I’m Lorinda, the creative and artist behind Ferreira & Co. I am possibly very naive and dreaming too big. But that’s okay. I’m kind of new here. I'd like to share some of my heart behind starting this creative small business.
I am a mom of three young boys. I am a trained and passionate teacher at heart. I’ve worked with ages all from first to fifth grade. I’m starting this little creative business because I’ve always been too scared to do it. I couldn’t envision just how, or when or find enough motivation to come up with a plan. I’m always dreaming and coming up with ideas, but the days and the years go by and then nothing come of it.
In my teen years I had some of my first encounters with prophetic words from God. We lived in Nelspruit and a teem from Bethel was staying over at my best friends house. One evening I slept over and that night they had praise and worship and shared prophetic word. I was so scared.
How do hear God? How does it work? What does listening to the Holy Spirit even mean?
They encouraged my 14 year old self to give it a try. And for probably the first time I recognised a thought in my head being not from me, but from God. I kept it to myself, and waited. As they prophesied over someone, those very thoughts in my head was spoken by somebody else. And I understood something that day - God will give me words, ideas, even plans. But if I am not obedient to respond, someone else will. God cares and loves deeply, and He isn’t hesitant or scared or will wait for me to get over myself. He will use whoever is willing to share His glory and His story so that people will come to Him, know Him, get saved.
That same night my friends mom was wise enough to write down prophetic words I received that I still have to this day. I received those words at 14. And now 20 years later, it makes sense. It has then, but it does now even more. It’s amazing just how faithful God is with prophetic words.
They mentioned paint, being artistic, creativity, arts and being versatile. That parts of me were very unique. And that my expression of Gods love is unusual, and outside of the box. That I have a prophetic anointing and that I need to throw away doubts. There were more. But that’s for another day.
This word brought healing to my heart. In second grade I drew a picture in art class. And I looked around me. I saw everyones pictures looking better, as I drew very strange looking stick figures. I didn’t necessarily get the praise or encouragement my heart desired. And there I took the bait, and said to myself “You can’t draw”. So this very word came just in time, because in the next few years I took art as a subject in high school. I met friends that became life long friends, heart friends. And God adjusted my direction.
I wanted to study something in art, but looking back I know I wasn’t ready. My heart wasn’t ready to not care what people thought. But I loved children and being creative and serving people, so I studied to become a primary school teacher. It is now part of who I am, how I think. I traveled, met my husband, got married, learned to work hard. And then the last couple of years God threw us in a storm. From Covid, to losing loved ones, to opportunities just not working out. We started our family and has three little boys in two years. Our eldest is now almost three and our twins are almost two. Becoming a mom of three boys broke me, shaped me and made me surrender trying to do everything in my own strength. It is the hardest, most impossible, yet most humbling and the ultimate best position in the whole world.
So in this complete surrender, God came. He showed up. Incredibly. He sent help through moms group, and therapy and in a thousand small ways. I decided to pick up my paint brush and pencils again. For the first time in years. At first, just for me. For doing something that I loved that didn’t require me to change a nappy, feed or care for someone. But to just be a time where I can just be me, spend time with God and fill my cup. Then, a friend came and saw what I was busy with and asked if I could create something for a friends baby shower. And little by little Ferreira & Co started taking shape. The seed was planted and a tiny little sprout came up.
So this account had very little followers. And I am a clueless creative. But with Gods help I hope to create a business for His glory, to share his love with others through drawing and creativity. I hope to inspire, educate and add value to peoples lives. I hope to create beautiful illustrations, artworks, stationary, merchandise and practical resources. I hope to share what I’ve learned about procreate and my process. And I have a thousand things to learn - how to create a website, figure out marketing, SEO’s, social media and so much more. I hope to start a blog, and figure out YouTube shorts. I’ve got ideas. So hang in there!
And if you have a dream, a crazy dream, just like me… maybe, just maybe I can inspire you to finally throw out your deep seated doubts and to trust God to open a way for you. And as I learn and figure out this thing of starting a business online, maybe you can learn too.
So come and follow along if you’re a crazy dreamer too.