Vision Panel: The Vision Behind "Veritas"

A couple weeks ago, I had the opportunity to share the stage at my church with a few friends as we discussed the unique ways in which we pursued visions in our lives. You can watch the panel here (starts at 22:10) but I decided to share with you my more curated answers below!

Explain a little bit about the blog you recently started.

I decided to launch “In Love and Veritas” after feeling called to spread the truth of God’s love in a way that utilized the strengths and pushed the boundaries of weaknesses God placed in me. My time as a student of St. Mary’s Dominican High School in New Orleans was saturated with the school’s motto “to praise, to bless, and to preach VERITAS (TURTH).” Today, Veritas is a blog where I share personal revelations of how experiences and relationships in my life have shaped how I live and think. And in the years to come, by God’s grace, Veritas will accomplish tangible initiatives by way of those experiences and relationships.

When did you feel a burden/concern and have a vision to start it?

Vision Panel at The Bloc (a college and young adult church service that takes place every Thursday night at 7 PM at Celebration Church in Metairie, LA)

When I was 12 or 13 years old, my parents took me to an African Christian Fellowship prayer meeting where a guest pastor was invited to preach. At the end of his talk, he invited the youth in the audience to the front of the room so that he could pray over us and speak life and words of encouragement to us. When my turn came around, he spoke to me and my mom a charge I would never forget: “You will have a powerful voice.” I didn’t sing (well), so obviously that had to have meant something else. The vision became clearer during pharmacy school, when I encountered and interacted with more worldviews through my growing network of friends and associates. After many moments of tension from not fully pursuing what I felt God was calling me to, I purchased a domain that would eventually become “In Love And Veritas.”

How long did it take from that time till the time you actually launched your blog?

Full disclosure, in reference to my previous point: just because I purchased a domain doesn’t mean I did anything with it. In fact, before doing that, I opened a Tumblr account where I hardly shared any original content as much as I shared that of others’! But more and more I felt the pull to create an environment that would make it easier to identify the source of original content by way of personal revelation. So over the course of the 7 years between deciding to do a blog and Veritas finally going live, I didn’t idle my time. I built. I gathered content, questions, ideas, etc. I captured moments on my camera, my phone, in my notes app, in notebooks, and followed other pages and blogs for peripheral guidance. Finally, I gave myself the deadline of Easter 2019 to show my work to the world.

What have been some of the obstacles and discouragements faced as you pursued this vision?

My greatest obstacle was imposter syndrome. Psychology Today defines imposter syndrome as “a pattern of behavior where people doubt their accomplishments and have a persistent, often internalized fear of being exposed as a fraud.” I felt like I had no place to share my thoughts with the world because, who was I anyway? The virtue of that mindset was that I knew how much God’s grace had carried me through my life. The vice of that mindset was that I did not deserve the opportunity to share with the world what an experience like that (a life saturated in folly and grace) looks like. Nevertheless, with the positive pressure of supportive friends and convicting sermons, I knew more and more that nothing could stop what God was calling me into. Also, as someone who obsesses over the tiniest of details, and if you do too, do not let them stop you from moving forward. Part of my delay was my obsession over what name to use. How to manage my social media presence. Some things in the grand scheme of obedience absolutely do not matter.

What are you hoping/praying is accomplished by your writing?

It is my hope and prayer that Veritas will encourage people to pursue their God-given calling. That they’ll see from the experiences I share that they are loved, regardless of how far they feel they’ve fallen from grace. Whether my audience believes in God or not, I pray that my work is still effective in revealing truth and inspiring passion in their lives, wherever they may stand in the spectrum of personal faith (or lack thereof). Most importantly, I feel very strongly God has more in store for this website than my voice. What that looks like, we’ll just have to see!

How would you encourage someone with a similar burden/concern but isn't really sure what the next steps are?

Saturate the entire process in prayer. There is no detail about your calling that’s too big or too small to submit to the eyes and heart of God. There were so many times I had questions about how to approach aspects of my website that I committed to prayer. God always answered those prayers in some specific way.

Hope you enjoyed this glimpse into my vision!

In love and veritas,

Chioma