Have you ever played the game of Sudoku? 

It’s a logic puzzle that asks you to place the numbers 1 – 9 in each column and box without repeating any number.  It’s challenging, intriguing and rewarding all at the same time.

The funny thing is that in order to find out where the numbers belong, you must first determine where they don’t.  Then and only then do you find the answers.

Sometimes I think God works with us like that as well.  We ask him for guidance, but then it seems like we get a bunch of “no – that’s not it” answers.  But, my guess is that God understands that we are just human enough that it takes something like closing a few doors to nudge us out of our comfort zone; to force us to take a different step; to bring us out into the open, where the only choice we have is to depend on him.

I can’t help but think that God is playing this game of Sudoku with us as he is creating our future. I jokingly told my boss the other day that I had given him a “two year notice,” because we believed we were getting transferred to another state (for Tommy’s job with Ford) for the past two years.  For the first year, we thought we were headed to Louisville.  Then there was a few months of Chicago rumors, which even led us to take a trip up there to search for housing.  Then there was Kansas City, and now Dearborn, Michigan.

All of these locations have one thing in common.  They are far away from everyone and every thing we have known and loved for our entire lives.   

So what does this mean for us? 

It means that as He is gently showing us where we don’t belong, He is also preparing us for whatever comes next.  And little by little, step by step, as one door after another is closing, God is slowly leading us out into the open, where we have no choice but to depend on Him, and Him alone.

And I’m okay with that.

I suspect that it will be challenging, intriguing and rewarding all at the same time.

Tags: Ford, God, guidance, soduku