That Time My High School Notebooks Predicted the Future

I’m not a very superstitious person. I roll my eyes at most conspiracy theories. I don’t believe in karma or some nameless force keeping order behind the scenes. However, while I don’t think every little thing that happens in our lives has to be assigned a great meaning, I also don’t believe in coincidences. 

I believe in a God who is active and alive, a God who has been to the future and who has a plan. Nothing surprises him. Nothing disappoints him, because he has no unrealistic expectations for anything…he just knows everything. Thankfully, this is the reason why I can stay calm when the world seems to be falling apart. I know that God is in control. I know that he’s not shocked by the things that shock us. He is not afraid of anything. And I can sleep peacefully knowing that he has promised me that he is working all things together for my ultimate good.

Two years ago on this day I married this guy:

We cringe at our wedding photos. We were at our heaviest, but we were happy! Haha.

I love him with all of my heart. But he was not part of my plan. :)

If you would have asked me 10 years ago what my life would look like today, it would not have been anything like it is today. Some of the things that have happened to me make absolutely no sense to my human mind. 

God hates divorce. So why did he allow it in my life? I prayed, begged, pleaded for him to save my first marriage. He did not. I did everything he told me to do, and still, he did not.

That doesn’t make sense. But God had a plan. All along. There are parts of that plan I still don’t understand. And that’s okay. I trust him. 

Despite the trauma, God was gentle with me through it all. He never left me. I was always provided for. I was always kept safe. And then, when the timing was just right, enter Greg Deien stage left.

Greg and I met in high school. He was super cute! But he was not for me. I had made up my mind that I would only date guys from church, and that’s what I did. So I sat next to him in Study Hall those first years of high school thinking how wonderful it was that we had last names close to each other in the alphabet so that I could sit next to a really nice cute guy all of the time. :) 

And in that Study Hall, in other classes, when I should have been paying attention or doing something productive, I did what most teenagers do now and then…I doodled and daydreamed. I drew pictures all over my notebooks, and they were always the same. Over and over again…there was a Snoopy…some birds flying into the sunset…and then there were these two things:

It's sideways, like my life.

A little house and a sun. Always the little house and the sun. (I didn't say I was good at drawing.)

The house felt like it was from a dream. It was always exactly the same as this…a window on the top, two on the bottom, a wood-plank porch with lattice on the front. Sometimes I would draw a tree in the front yard…to the left of the house. Always to the left. 

At one point while Greg and I were dating, something hit me like a bolt of lightning. I was standing outside in his front yard and a thousand memories came rushing back all at once. 

I was looking at the house. THE house. This was the house my mind had spent hours and hours dreaming of in countless classes and study halls. (And probably church services, sorry Lord!) Obviously it's not a spitting image...but the windows, the porch, even the lattice is there! Steps are in the middle and I adore the wood planks on the porch!

And then I realized…the sun…the very one I always drew…was tattooed on my future husband’s back. Do I dare show you a picture of that? Okay, my husband is a REALLY good sport about this one.

And I smiled. Because God knew. I didn’t know, but he knew. All of that time. Those mindless doodles would someday actually play a huge part in my life. He knew this chapter was coming. He was, is, and will always be in control.

I cannot even count the times in scripture when people were freaking out over something because all hope seemed lost, and then there’s God coming in with his plan! It’s how he works. If everything worked out nice and neatly all of time without anything miraculous happening, then how could we attribute it to him? God LOVES to work in ways that don’t make sense to us. It’s one amazing way he can show his work in our lives. 

Have you ever experienced a miracle? Or something that could have been much much worse, but somehow…everything ended up being okay? I would encourage you in those moments to pause. Consider for a second that there are no coincidences and that God may very well be trying to get your attention. “Hey. I’m here. I did that. I love you.”

Did my teenage doodles somehow predict the future? Haha, I can’t honestly say that. But I can say there are dozens of other things that make our marriage a miracle. And God will use just about anything to confirm his presence in your life. If only you have your heart open to hearing from him!

Happy 2nd Anniversary to us! Hey Greg, if you’re reading this, I like you a little bit. Actually, I think I love you. ;) We were meant to be.