Turn Your Season Around: How God Transforms Your Life

By Darryl Strawberry, Lee Weeks and Greg Laurie

For anyone ready to move their life forward, from tragedy, personal failure, unfair circumstances, or just a sense of being stuck, baseball legend and bestselling author Darryl Strawberry offers transformational practices and the tangible hope that you can enjoy a future filled with power, purpose, and freedom. 

Darryl Strawberry has seen it all--the highs and lows of an intense career as a Major League Baseball all-star, drug addiction, marriage challenges, prison time, and battles with cancer. With honesty and transparency, Strawberry shares the same foundational principles that transformed his life from the inside out--the power of prayer, cultivating healthy friendships, weathering trials without losing heart, refreshing the way you think, and letting God change your life for good. Ultimately, he'll help you discover and trust the redemptive process of making small, daily decisions to follow God into a life of faith, health, and freedom.

Strawberry weaves compelling stories from his own life with those of others he met through his speaking and ministry work across the nation. These uplifting testimonies will inspire you with the reminder that God's power can renew any life, no matter what has happened. With scriptural insights and real-life examples, Strawberry celebrates the miracles God works in us for healing, cleansing, and new beginnings. 

Strawberry's life story is proof that you can overcome life's adversities one decision, one step at a time. It's time to turn your season around.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Zondervan
• Release date: Jan 12, 2021
• ISBN: 9780310360872

Darryl Strawberry

Darryl Strawberry is described as a baseball legend by many who have been dazzled by the dynamics of his game. His many accomplishments in the major leagues include four World Series titles, eight All-Star Game appearances, and a nomination to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 2004. He has earned the legendary nicknames and phrases of one of the most feared homerun hitters in the game of baseball: Straw’s Sweet Swing, Strawberry’s Field Forever, and The Legendary Straw Man! Though Darryl was extremely successful in his career, his personal life was plagued with addictions, abuse, divorces, cancer, jail time, and other issues. Darryl finally found true redemption and restoration in Jesus Christ. Today, Darryl’s purpose and passion is serving the Lord Jesus Christ by traveling the country, speaking a message of hope and restoration through the power of the gospel. He is the author of numerous books, including the New York Times bestseller, Straw: Finding My Way (with John Strausbaugh), Don’t Give Up on Me: Shining Light on Addiction with Darryl Strawberry (with Shawn Powell), and The Imperfect Marriage: Help for Those Who Think It’s Over with his wife, Tracy Strawberry. In 2011 Darryl and Tracy founded Strawberry Ministries, and they use their global reach to restore the multitudes through spiritual and practical life applications.

Book preview

INTRODUCTION

I’m just a nobody trying to tell everybody

About Somebody who can save anybody.

You might not know that song. Though it has been adapted by others, it was written by The Williams Brothers, a singing quartet that performed widely from the 1960s through the 1990s.

Those lyrics are the song of my heart.

For a season of my life, I was at the top of my game, and my game was baseball. Mammoth home runs. Eight All-Star Games. Four World Series rings.

But seasons change. Bad choices and other misfortunes knocked me down, hard. And God began a process of teaching me, reshaping me, and leading me into a new kind of life.

Sports often serve as metaphors for life. You know, like when life throws a curve ball you weren’t expecting that drops perfectly across the center of your world for strike three. We’ve all been there. When your plans fail, your dreams are crushed, your heart is broken, or your trust is betrayed, it feels like striking out. Whether or not you’ve ever worn a uniform for athletic competition, one thing is sure—if you’re reading this book, then you’re all in for this game called life. And like a baseball career, seasons of life come and go. King Solomon said it best in Ecclesiastes 3:1–8:

For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:

a time to be born, and a time to die;

a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;

a time to kill, and a time to heal;

a time to break down, and a time to build up;

a time to weep, and a time to laugh;

a time to mourn, and a time to dance;

a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together;

a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;

a time to seek, and a time to lose;

a time to keep, and a time to cast away;

a time to tear, and a time to sew;

a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;

a time to love, and a time to hate;

a time for war, and a time for peace.

I don’t know what your current season of life looks like. But I do know this: the Creator knew before you were born that you would be where you are right now. And whether you are happy or sad, have plenty or are in want, are delighted or disillusioned, God’s desire is that you experience his powerful presence every day of every season of your life. It doesn’t matter whether life has you soaring or slumping, winning or losing—victory in Christ is possible. This I know because Jesus tells us so in John 16:33: I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.

God can turn your season around for your good and his glory. He did it for me, and he can do it for you.

RECALIBRATION

You might ask, How can I be an overcomer? How do I turn my season around?

When I was struggling through a 3-for-30 hitting slump, my batting coach had me refocus my attention on the baseball by slowly tossing it so I could see my bat make contact with the baseball. It seems simplistic, perhaps even more Little League than major league, but it actually helped me sharpen the mechanics of my swing. By slowing my swinging motion, I was able to recalibrate the synchronized timing of dropping my front leg and turning my hands to rotate the bat.

Similarly, God allows us to go through seasons of change, uncertainty, or trials to slow us down so we can regain his perspective and acknowledge our dependence on him. As the psalmist writes in Psalm 46:10, Be still, and know that I am God. Many people experience a healthy slowdown during a time of illness or injury. For example, how did you respond to the COVID-19 lockdown? When the world came to a crashing halt, did you take the opportunity to draw closer to God or perhaps reconsider your relationship with him?

I hope this book can be a helpful pause for you, a chance to get back to the basics, to recalibrate your relationship with God. Throughout these chapters, we are going to contemplate God’s rescuing, redeeming, and restoring work in Jesus Christ—and the responses he wants from us. The apostle Paul prayed that his readers would know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. That is my prayer for you too. The apostle continues with a stunning benediction: Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen (Ephesians 3:19–21).

These verses promise us realities beyond imagination—I call them God’s RBIs. They are his rewards for those who are fully yielded to his plans and purposes. As you continue reading, you’ll find nine faith-filled responses that produce life-changing results in the lives of Christians. God must become the center of our lives, and his ways should be the measure of everything we do. That’s why there’s so much Scripture quoted in these pages. It’s the power of God’s Word, and not my own, that will heal the deepest wounds and empower you to turn your season around.

So are you ready to receive, redefine, renew, reveal, release, reflect, reclaim, restore, and rejoice for your good and God’s glory?

If so, it’s game on!

1ST INNING

RECEIVE GOD’S GRACE

By grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

EPHESIANS 2:8–9

I had everything but I had nothing.

As the 1983 National League Rookie of the Year and a perennial All-Star throughout that decade, I had fame and fortune. But I battled a lifelong identity crisis that controlled my heart and mind off the field, and that undermined my on-the-field performance. My thoughts and choices away from the ballpark’s bright lights ultimately sabotaged my best intentions like an off-speed pitch to an overanxious batter.

Alcohol, drugs, partying, possessions, and promiscuity couldn’t quench my hunger for acceptance, purpose, and peace. My relentless pursuit of physical, mental, emotional, and sexual euphoria to mask the pain of my father’s rejection provided short-lived diversions and only left me craving more. And with each foray into decadence, I sank deeper into depravity. It was like a cesspool of quicksand suffocating the life out of me.¹

SELF-INDULGENCE NOW

Take my word for it: the Enemy, Satan, really does come to steal and kill and destroy (John 10:10). He is a liar and deceiver who always peddles worldly wisdom as counterfeit solutions to our problems. Satan’s playbook hasn’t changed since the serpent told Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden that they could be wise like God by eating the eye-pleasing fruit God said to avoid. And with Adam and Eve’s disobedience, sin was unleashed on humanity.

I use SIN as an acronym for self-indulgence now. Every time we choose our way over God’s way, we sin. It has been said that sin always takes us further than we need to go, keeps us longer than we want to stay, and costs us more than we can afford to pay.

Sin is costly. My sins cost me two failed marriages and millions of dollars in fines and penalties. Incarceration and multiple stints in rehab for cocaine addiction and alcoholism destroyed relationships and robbed me of years of peace and purpose. The Bible says in Romans 6:23, The wages of sin is death, but the second part of that verse offers one of the most beautiful truths in Scripture. It changes our eternal fate like a walk-off home run that snatches victory from the jaws of defeat: But the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

That free gift of God is his GRACE—God’s riches at Christ’s expense.

God’s unmerited favor lavished on us through the sacrificial death of his Son, Jesus Christ, and his finished work on the cross is the only payment sufficient for the forgiveness of your and my sin debt. Ephesians 2:8–9 states, By grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. By God’s grace and through the power of the Holy Spirit, I came to realize that my selfishly destructive choices and wicked ways offended God, who is perfect, holy, and righteous.

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Sin always takes us further than we need to go, keeps us longer than we want to stay, and costs us more than we can afford to pay.

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I wept uncontrollably each night while attending a weekend evangelistic crusade in Anaheim, California, in 1991. I should have been the happiest person on the planet, having recently signed a five-year, $20.25 million contract with my hometown team, the Los Angeles Dodgers—the second most lucrative contract in the history of Major League Baseball at the time. But in reality, I was miserable, empty and broken inside. An alcoholic and a womanizer, I was going through a painful divorce of my own doing.

At that crusade, I realized for the first time that my ability to hit majestic home runs and leave fans starstruck in my path couldn’t make me right with God and free me from the bondage of sin. Human abilities can’t bridge the gap that exists between the sinful human condition and God’s glorious perfection. We can’t achieve or buy a right relationship with God or perform godly works to make us good enough for God. God’s standard is not good; his standard is perfection. But here’s the good news—God did not leave us helpless and hopelessly alienated from him. He did not leave me in my pit of debauchery, strung out on cocaine, or abandon me when I was in jail for violating probation. When I was running from God, full throttle on my path of destruction, he pursued me relentlessly with his unconditional and unfailing love. First Corinthians 6:9–11 paints an accurate picture of my condition before and after receiving God’s gift of grace and salvation in Jesus Christ: Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

And such were some of you. That was me before I surrendered my life to Jesus and received him as my Savior and Lord. But when I placed my faith in Jesus, I underwent a spiritual heart transplant, effectively exchanging my selfish and sinful heart for his selfless and sinless heart. I was justified—made right with God—because my heart was replaced with his Son’s heart.

I used to wonder why God didn’t reject me after I repeatedly turned my back on him. Then I learned that God loved you and me before we had the capacity to love him. He has always loved us, even while were sinners. Romans 5:8 states it best: God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. I am overwhelmed by the reality that God loved me at my worst, in my most rebellious state. In the midst of my deepest and darkest sin, he continued to call me to himself—chasing me with his perfect love and not judgment. Jesus longed to heal me, not hurt me, and to deliver me, not punish me. I was on my way to hell as fast as I could get there. But God set up my detour. He never left me. I am amazed that God redeemed me from the punishment my sin demanded. God’s perfect and sinless Son, Jesus Christ, died in my place through a cruel death on a cross. And I am still in awe that God has restored me to a thriving relationship with him through Jesus’s resurrection from the grave. Because Jesus defeated sin and death, I too can live victoriously every day and for eternity.

THE BALL FIELD OF HUMANITY

You and I would never have experienced God’s miracle of salvation without first receiving that which we couldn’t earn or deserve—God’s amazing grace. It is made available to us because Jesus humbly came to us when we couldn’t go to him. The apostle Paul provides us a great word picture for this in Philippians 2:5–8: "Jesus . . . though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a