FAITH BEGINNINGS

Hi! My name is Vanessa.  I am the owner and designer of 1NCE LOST, a Christian ministry on a mission to spread the message of Jesus Christ through simple, yet bold apparel statements.  

I’ve been thinking about sharing my testimony for quite some time but to be honest, I didn’t know where to begin.  There’s a song by Zach Williams called “That’ll Preach” and in the chorus he says “My whole life is a testimony.”  I feel the same way.  I like to think of my testimony as a series of chapters or building blocks of my faith today.  

So let's start from the foundation of where my belief and faith started.  It started from a young age and was instilled by my Grandma.  She was a woman with an unmatched conviction and faith in God.  She had a really tough life, the kind of tough that would break many and while it did its best to break her, it was never successful.  The tougher life got, the more deep rooted her faith in Jesus Christ became.  She read the Bible to us every time we visited her and showed us how to pray.  She would watch my brother, cousins and I during summer break and didn’t let us start our day without putting on The Armor of God.  She woke up early around 3 or 4am every morning to pray for her entire family, for generations to come, for the government, unborn babies, this world and really anything that came to her in the moment.  She started her own prayer ministry and handed out cards with the sinners prayer to people at the grocery store, the gas station, anywhere. For many years her personal phone was a prayer line so she could tell people about Jesus and pray with them.  She could make anyone’s day brighter just with her eyes of love and a hug so tight she would shake and take your breath away (haha).  She was a miracle and lived to see many miracles happen in her family.  She was humble, yet inspiring.  Seeing her was seeing hope in any situation. 

So, that is a small glimpse into my faith beginnings.  You'll come to learn more of my story as the chapters unfold.  While I’ve always believed, it’s these chapters in my life that helped me understand who God is to me.  I’m not sure how many people will read this but I pray that my story will plant the seed of hope in the ones who do.