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Linda Strom
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Karla Faye Tucker

SET FREE

From Linda Strom:
People have asked me why I wrote "Karla Faye Tucker: Set Free" and how I think God might use it. In the final days before Karla Faye Tucker’s execution, she gave me a charge:

“I have such joy—joy without a lid on it. I’m going home to be with the Lord, and I’m trusting in your hands this message of joy. Take it to the world for me.”

Visit our Donation Page to find out how you can receive your copy of Karla Faye Tucker Set Free.

"Every person should read this book-they will never be the same."
-Henry Blackaby, author of Experiencing God

Meet Linda Strom...

.....A woman whose life has gone from ashes to beauty. God is using her healing from a painful past to help others with hurting hearts.

Linda Strom grew up in western Pennsylvania near a beautiful lake and rolling hills. The old farmhouse she lived in looked peaceful.

However, peace was a rare commodity during the first 17 years of her life because her father was an out-of-control alcoholic. By the time Linda reached her teen years, life was filled with turmoil. She lived through the trauma of a father who was physically abusive to her and a mother who was verbally abusive. The one anchor in Linda’s life was her grandmother. She loved Linda unconditionally and prayed daily for her family, often telling her, "God is always greater." She walked out faith in Linda’s presence, and it gave her hope.

From the pain of a broken childhood, there emerged a woman God would use to reach the hearts of the hurting. The truths Linda shares have changed the lives of many different people from college students to inmates on Death Row. Her story is a message of hope ... "God is always greater."

Linda, how did your life begin to change?
In April of 1963, I married Dallas Strom. Unfortunately, I brought some ingredients into my marriage that had been modeled to me in my home. Dallas was a tease and seemed to enjoy watching me lose control. One day in anger I threw a pot of hot baked beans at Dallas and hit him. He walked out the door, and I was alone and desperate. As I was on my knees cleaning up the beans, I cried out, "God, if You’re real, You’ve got to help me, because if You’re not, I’m not going to make it in this world."

That evening, Billy Graham was on TV speaking about marriage. How I wanted to change! But Dr. Graham said that in ourselves we don’t have the power to change. Then he read John 1:12:

"As many as received Him (Jesus), to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name."

I wondered, "Does Jesus really have the power to make me different?" He talked about God’s love for me. I had longed for love, but I had closed my heart out of fear. That night I confessed my sins and my need for God. A deep sense of being loved and belonging settled into my soul. When Dallas returned home I eagerly told him of my experience. I’ll never forget his response: "It should be a lot safer around here if what you say is true!"

Later that year Dallas attended a Billy Graham Crusade in Nebraska. In the car on the way home, Dallas invited Jesus into his heart. My grandma’s words rang true in my heart: "God is always greater" ... and truly is a God of healing and reconciliation. My heart was so full that I began to share Christ freely with others. Then both my parents received Christ, and our relationship began to heal.

At what point did you go into ministry?
Immediately, I knew I was called to share the Good News. I worked at Northwest Airlines and also at an airline school where I was a teacher. I had many opportunities to share my faith. Then, in 1971 Dallas and I joined the staff of Campus Crusade for Christ International, and we were also youth workers at a church in Minnesota. In 1974 we moved to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and established Discipleship Unlimited. Much of our ministry involves healing and reconciliation.

What’s it like to spend time with Death Row inmates?
Over the past 17 years, we have developed some deep relationships with the women on Death Row in Texas. One such woman, Karla Faye Tucker was one of the most committed, on-fire Christians I have ever met. She had a worldwide ministry from her cell on Death Row. She proclaimed the message of Christ whenever possible through letters and television interviews. She also had a powerful prayer ministry. At her execution on February 3, 1998 over 300 camera crews from all over the world were at Huntsville. People were so interested in this joyful woman who was unafraid to die. We were friends for over eleven years and she commissioned me to take the message of joy to the nations. I felt compelled to write her story. It was published in 2000 by Shaw Waterbrook. Karla Faye Tucker Set Free is now in English, German, French and Spanish.

Pam was another Death Row inmate who is very dear to me. She had asked me to be with her at the time of her execution. Her case was overturned and she is now at the Mountain View Prison serving a life sentence. About fourteen years ago, she began to trust enough to share the pain of her past. As we prayed together and sought answers through the Word, we were both amazed at the healing that took place. Pam shared about the passage of scripture where Jesus was in the Garden of Gethsemane, in agony as He faced His own execution. His sweat was as drops of blood and He fell prostrate on the ground. He wanted His close friends to stand with Him, but they failed even to stay awake. There is, without a doubt, a depth in our relationship with Christ and with others that only comes through suffering. With Karla’s execution the pain was intense but we also experienced the presence of Jesus that comes when we are desperate for him.

What do you think is a key in ministering to broken people?
I think the key to a good ministry, whether it is in prison or in any church, is as Jesus said,

"(His) Father’s house is a house of prayer."

If ministries are covered by prayer, the people who are doing that type of ministry will have the discernment that they need. I don’t believe that you can just take a book and say, "I’ll have this ministry in my church." There’s got to be a lot of prayer when seeking God and asking Him to give wisdom and discernment.

Unconditional love is equally important. It was Jesus’ love that caused the brokenhearted to flock to Him and made Him approachable. In our ministry, one of our greatest assets is the love that flows from wounded healers, the people who have come out of brokenness, the Mary Magdalenes. However, we also need those who haven’t experienced that level of hurt because they bring security and stability into the ministry.

Forgiveness is often the beginning point of our healing. We usually need to work pretty seriously on it. I was able to forgive my mother for the rejection I felt from her. There was a horrible bitterness in my heart that seeped into all of my other relationships. Any time someone got close to me, or if I felt any rejection, I would quickly move away from the person because of all the extra baggage in my life. Conflict used to be frightening. Now I realize working through conflict can, with Christ’s help, produce intimacy in relationships.

In addition to your prison ministry you also have Healing For Your Heart conferences. Tell us about these.
Many of our volunteers would leave the prison conferences renewed and deeply touched. They would mention friends who needed help in addressing such issues as sexual abuse, forgiveness, and their identity in Christ. So we began to have conferences on the outside of prison that addressed a lot of the same issues people were facing on the inside.,

As a result, "Healing For Your Heart" conferences were started. We teach on the key issues surrounding being whole in Christ. We also spend a lot of time coming into the presence of the Lord through worship. These conferences provide a place where people from very diverse backgrounds can come together in a safe environment and allow the Lord to minister to them.

What would you like to share with us in summary?
Something the Lord has recently been impressing on my heart is, "Unless you become as a child ..." This is one of the conditions that Jesus requires in order for us to receive from Him. We need to know how to be secure, trusting, and forgiving. God always refers to us as His children:

"Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the children of God."
(I John 3:1).

Most children are not phonies. They haven’t learned about put-ons, masks, and wolves’ clothing. The Father is calling us to be like that--to put off all of this, forgetting our false airs; receiving His life, freedom, and His Spirit of liberty. When that takes place, you see the real power of the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ that can set men and women free, regardless of background.

Our ministry is just allowing Him to use our lives--lives that say, "I was without hope. I was wounded. I was weary. The Father made me His child and started a wonderful healing process that continues to this day. I have a freedom now that I never knew before, and that’s only through the Lord Jesus Christ coming in."

For over 20 years, Linda led an interdenominational Bible study in Milwaukee and hosted a local radio program, "Beauty for Ashes," interviewing both locally- and nationally-known Christians. In addition to ministering to couples through marriage counseling sessions, Dallas meets regularly with small groups of men in Bible studies. In the fall of 2003 Dallas and Linda moved to Texas where they minister in prisons.

Linda does conferences both nationally and internationally.

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