FCA Magazine interviewed Washington Nationals three-time All-Star Daniel Murphy during the 2017 season for its July/August issue cover story. Read a portion of the interview below and click the following link to read the full cover story: A Slugger’s Story
----------
FCA Magazine: Explain how your 2015 postseason run with the Mets is a part of your faith story.
Daniel Murphy: I’ve been able to use that period of three weeks or so as a testimony. I enjoy telling my story because it reminds me of the faithfulness of God in my life even in the midst of when I think He isn’t present.
Being on top of the mountain in the NLCS and then being at the bottom of the barrel in the World Series felt like a perfect picture of God’s grace and love in our lives. Jesus didn’t love me any less when I made errors in the World Series than He did when I was hitting home runs in the NLCS. If anything, He loved me more in the midst of [the World Series] because if He didn’t think our family could handle that kind of struggle, He wouldn’t have allowed it to happen in our lives. I felt Him saying, “I think you can handle this, and on My strength, you’re going to grow from this and you’re going to be stronger and I’m going to refine your heart and the heart of your family in the midst of struggle.”
FCA Magazine: How has your faith impacted your overall approach to the game?
Daniel Murphy: I’m not going to play baseball forever. This will end. This is a season that Christ has us in and I want to build relationships and hopefully show people that I’m far from perfect but I know where there’s hope. And where there’s joy and where there’s peace, because I’ve tasted it and I want to point them in that direction.
FCA Magazine: How have you brought your faith into the clubhouse?
Daniel Murphy: There’s so much isolation in baseball. I say baseball, there’s so much isolation everywhere. That's totally the enemy. He wants to isolate us. So, in an effort to get together and sharpen each other, [several of us] try to meet once a road trip. It’s an opportunity get into the Word and study and talk about what's going on.
Just like any other profession, it’s easy for us to want to measure our self-worth, value and identity by our work. I’m keenly aware of the fact that I want to derive value from my statistics, but that’s not where my self-worth is, that’s not where my value is. My goal isn’t base hits; it’s holiness. I know that any good thing you see coming out of me is Jesus.
----------
Read the FCA Magazine cover story on Daniel Murphy here: A Slugger’s Story
View and download the FCA Magazine poster featuring Daniel Murphy here: Mobile and Web Wallpaper
-FCA-
Photo: © Dale Zanine-USA TODAY Sports