hope for the children. And, and she was right, and I got on board. And you know what? She was right because God restored everything and restored our children.
Jim: Yeah.
Darryl: And multiplied us more than we could ever imagine, because we ended up both coming together and saying yes on our own terms. You know, you gotta get to that place yourself. You know, um, a lot of men are not there, and their wives are there. And the men won’t show up, and they won’t commit. And that’s why their life don’t get better-
Jim: Right.
Darryl: In their walk with Christ. And it’s not until they come in for themself and say, “God, deal with me, deal with my issues, uh, I have these true problems in m- my life.” Um, I think too many of them sit around and, um, they’re very shameful, but they won’t bring it to the cross.
Jim: Sure.
Darryl: And they, they wanna say, “God won’t heal me because…” Yeah, God will heal you when you stop living in this secret of your life.
Jim: Well, I mean, that applies t- to the Christian and the non-Christian-
Darryl: Right.
Jim: Doesn’t it?
Tracy: That’s right, when we make that choice, um, and because of our, of what hurts us, and in Darryl’s life, just speaking in our life, our consequences punished us, not God.
Jim: Uh.
Tracy: Our consequences punished us-
Jim: W- People need to hear that.
Tracy: Not God.
Darryl: Right.
Tracy: We made the wrong decisions, and we have to live out these consequences, some of them for the rest of our life.
Jim: Yeah.
Tracy: But God met us right where we were at, and He said I’m willing and I’m ready to get you right on the right path any time and at any place. At the time, the Lord didn’t release me from my marriage. I didn’t feel peace in that. But the Lord told me, “You walk with me, get responsible, make a boundary, get a job, start doing those practical things, and you keep walking with me, and more will be revealed along the way.”
Jim: And that walk with me, it means spend time with me.
Tracy: Spend time-
Jim: Which is what you did-
Tracy: With me.
Jim: What Darryl was just saying.
Tracy: Uh, and set yourself apart-
Jim: Yeah.
Tracy: To sanctify ourselves unto the Lord, to set ourself apart-
Jim: Yeah.
Tracy: Putting away the cell phone, spending time in prayer. How much time do we spend in prayer? We all have busy lives.
Jim: So true.
Tracy: The demand on us is all-
Jim: Yeah.
Tracy: Children, bills to pay, um, hardships and heartaches, but shutting off the TV. I mean, I spent s- hours with the Lord.
Jim: Yeah.
Tracy: I set myself apart. The things I didn’t know what to do, I learned how to pray. I studied prayer. I studied faith. I studied joy. I studied peace. I went after the Lord with every fiber in my being.
Jim: Ah.
Tracy: And I said I am not gonna settle with you. I’m like Jacob right now, and (laughs) I’m gonna wrestle with you until I get my blessing. I’m not gonna fall into the world. I’m not gonna quit. Lord I’m holding onto you with everything I have. And they said you would show up. And guess what? He did.
Jim: Well, Tracy and Darryl, I mean, those… there are people that are in that spot right now where they need that kind of tenacity-
Tracy: Yes.
Jim: That you’re talking about. They need to hang on, and-
Tracy: Yes.
Jim: They’re not sure they can. And your book, The Imperfect Marriage: Help for Those Who Think It’s Over, is a perfect resource for people who are desperate. But it’s gonna take your action. You gotta do it.
Tracy: Mm-hmm.
Jim: You can just, uh, have the one time experience with God and then-
Tracy: Mm-hmm.
Jim: Walk away, as you did, Darryl.
Tracy: Mm-hmm.
Jim: And, you know, you’ve got to stick with it. You gotta learn how to hit and-
Darryl: (Laughs)
Jim: How to feel-
Tracy: That’s good.
Jim: And how to love-
Tracy: Yes.
Jim: And how to love unconditionally-
Tracy: Yes.
Jim: Which is so hard. What a beautiful story you both have.
Tracy: Thank you.
John: Yeah, you really do. And, uh, God’s hand is all over your relationship and-
Tracy: He is.
John: Um, if you’re sitting here listening thinking that’s good for the Strawberry’s. I… It’s not for me-
Tracy: Mm-hmm.
John: Uh, call us please. Let us help you begin some steps towards some reconciliation in your marriage relationship or another family, uh, challenges that you have. Our number is 800-A-FAMILY. And, Darryl, you mentioned earlier that your dad was abusive toward you-
Darryl: Right.
John: Uh, very physically abusive and emotionally in the home, and you were estranged. I mean, you went into the major leagues, and he really had no part of your life whatsoever. Uh, I’m curious if you ever got back together with him.
Darryl: You know, I remember about three years ago, uh, when God spoke to me when I was going to speak at a men’s breakfast. And he spoke to me that s- Friday night. And I was gonna speak Saturday morning, and he says, “Your father’s in the hospital.” And I knew my father was in the hospital. And he says, “I want you to go down to San Diego on Sunday morning. I want you to go down and repent to your father.”
Jim: And you had not had relationship, any contact with him-
Darryl: No relationship-
Jim: For how long?
Darryl: Or any… For years.
Jim: Years?
Darryl: Uh, for what he had done g- God said, “I don’t want you to go down and talk about what he has done to you. I want you to go repent for keeping him out of your life.”
Jim: And did you go?
Darryl: And I went. Not only did I go and I laid on his lap and I asked him to forgive me, and I repented to him, and I cried. And then God said, “Lead him to the Lord now,” and I led him to the Lord. See, God said, “This is not about you. You need to understand, I need to use you for others.” And you know, and we can get out of the way and ask someone to forgive us for our wrongdoing.
Jim: But for those that didn’t hear last time, Darryl, this is the man that beat your mom, beat you and your brothers.
Darryl: Yes.
Jim: Man.
Darryl: But God spoke to me and goes, that night He goes, “How dare you.”
Jim: Huh.
Darryl: “I forgave you. How dare you not forgive.”
Jim: Yeah.
Darryl: And he was clearly right. I didn’t know I was going down there to lead him to the Lord. I knew I was going down there to ask him to forgive me for keeping him out of my life, my career, my success and everything else. But God at that particular moment of asking him to forgive me, he said, “Yes, I forgive you.” And God says, “Right now lead him to the Lord. Ask him do he want to accept the Lord.” He says, “Two wrongs don’t make a right.”
Jim: (Laughs)
Darryl: He says, “He didn’t know any better.”
Jim: Right.
Darryl: So He says, “You knew better because I forgave you and I saved you.”
Jim: Mm-hmm.
Darryl: And when I got back in the car with my brother, I cried again ’cause God made it clear for me to understand this is never about you.
Jim: Wow. You know, Darryl, there’s (laughs), I mean, so many things, uh, that come to mind. What a beautiful story about the healing in your family, given everything-
Tracy: Mm-hmm.
Jim: That had transpired. Uh, Tracy, when you see your mom and dad today-
Tracy: Mm.
Jim: What is that like? With all this history that the three of you have had, and of course your sisters as well-
Tracy: Absolutely.
Jim: But the sit with your mom and dad and to have them look you in the eye-
Tracy: Mm-hmm.
Jim: And you look them in the eye, wow, what a journey.
Tracy: Yes.
Jim: What do you say to each other?
Tracy: It’s amazing. I mean, they cry. I cry. And the life that I live now just as a strong, Godly woman, um, helps them. And for them to know that it was worth it, the love was worth it, the prayers were worth it, even when they couldn’t see, even when they didn’t know. They never gave up on me in the spiritual realm. They never quit there. And they’re so grateful-
Jim: Yeah.
Tracy: That they did not. Um, we just don’t know the bigger, greater picture. We don’t know. Power… Prayer is powerful. Teaches us that in the Word. You either believe the Word is true or it’s not.
Jim: Yeah.
Tracy: And it’s powerful. And I believe that the prayers that they said that I didn’t know, the love that they showed for me, um, it brought me back. So when I see them now, it’s just sweet. It’s so sweet. And it’s just-
Jim: Beautiful.
Tracy: A celebration in the Lord over and over and over again that the child who was lost came back, they’re prayers didn’t go in vain and that God was with all of us the whole time.
Jim: Yeah.
Tracy: And when you really think about it, all three, they were reaching for the Lord, but I finally said yes and reached for him too. And it brought us all together-
Jim: Yeah.
Tracy: Into a great place.
Jim: That’s a beautiful story.
Tracy: Mm-hmm.
Jim: Thanks for being with us.
Darryl: Thanks for having us.
Tracy: Thanks for having us.
John: Darryl and Tracy Strawberry have shared about the miracle that God has done in their marriage and in healing other family relationships out of brokenness. And what an inspiration for us today on Focus on the Family.
Jim: Uh, John, just as we’ve seen God mend their broken marriage, many other married couples are finding hope through Hope Restored, our marriage intensive program, uh, with highly-trained counselors. Uh, four out of five couples who enter the program are still together two years later and doing much better. So if your marriage is in trouble, uh, call us, and we’ll tell you more about our program called Hope Restored.
John: Our number is 800, the letter A and the word FAMILY, 800-232-6459, or stop by focusonthefamily.com/broadcast to learn more and to make a donation, if you can. Uh, we’ll encourage you go get Darryl and Tracy’s book, The Imperfect Marriage, which should offer a lot of hope to you. It does chronicle their story and provide some great insights for those who are struggling in a difficult marriage. Uh, ask about that when you get in touch.
Jim: And let me add, if you can donate to Focus on the Family today, uh, we would so appreciate that, as you help us to strengthen marriages every day, uh, through broadcasts like this one and so many other things here at Focus. Uh, with your donation of any amount, we’ll send, uh, the Strawberry’s book to you as our way of saying thank you.
John: Again, our number is 800, the letter A and the word FAMILY. On behalf of Jim Daly and the entire team, thanks for joining us for Focus on the Family. I’m John Fuller, inviting you back as we once more help you and your family thrive in Christ.
