Have you ever felt that God was speaking to you, guiding you, giving you signs or helping you along the path to your destination or purpose in life?
In July of 2004, I believe I was given a message while recovering from major surgery. Not even able to go up the stairs yet, I sat up from an afternoon sleep with excitement, and it was clear from my dream that God was telling me to spread His word through T-Shirts of Faith! I was a little skeptical at first but from that day forward He started sending me visions and signs. Being a believer of God,I started to trust that this is the path that I am supposed to take. I am a lover of art and creativity, so I was extremely excited about this new venture, but knew "very little" of how to go about this. Once I had recovered from surgery, and a major renovation we were working on,I returned to night school to learn PhotoShop...a tool used to create designs for t-shirts!
Visions of Faith officially became a business in January 2006. The name of the company was chosen for two reasons. First for the "visions" He kept sending me, as God often speaks to his people in visions, and second because Our Faith and His Word on the clothing will be seen through our eyes or our "vision".
The first T-Shirt that I designed was for my daughter's Mission Trip to Mexico that March Break, printed by a local Silk Screening Shop. Since then, I have done many custom orders, including T-Shirts for a Church Fundraiser for our Mexico Mission Trip! As I continued practicing my computer skills, and designing a website...more clues to the puzzle were found!
Throughout the next year, God had given me many bold direction. For example, on our vacation that summer, we saw a sign at a corner that said "T-Shirt Sale" with a big arrow. So, we followed the signs and found a company that sells ready made transfers that I can order, with a large selection of Spiritual and Inspirational ones! This has been the biggest step in terms of design requirements for this website.
As incredible as it may seem, this Website went live on my birthday in 2008, as did the opportunity to advertise in the Shepherd's Guide for the year. God is so great!
The colours for this website were also chosen for a reason... Black represents our sins; Red represents the blood shed by Jesus for the forgiveness of our sins; White represents the washing away of our sins when we ask for forgiveness; Green represents eternal and everlasting life with God for those who believe in Him; Yellow represents the Gold streets of Heaven; and Purple was a colour that, in bible times, was worn by Kings and Jesus is our King!
I cannot compete or compare to a bulk buyer like Zellers or Walmart, but have tried to keep my pricing as low as possible. The uniqueness of this website is the Custom Transfer apparel line in having the flexibility to choose the garment that you wish to put the transfer on, therefore creating a custom order to fit your body type, style and your favourite color!
The latest clothing addition to this website was in 2008, where God led me to "Not of this World", "Sanctify", "Kerusso" and "Truth" Clothing Lines and this has been quite exciting. These tend to be a little more expensive as they are imported but they are very trendy for our younger generation and the young at heart!
In 2009, we ventured into Christian Costume Jewelry, and have great selection from which you can choose from to finish your outfit!
And finally in 2010 we took a big leap of faith and made the addition to our home a store, (which was the renovation that started the day I went in for my surgery!) ...it is a place where we can provide personnal customer service and t-shirt parties! I also sell Epicure Spices, in combination with a t-shirt party so you can combine and have two parties at once! ... you can check out their products at www.epicureselections.com. It's a great way to spend an evening and earn free products!
What does the future hold? We just keep spreading God's Words of Wisdom. God has led me, in a pace that I could keep up with as a mother of three, and not be overwhelmed. My hope is that one day our children could use their art skills to be involved in this venture as well. It has certainly taught us a lot about hard work, dedication, patience, and hope when I thought there was none, encouragement to press on and given us a strengthened belief in God, who is greater than we can ever imagine.
The vision of this company is being able to change lives... one glance at a time.
Blessings,
Wendy Sutherland
