It’s been four years since I lovingly said goodbye to my online magazine and blog, Putting on the New. This site, as some of you may remember, ran for over five years and hosted a variety of Christian women, all writing about their individual walk. The theme was centered around Ephesans 4:24, which says:
“… and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.”
A decade ago I was tired of reading the same old blogs, tired of hearing testimonies that I personally could not relate to. I thought we needed more inclusion, to break out of this box Christian writing had somehow found itself in. I had an idea (no doubt planted by the Holy Spirit) to start a site.
I could picture different women, different backgrounds, a variety of ages, all entirely different experiences. We had a few rules: no politics, no putting people down, no hate speech. While many writers had written books, “no self promotion” was part of the brief. They each had a profile page where they listed their books and could link to their sites, but on each post, it was just them talking about what they experienced and how God brought them through.
Sometimes the posts were silly and fun, while other entires were about hard, tragic events. We shared it all. I quickly moved from the original, sole writer of the site to the editor, managing 30 different writers, all with their own style and skill level. I encouraged them to support one another. Friendships developed between many of the writers that continue to this day.
As we head toward the end of this year, I want to take a moment and remember this site, remember some of the amazing writers we had (Preslaysa Williams, Becky Melby, Toni Shiloh, Cynthia Roemer, Barbara Latta, Cynthia Ruchti, and more! So many more regular and guest posters. Too many to list.)
I thank them all with gratitude on what they shared and the time they spent to help make the site a success. While Putting on the New did have writers who had acted as missionaries, the site was a blogging ministry where it was the words that traveled, and to this day I am humbled by what God did with it.
