Everyone has their own crazy, beautiful story and this is mine.

My name is Nicole Wiebelhaus. I was born and raised in Omaha, Nebraska. Go Huskers! Moved to the Carolinas at the age of 9 and have been “living it up” down here ever since. I’m the daughter of two goofy, loving parents and the youngest of three children. My brother is two years older and I have an identical twin sister (technically she is older by 4 minutes, but who’s actually counting?).  Jesus is my best friend and after some soul-searching my heart has found its home in the beautiful Catholic Church.

By day, I am a middle school math teacher at a Catholic school. By night? I’m just an ordinary 20-something-year old who enjoys… well A LOT of  different things. My absolute favorites are spending quality time with my family and friends, getting a drink while playing sand volleyball at the local Irish Pub, and going to see the latest MARVEL movie once it hits theaters.

That’s more of my extroverted side though. My introverted side needs a little love too, which is why I find pleasure in taking walks and hikes, as well as grabbing a cup of coffee or tea and reading a good book (usually something by Lewis or Tolkien). There is a little extraversion and introversion in all of us – I just happen to be about half and half.

Now those are just my hobbies. My passions are a whole other part of my story.  I already mentioned that I’m a teacher. That’s WHAT I do for a living. Now I’m gonna tell you my WHY. It’s okay, I get this question a lot. “Why in the world would you want to be a teacher? You teach middle school students? God bless you. Don’t you want a job that pays more?” Ever since I was little I’ve had a desire to help people. A lot of people do, but it comes to fruition in our lives in different ways. Some people become police officers, firefighters, nurses, doctors, counselors, so on and so forth. God called me to fulfill that desire by becoming a middle school teacher.

Middle school was a rough time for me (like it is for most adolescent children). I didn’t exactly fit society’s standard of “beauty”. My shy personality didn’t help much either. Being bullied was also something I dealt with regularly. Most days I just felt like I didn’t really belong anywhere. All of this rolled together can really wear down a person. My confidence and self-esteem from my early childhood took some hard blows during my middle school years and I still carry some of those scars with me to this day.

It wasn’t until the latter end of my high school years when I finally began to see a light break through what I refer to as the “dark ages” of my life. I won’t go into too much detail, but God put the right mentors, teachers, and friends in my life just when I needed them and I haven’t been the same since. For the first time in a long time I felt like I was actually worth something and that I mattered. I felt deeply known and loved (you know – the way Christ loves us), which changed how I viewed….well…everything. So when it came time to decide what career I wanted to pursue in life, being a middle school teacher was something I felt naturally drawn toward. It might have taken me a couple of years to fully commit to that path, but when I got there I knew in my heart that I made the right decision. I realized that I had a strong desire to reach out and change someone’s life just like someone did for me and who better to reach out to than an adolescent child struggling with self-esteem, confidence, and identity issues? Issues I know all too well.

So now that you know a little more about my story, you are probably wondering why in the world I am writing this blog and more importantly what is up with the bizarre title?

Once people really get to know me they quickly realize my deep love and appreciation for all things C.S. Lewis. If you have no idea who he is, you need to look him up. Don’t wait. I’m serious. Open up a new tab right now and type in his name. Your life will never be the same. Mine sure wasn’t. I was introduced to Lewis near the end of high school through my youth minister at church (Thanks Billy!). Once I began to read his writings and learn about his life I was hooked. He completely changed my perspective on God and what it means to be human. He has by far impacted my relationship with Christ more than any other author I’ve encountered. Because of my admiration for Lewis, I wanted to somehow incorporate him in the name of my blog – for the record, it is super hard to make a blog name that doesn’t sound super cheesy. After much brainstorming, I finally decided on the title Beyond the Wardrobe, which ties in one of Lewis’ well-known children stories The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.

Now the title is somewhat of a double-edged sword. Not only does it give homage to my dear friend C.S. Lewis, but it also has a deeper meaning. In The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, the wardrobe actually plays an essential part in the story (GASP, I know shocking right?). It is the means through which Lucy first discovers Narnia. She discovered a world beyond her own in a wooden wardrobe hidden away in a dusty attic. She discovered something so extraordinary in the midst of something so ordinary. That concept right there is the basis of my whole entire blog.

I truly believe that God is constantly reaching out to us in our ordinary day-to-day lives. Now, he might not lead us to a wardrobe with another world behind it, but I do think he gives us “little wardrobes” during our time here on Earth to help us see that there is something beyond this world. Our “little wardrobes” might be someone we encounter during the day, a story we read, a movie we watch, or something else that catches our eye. There is really no limit to the means through which God chooses to speak to us. He is calling out to us in these seemingly ordinary ways to remind us that there is something bigger than all of this. Something beyond our struggles and pain. Something beyond the brokenness we see around us. I want to bring light to these moments in my life. I want to share with the world how God is speaking to me through my experiences in hopes of encouraging whoever encounters my blog.

Yes, I dare to believe that God can use an ordinary Catholic school teacher like myself to give you a glimpse of something extraordinary, something beyond the wardrobe.