FireBase is returning strings as nil - ios

Question

Man, UITableView's just do not want to work with me. I have been outputting strings to Firebase storage and I see the values stored. My problem is that I cannot output any of those strings into the UITableView. I just see a blank table view and when I go and try to see what is being outputted by thoughtObjects.thoughts it just says "nil." If anyone can help figure out what is wrong that would be appreciated. Thank you so much StackOverflow.
import UIKit
import Firebase
import FirebaseDatabase
class ViewController: UIViewController, UITableViewDelegate, UITableViewDataSource {
#IBOutlet weak var inputThoughtTextField: UITextField!
#IBOutlet weak var successfulUploadLbl: UILabel!
#IBOutlet weak var tableView: UITableView!
var refThoughts: DatabaseReference!
var thoughtList = [ThoughtModel]()
public func tableView(_ tableView: UITableView, numberOfRowsInSection section: Int) -> Int{
return thoughtList.count
}
public func tableView(_ tableView: UITableView, cellForRowAt indexPath: IndexPath) -> UITableViewCell{
//creating a cell using the custom class
let cell = tableView.dequeueReusableCell(withIdentifier: "cell", for: indexPath) as! VCTableViewCell
//the artist object
let thoughtObjects: ThoughtModel
//getting the artist of selected position
thoughtObjects = thoughtList[indexPath.row]
//adding values to labels
cell.wordCloud.text = thoughtObjects.thoughts
//print(cell.wordCloud.text)
//returning cell
return cell
}
override func viewDidLoad() {
super.viewDidLoad()
refThoughts = Database.database().reference().child("thoughts");
refThoughts.observe(DataEventType.value, with: { (snapshot) in
//if the reference have some values
if snapshot.childrenCount > 0 {
//clearing the list
self.thoughtList.removeAll()
//iterating through all the values
for thoughts in snapshot.children.allObjects as! [DataSnapshot] {
//getting values
let thoughtsObject = thoughts.value as? [String: AnyObject]
let thoughtText = thoughtsObject?["thoughts"]
let thoughtId = thoughtsObject?["id"]
//creating artist object with model and fetched values
let thoughtCreation = ThoughtModel(id: thoughtId as! String?, thoughts: thoughtText as! String?)
//appending it to list
self.thoughtList.append(thoughtCreation)
}
//reloading the tableview
self.tableView.reloadData()
}
})
}
#IBAction func buttonAddThought(_ sender: UIButton){
addThought()
}
func addThought(){
let key = refThoughts.childByAutoId().key
let thought = ["id": key,
"Thoughts": inputThoughtTextField.text! as String
]
refThoughts.child(key).setValue(thought)
successfulUploadLbl.text = "Thought Uploaded"
}
}