The Master Strategist

My God is terrifyingly strategic.

Which makes perfect sense, considering He wired me similarly.

I’ve always wanted to understand deeper things. I don’t just want to know what—I need to know why. I genuinely believe that behind every what is a why, and that belief shapes how I move through the world.

I observe lives. Especially the lives of those closest to me. And what I’ve noticed, over and over, is that many people struggle because they can’t quite get out of their own way. Naturally, I analyze why. Then I compare those lives to people who don’t seem as limited—people who appear freer, steadier, more grounded. I look for the difference. I isolate the factor. I search for the dividing line.

That’s how I determine direction.

This is why I move the way I move. I look at those who came before me, and when I realize I don’t want my life to resemble theirs—or don’t want to end up where they are spiritually or mentally—I intentionally do the opposite.

That’s how I chose Jesus.

I didn’t arrive at faith blindly. I studied outcomes. I watched the lives of people who didn’t choose Him, and I drew a conclusion: He truly is the way, the truth, and the life. The evidence was in the fruit. The lives I observed lacked direction, accountability, and genuine peace. I didn’t see sustained love or real joy—just cycles.

And when I look back at the way God has orchestrated my life so far, I’m honestly stunned by how strategic He’s been with me.

Just as I determined the kind of life I wanted by observing those before me, I determined the path I stayed on by observing the peers closest to me. Through evidence. Through outcomes. Through patterns. I learned to discern what was of God and what wasn’t.

As you can imagine, I lost a lot of friends along the way.

Not because I confronted them. Not because I pointed fingers. But because the more evidence I gathered internally, the more I adjusted. And the more I adjusted, the more my path directly contradicted theirs.

Here’s what hit me today:

God used my nature to save me.

I didn’t choose God before I started choosing differently. I chose differently—and discovered that what I was choosing was God all along.

That realization stopped me in my tracks.

I’m stubborn by nature. I’m honest, and I’ll admit when I’m wrong without issue. But just as much as I’m spiritual, I’m logical. And knowing me better than I know myself, God used my logic to lead me to His Spirit.

He once said something to me in a dream about three years ago—something I finally understand now:

“I have to play these cards right.”

Cards are about strategy.

And He is a master strategist.