A Future Board/Vision Board Story

Have you ever made a future board or a vision board? I had always heard of people making these boards and thought that I wanted to try it, but I had never set aside the time to actually do it. Fast forward to Valentine’s Day 2020. My husband were celebrating with a weekend away in Tampa, FL. We decided that the two of use would make a vision board together. We bought a foam core board about 20 X 24 inches and pens, glue, and magazines. Then, we sat down together and probably took a total of 30 minutes to create our board. We put all kinds of dreams on the board – how we see our life in the future, a life with adult kids, grandkids, enjoying beauty, exercising, traveling, and cooking delicious food.

It was fun and then we forgot about the board. That fall of 2020, we were moving back to CA and a couple of our kids were living in the Pacific Northwest. We needed to decide what to do with our household of furniture that we had left after we had sold our house in CO. So, our plan, after a lot of planning and prayer, was to spend 50% of our time in the PNW and the other 50% in CA. We traveled back and forth to WA and put offers on houses, only to lose them. Finally we were under contract with an adorable house – literally on an island. Four days before the closing the appraisal came in way under value and the deal fell apart before our eyes. We tried to get two more houses and those also did not work out. So, we eventually decided, let’s leave our stuff in storage in CO and we will move back to our house in CA and figure it out in a few months.

After we were back in CA for about a month, we decided to go up to a Lake Arrowhead and look at some properties, a mountain village at about 5500 feet in elevation. We knew several friends up there that owned cabins and thought it would be like a taste of CO, in CA. Since I’m a real estate agent, and we were able to see a total of four properties that afternoon. As we were getting ready to drive down the mountain, we drove by one last house that we had on our list. It had just come back on the market and was perfect for the location, our budget and literally two minutes from some of our friends. We made an offer, they countered and we went under contract the very next day. We closed on the house the day before Thanksgiving 2021.

We moved our furniture back from CO and began unpacking and getting settled. All of sudden, I came across our future board which I had completely forgotten about. As I looked at the pictures, I noticed that I had actually written on the board, “A Lake Arrowhead cabin.” And, you won’t believe it but the exterior paint colors on our future board were identical to the house – a cream colored house with navy blue trim. What are the chances? We could not believe it. I’ve always heard that you need to speak things by faith, and write things down with a giant faith, but I had never seen this happen before.

So, needless to say, we made a new future board for 2021. And, to give us more board space, my husband and I each made a board. It’s a new habit that we are incorporating into the rhythm of our lives as we plan, pray, dream, and choose a new word for the new year. Have you made a future board? If not, I encourage you to take a few minutes to write down and capture your dreams with pictures. You can also make one online by using Pinterest and even get more specific with your dreams with the exact photos. Think of capturing experiences on your board and not just material things – experiences that will make your life more beautiful and meaningful – maybe it’s a person you have always wanted to meet and to spend time with.

I’d love to read your comments in the post about your own future boards or vision boards!