Look, I am about to do something new.
Now it begins to happen! Do you not recognize it?
Yes, I will make a road in the desert
and paths in the wilderness.

Isaiah 43:19 (NET)

My blog, Flashlight, began 13 years ago, just before we moved to Arizona. At the time, I thought I might write a book but after attending a writer’s conference, I decided to go another direction. Mark suggested the blog, to keep up my writing skills, and promptly put together a website for me to post on. He had the nerve to ask me, after I posted the first one, where the next one was! (His daily jingle writing coming to mind.)

It has had a couple of renditions but needed a heavy work over to bring it up to new standards and have a more “with-it” look. Our capabilities have not kept pace with the latest updates for WordPress, so I googled and found a Christian website designer, Exodus, who has diligently worked all summer to put the pieces together.

We have been in a season of “new” around here – selling our house and moving to an apartment, culling over 90% of all the stuff we’ve accumulated over our lives and keeping only the most meaningful. We now understand the “minimalist” mind set. And you know what? It’s pretty nice. Not having to care for all the stuff is very freeing. 

This wasn’t our plan but God knew we needed to make this change and led each step of the way…sometimes through those around us who could see the bigger picture better than we could. I’ve asked God why we had to put so many things down and got the answer back, “So you can pick some new things up.” 

It has been a year and I’m thankful for His timing. It would have been so much harder if we were trying to do it now. We are now “townies” and I enjoy being able to say that “everything is across the street,”…whether it’s shopping, eating, getting coffee, or going to the doctor. Our church is five minutes down the road. 

God has given me new responsibilities at church—Women’s Bible Study facilitator and small group leader. I’m singing again with the Southern Arizona Women’s Chorus. My vision makes night driving difficult but when everything is so close, I can participate much more easily.

We are enjoying this “road in the desert.” There are some paths of wilderness ahead but we’re trusting God to smooth out the rough places. Our hope is in Him.

Please give me your opinion on the “new look.”  We are still tweaking a few things but overall, I’m very pleased. If you signed up on the old website to automatically receive blogs as posted, you may need to do it again. Let me know.