Sourdough and the Savior: An allegory for our Time with Ganel-lyn Condie

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Host Tanya Roundy welcomes author and speaker Ganel-lyn Condie to discuss her new book, “Sourdough and the Savior” (her 20th, released in February), and how sourdough became a metaphor for faith, healing, and resilience. Ganel-lyn shares her background in teaching, media, and the intersection of mental health and faith following the suicide of her sister 12 years ago, plus her long-term lupus diagnosis and family life. She explains how her writing began from spiritual promptings, how grief shaped her first book, and the importance of timing, vulnerability, and a stewardship (not ownership) mindset in work, health, and relationships. Ganel-lyn outlines the book’s sourdough steps—start, feed, grow, create, share—connecting them to Christ as the “bread of life,” and closes with encouragement to honor quiet, “middle” seasons of uncertainty.

00:00 Welcome and Guest Intro
00:50 Faith and Mental Health Mission
02:21 Sourdough Book Origins
03:57 Metaphors and Parables
04:28 Prompting to Write
05:52 Meg Story and Publishing Breakthrough
08:07 Courage to Create and Timing
10:33 Influences and Mentors
16:51 Ripple Effects and Trusting God
20:17 Focus Over Outcomes
21:33 Stewardship With Illness
22:46 Parenting Letting Go
24:02 Boundaries From Lupus
26:38 Sourdough Book Framework
28:28 Bread of Life Metaphor
30:19 Not a Business Ministry
34:19 Where to Find Elle
36:15 Sacred Middle Season
40:08 Final Blessing Farewell

In a world full of uncertainty, how does one cope with unbearable loss and pain? A Christmas tragedy finds Steve and Maria struggling to find hope. With the love and support of family and friends, will they find peace as they walk through the fire of Uncertainty?

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:42

Welcome, welcome everyone to Roundy's Ranches, Raids, and Reviews. I'm Tony Roundy, your host, and today I have a very special guest. I met her at a women's conference that we did of all about the savior. And luckily she was very gracious and kind enough to accept my friend request. And so we've been getting to know each other a little bit over the last few months. And she just came out with a new book. And I'm so excited to share her and this with you guys. So Canelle Lynn, will you tell us a little about yourself and what you do?

SPEAKER_01 1:13

Yeah, thanks for having me. I'm excited to have this conversation because we have a lot in common. And I just I love, I love when there's no time limit. I do live TV a lot, and that's a five-minute time limit. Sourdough and the Savior is my 20th book, and it just came out in February. And I work in the space of I have a teaching degree with a minor in psychology, but I am not a licensed therapist. But I my my journey through with a teaching degree is I feel like now that I'm speaking and I've hosted podcasts and I guest on podcasts and I write books that I'm still teaching, just in different classrooms. I do media also like live TV and radio regularly. But I really love having conversations in the intersection of mental health and faith. 12 years ago, my 40-year-old sister died by suicide. And that anniversary just happened on March 11th. And I feel like as a mental health educator and a faith educator, I've been able to have really unique conversations in my books and in podcasts and speaking at events like we met at, where it's not an either-or, where our faith can be really good for our brain health. And Jesus loves a good therapist. So I think it's an it's not an either-or. I've been married 35 years. I have had a journey with lupus, diagnosed two years into our marriage, so 33 plus years. I have two miracle kids that they said I had 10 years to live when I was diagnosed, and we would never have kids. And I have a 20-year-old son and a 22-year-old daughter, and they are the best of friends. And yeah, I've been this June will be 35 years of marriage, which is its own adventure. And I feel really grateful. I have had the chance to be an author. And just in the last two years, I said I would never write a book about sourdough. I learned how to make I learned how to make sourdough after the pandemic when everyone else learned during the pandemic. Yeah. Yeah. Everyone learned during the pandemic. And I learned way after. And I still haven't played pickleball. And I think a lot of people played learned to play pickleball during COVID too.

SPEAKER_00 3:21

So I have not yet played pickleball. And I just barely picked up in the last five months sourdough. Which okay, after all these years of baking and everything else, yeah. Yeah, I've I've done this before.

SPEAKER_01 3:32

Yeah, it's been really good for my lupus, and that's how I discovered it. I dedicate this book to my friend Sue, who brought over a loaf of sourdough a couple years ago, and that kind of started me on this journey. And it came at a time when I was a new empty nester and I had been hosting a weekly podcast that was really popular for four years, and that got abruptly canceled. And the publishing world has changed dramatically. And with AI and with closing of SQL bookstores, and so I don't know how many more books there are in me, but this book has reached people of all faiths, and people that love making sourdough will love it. I put my little tips through each chapter and then the recipe at the end. And then those people, I start out talking about one of my favorite books that shares of a woman going to the sea during her empty nesting middle age transition time. And I've never had the chance to live by the sea for the summer. And that metaphor has stuck with me. And so when I went to the publishers and said I wanted to write this book, I said sourdough is kind of a hot thing right now, but even if you're not into sourdough, I think it's a really beautiful metaphor. And as a teacher, I really like using metaphors.

SPEAKER_00 4:48

So they're a great way to teach. I mean, even the savior himself taught through right. Yeah. Metaphors. That's how he taught. Yeah. Yeah. It works well. Why not wipe a change it up? Yeah, exactly. Very cool. Well, I am so excited. Tell me a little bit about how you got into writing to begin with, because you've written a lot of books and you've had this beautiful journey, and you've been a teacher and a mom. How did you get into writing throughout all of this?

SPEAKER_01 5:17

So it started before my sister Meg died. I had a prompting to write a book, which all my books have come from promptings, even number 10 or 15, or you know, but the first one for sure, I never saw myself as a writer. I didn't major in English or writing or any of that. And I love a good editor because of that. I think I'm more naturally my first language would be speaking. I we've talked before, I went on a debate scholarship to college and I did debate in high school. And so that comes much more naturally to me to speak than to try to like get these words to come out on a keyboard. But I had a prompting to write a book and I worked on it. And well, I ignored it for a while and then it wouldn't go away. Then I told my best friend so that I had some accountability and then I worked on it, submitted it to a couple of publishers and got two rejections, which isn't a really dramatic story. But at the time I almost gave up and I did some revisions on the first manuscript and submitted it to Covenant, which ended up being my publisher for 10 years until two years ago. And in that process of waiting to hear on a first publication, it can take up to a year to hear back after you submit. And I think it had been at least six months, and my sister Meg died. And ironically, that first book is I Can Do Hard Things With God, and it's a compilation book. So each chapter, it was the first in the what I didn't know was going to be a series, the With God series, but each chapter is its contained story from different women who have done hard things. And I acted as the midwife for those stories because some of these women were never going to be writers and have chosen never to write again. But they had really compelling stories. So I helped ghostwrite, edit, massage those stories. And ironically, I haven't told this a lot on podcasts, but I had approached two different women about suicide stories to be included. And both of them pulled out before I submitted the manuscript. I didn't replace it with a story about suicide. I just moved on. And I share that because the timing was essential. So six weeks after my sister died by suicide, the publisher came to me and said they wanted to publish that book. And I ended up rewriting that, including Meg's story. And I think that's really interesting because I think sometimes whether you're feeling compelled to create art or try sourdough or I don't know, create anything in life. You have to have a risk factor of failing and being vulnerable. And there's a timing factor. And I wasn't hearing God wrong when those other rejections had come, but the essential story hadn't happened yet. And God couldn't tell me Meg hadn't died yet. And really, her story opened up back in the day, our church membership was known as Mormons. We don't go by that now. But so if you look at that with God series, it's stories of Mormon women. And that story was the first chapter in the very first book. I didn't know there would be 19 other books that I would be a part of. And that story of Meg had has become kind of it has opened doors where I've spoken lots of other religions in their congregations. I've done a lot of mental health education and outreach. I've worked with organizations on their mental health programs. And it was because of Meg's story. And so I like to share that because if you're feeling a nudge, if your listeners are feeling a nudge to create something, to try something, you know, like this year, I've been trying again to learn how to knit. I'm still not great at it. I went to one class, my mother-in-law passed away a year ago. She was great at everything like that, not me. Um, and so I just think there's something about neuroplasticity and brain development and aging that kids are more courageous to try those new things that they may fail at. And as we get older, we get safe in what we like. And I like that I like what I like now. I tell my kids all the time, like, I don't have to prove anything. I'm 55. If I don't like it, I'm not gonna do it. Exactly. But if you're feeling a nudge and it looks like you're failing, just realize there's also, whether it's starting a podcast or starting a business, that there is a timing factor that was out of my control and I wasn't hearing God wrong. I just had to keep making the offering. And then the timing really was beautiful because Meg died six weeks later. I was in the middle of grief, and the publisher came to me, and I knew exactly that original manuscript needed to be reworked to include a story that hadn't happened when I had submitted it like nine months before. So that started the beginning of what I didn't know was gonna be a career in writing, but I'm grateful.

SPEAKER_00 10:20

That is an incredible story that God always knows our timing, right? Even when we don't. And yeah, uh learning to trust that it's always hard and always fun to figure out.

SPEAKER_01 11:15

And Meg, my sister that died was so excited for me to publish my first and only book. And so I knew she was working on it from where I believe she is. And so I think she was probably knocking on some doors from her side, and she really has been my mission companion the last 12 years. Telling her story has allowed me to do really important work that I feel is meaningful.

SPEAKER_00 11:40

I love that you called her your mission companion because that's a beautiful way to see it.

SPEAKER_01 11:44

She totally is.

SPEAKER_00 11:45

Yeah, she's serving her mission from the other side. Yeah, totally. Oh, I love that. That's such a beautiful way to look at that. So you've been writing, you're doing who are the people that have influenced you, writers, speakers, what's your biggest influence throughout all of this journey or when you were younger, that kind of led you to.

SPEAKER_01 12:04

Yeah, great question. No one has asked me that question. I have given thousands and thousands of interviews, and no one's asked me that question. So I'm really grateful. I would say at first, from an author perspective, Richard Paul Evans and I have become friends over the years. My grandma stood in his first line for Christmas box and bought me an autograph copy. And then every year for Christmas, she would get me an autograph copy. And then I started working with a regional magazine, and he was one of my first high-profile interviews. And he had gotten to know me through all those book signings because my name, Gainolin, is I'm the only one with that name. And so he signed a book for me for every Christmas for a few years, and then we became friends. And I got to interview him for the magazine I was working on. And and he over time, I remember him telling me in that interview, I still think I have the digital cassette, the little audio recorder of that interview. Cause I mean, that's what we had, you know. This was so many years ago. This was oh, let's see, my daughter. It was at least 19 years ago, and I just voiced, I just brought a little portable cassette recorder and recorded that interview. And he said something to me about how he literally sits down to write. And he's I have a whole shelf of all of his books because he says to me that it still feels like he has to sit and bleed onto the keyboard. Like, you know, I think that was influential for me in a way of first, I was kind of doing magazine media writing and interviewing, but that as an author, I don't know if he goes away to his ranch to write or to he had a hotel he used to go to. I was trying to be a mom at home. And so this office here was where I had written a lot of my books with my kids by the front door so I could see them coming and going. And I didn't have the luxury of going to a ranch. But to have another author who was a best-selling New York Times bestseller author, he's had books made into movies, say that it's still a struggle for him to get the words on the page, I think has helped me through a lot of writer's blocks. Speaker-wise, I would just say he's also become a dear friend, and that's my friend Brad Wilcox. I think one of my earlier speaking gigs, I don't know who how this was arranged, but I was scheduled, it was probably a year into my professional speaking career that I didn't really know it was a career yet. I just, it was word of mouth. So I had spoken somewhere and then a group asked me to come because someone from that first group had gone to work and talked about it. And you know, it snowballed. So I don't know who scheduled one day a big conference in Logan near Utah State for Brad Wilcox and I to co-key note together. And like he was a hero. Like that was just so weird to me that I don't know. And I think I spoke first, and then he was the second speaker, and that was the conference, and it was like three buildings filled. They had video to all these other buildings because they couldn't fit everyone in. And obviously, everyone was there to see Brad Wilcox, not me. And I finished speaking in afterwards, and he has become a dear friend. We've traveled a lot to speak at other events over the years, and he is a trusted person for me to go to, but he didn't know me and he had never heard me speak. And after I finished speaking, I now that I know Brad, he's very generous, he's very kind, he's very willing to say yes and support and cheerlead people. And so I'm sure what he said to me, he has said to lots of other people. But that day, the great Brad Wilcox said to me, You, I have never heard anyone speak like you, ever. Like women speakers that speak with such power and vulnerability. And I was brand new. So this is 12 years ago, right? And he said, You can never stop speaking because we need your voice. That was, I've never told that publicly because that sounds kind of braggy. And it really just is coming from a very authentic speaker to say to me that I spoke with power and authenticity and realness and that I should never stop, has carried me when it's gotten frustrating and discouraging, or I don't get invited somewhere. So those are two male influences. I did a book called The Decision That Changed My Life. And it's a compilation where I wrote, I helped edit, but it's a major story and then a ripple effect story. So Brad Wilcox's daughter wrote her story of Brad being called to be a mission president, and then Brad wrote the ripple effect story, which I thought was this is many years after we had spoken at that event together. But in that book, I also had the chance to write and interview Ardith Capp. And she was the general leader of my young woman's life. She's the general young women's president that introduced with Pat Patricia Holland the personal progress program. And I was the last personal progress leader in my ward, with my daughter being the last group to be the young woman when they canceled the program. And so I wrote her story of her being called, of her being shown in a blessing from President Hinckley, that there would be a day she would see the young women of the church rise up as a mighty dragon. And then what was so beautiful about her story in that book, The Decision That Changed My Life, is she shared with me that when President Monson announced the age change and young women could go at 19, that's when she saw the fulfillment of that blessing. All those years later, when there was just lines and lines of young women that could now serve earlier, including my daughter. And now we see 18-year-olds, all these senior girls are going, right? And I apologize, I didn't ask you before if your audience is generally LDS. So I hope this it's mixed, it's all good. I think everyone sounds good. Yep. So so I love that story, whether you're from our faith or not, because Ardith Capp was a woman who was a general leader that had inspired me and never had children of her own. And she had led this major organization of young women, 12 to 18. And she had led with such purpose and focus. And she had visions of things that it wasn't the time yet. And maybe that's the theme of this podcast. It wasn't the time yet. She felt it. She felt that the missionary age should change for young women. And when she went to the mission apartment, she also shared with me in my interview with her that it was the right idea at the wrong, it wasn't the time yet. And I think that's really hard for us as humans. And if you're, I just had the chance to sit by a beautiful Muslim man when I was trapped in Florida for two days recently. And my husband and I had to take various flights to get home. And we were sitting apart, and I had the chance for four hours to sit by this beautiful Muslim man that has a PhD in economics and has a young family and had immigrated to Utah when he was in high school and has a lot of friends of our faith. And we have this beautiful conversation about the fact that being a Muslim, and I do a lot of interfaith work, that it means that you're willing to partner with God. And so he said to me, technically, as an LDS person, I'm a Muslim because he said, You're a woman of faith and you're willing to partner with God. And Islam is a religion, but Muslim is that willingness to live your life with God. And so I love the idea of that if you choose to be a person of faith and you choose to be a person that works with God, then there's this offering that you can make. And then trusting outcomes and timing is a lot not in our control. And I loved meeting with this woman who was a leader that had inspired me, that had been the leader of a major organization as I was a teenager, confused, insecure, living in a community where I was the only member of my faith, all these years later to sit and interview her. And then the ripple effect of her story in that book were three young women of different ages that had been blessed by her as a leader. And I just think it's remarkable when you think about how we have no idea what we are doing now and how that will ripple out to affect people later. And often as mortals, we get frustrated because we think we get a direction, we act on it, and then the outcome looks very different than we thought.

SPEAKER_00 22:26

It's always yeah, it can be frustrating because you're like, You told me to do this, and this is where and I try to do everything right and right. We and I one of my friends, Benny Tolman, he's with Richard Tollivans too, that one of his things is that you can't have expectations. You gotta give up those expectations.

SPEAKER_01 22:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 22:46

Because when we have that expectation and then we're disappointed, then we're less likely to follow and do what we're supposed to. But if we just follow and trust and leave that open.

SPEAKER_01 22:56

Yeah, I wrote a book a few years ago called The Stewardship Principle, and it's really based on that idea. And I think the event you heard me speak out, I may have mentioned this, that it's when you're in a stewardship mindset, it doesn't mean that you're tuned out. You're still intentional, but you're offering focused instead of outcome focused. Right. Because when we become outcome focused and just full transparency, I am currently outlining and trying to work on a corporate version of that book that is going to be more applicable to business settings and corporate settings. Even though business people have loved that book, it's very faith-focused. And I think, especially in business, right? There's so much about the measurables in business and the outcomes and the barometers and the spreadsheets. And I get that as part of our culture. There's algorithms and followers and book sales and views on your podcast and all of that. But sometimes I try to check myself as a girl of the 80s. You know, if I did anything that had reached 50 people in two minutes, I would have been in shock and in awe, you know. And now if I don't have a post on Instagram that reaches over 10,000 views, I feel like it didn't do any good. You know, and that's when I have to remind myself I've jumped into an ownership mindset and I've switched out of a stewardship mindset. Same could be said for how I feel about my chronic illness, about lupus. I see my body and my health as a stewardship that I get to give watch care over. I'm never symptom free, but I try to move my body and take supplements and get massages and do various things to be a steward over my body. And I think, you know, back to Sourdough and the Savior, there was a Lot out of my control the last two and a half years that felt like abrupt endings. And my identity, I had to test my own principle. Like, am I a steward over my career and my children, or do I own? You know, when your podcast you love and is it successful, and people still ask you about it, is abruptly canceled. What are you gonna do with that? And so as I learned how to make sourdough and then failed a lot, there's something about that creative process that is so connected with God, but requires the courage to fail and make offerings.

SPEAKER_00 25:21

And that literally just happened today. This loaf of sourdough has not been rising all day long. And my husband's like, so we're gonna make scones. I said, Okay, you know, yeah, but that stewardship mindset is so important, and it and we all do it as parents. We it's like we've had this kid and under our care and all these things, and then they go out in the world and we still are just like I know, and they're making their own choices, right, and all those things, and it's so hard to sometimes just remember that God's there, truly. I'm just here assisting, I'm just a shepherd, and I'm just in the you know, and I have and I love the thinking about the body. I'm gonna have to rethink all of my stuff with Lucas and Parkinson's as well now because I'm like to think of myself as a steward over my body and my illness instead of that switching that mindset, I think is going to be so powerful in well.

SPEAKER_01 26:11

I mean, I hope you can still get the stewardship principle if you order a desert book and Amazon, but that that body chapter is really important because you and I both know that I mean, I can do everything that I think was helping, and then something changes in the world or in my body, my hormones, and then what was helping isn't helping. And so I I think when I move my body to exercise, it's not for the same outcome that I see my neighbors who are training for a marathon. It's I move my body so I can move my body. And so I think what example when people ask me about how I've tried to have healthy boundaries in my relationships in my life, Lupus was the big teacher for me at 32, 32 years ago, newly married, trying to finish college with no health insurance, because that was back in the day when if you had a pre-existing, you didn't have insurance, and we were both in college and newly married, and we were told I had 10 years to live and no kids. You learn pretty quickly that you have to say no to certain things so you can say yes to things. And I see a lot of my friends, they didn't learn that lesson until much later in life when other things started to happen. And because of lupus, I was taught early that this body, it's not self-care luxury. I'm speaking at a life after loss conference tomorrow night at a university, and they want me to talk about self-care. And this is an audience of people that have lost someone. That's why they're coming to this conference, right? They're grieving. And I'm gonna share that I had to learn it early. I had to learn it early because I would literally die if I didn't take care of my body. Not everyone gets that gift, right? And so, not that lupus or Parkinson's always feels like a gift. I think oftentimes people look at me on social media and I try to post about everything in my life, not just one area of my life. And I try not just to post selfies and events, and I try to give a lot of no makeup, bad hair day kind of posts, as well as you know, the glorious days. The reality is most people in your life that have a chronic illness of some sort, you won't be able to look at them and know if it's a hard day or not. My closest friends, my kids, my husband can look at me and see. But I would just say if you have someone that has a chronic illness, asking them what support looks like is really key. And also, they probably have some secrets to balance and self-care that you haven't learned yet. So ask them because they've been forced to. Right. Yeah, they've been forced to assess what they say yes to and no to.

SPEAKER_00 28:52

And at what's time to and yeah, that is so true. And even though it's I I've been going and I tried so hard to keep saying yes because of all the things, but I've that's been the biggest teacher for me in the last 10 years is been learning when I need to say no.

SPEAKER_01 29:12

And when you just want to do so much to help, you still but you yeah, I always say my spirit doesn't have loop as my body does. Right? Yeah, so frustrating sometimes.

SPEAKER_00 29:24

Yeah, yeah. That you want to do that. Well, that brings us then really to your book now, especially this Easter time. I think that's another reason I really wanted to get with you, especially before Easter, so I could get this out. Was that it's such a beautiful message of Saudor and the Savior. So give us this analogy, give us this beautiful metaphor of life.

SPEAKER_01 29:46

I divide the chapter, it's an easy read. My last three books have been around the 68-page read. So I love non-readers pick it up because in this era of podcasts and ebooks and audiobooks, I still like a tactile paper book, and I divide it up into the steps of making sourdough. So, what kind of was the backstory is the beginning. And then, if you know sourdough, there's a start, and I share how I kill lots of starts and my self-esteem can't handle it. And then what you feed, and then chapter four is grow, then five is create and six is share. So I bake bread right now. I have an event I'm doing next week. They want 22 loaves of my bread. And so I am I baked four loaves today and I'm freezing bread and making bread for an event. So I'm not sharing as much, but usually in a normal week, I bake bread, pray about who needs it, and take it to them. And so that chapter talks about some experiences in my life and then how there's just different seasons. And so in each of these steps of making sourdough, I share the metaphor of what characteristics of the savior I discovered. It's become a really sacred time each day to make my dough and learn about how the environment changes. If your start's not working right now, I, you know, I noticed last week my bread was acting so weird. I'm like, oh, it's because it's warmer than it normally is. And every time the weather changes, my everything kind of gets shifted a little bit and I have to adjust a few things. And so I think when we're talking about our faith or our relationship with God, I love that Jesus is known by many names. And one of them is the bread of life. And one of the things for me with lupus that I discovered when my friend Sue brought me sourdough is that it's a live bread. It's a live culture, it's a live food. And so the reason you can live off just sourdough is it's a high protein count food and it's a live culture. So you're not eating dead food, you're eating live food. And it's really just salt, flour, and water, but it's been really good for my physical body. And but it came into my life at a time where there were a lot of abrupt, like I said, endings and losses. And it was important I knew to know that I was to slow down, but that can be really uncomfortable because then I'm left alone with my thoughts. It's not always a party up here with my thoughts.

SPEAKER_00 32:11

I understand.

SPEAKER_01 32:12

Yeah, but I also I found a really simple way I make sourdough, and everyone does it just a little bit different. And so I share in each chapter a few tips, and at the end, it's my recipe. And I love that Jesus is known as the bread of life. Bread has gotten a bad rap in society sometimes when all of a sudden everyone's like high protein only, and I get that. But if you look at bread like sourdough that's been around for hundreds and hundreds of years, it's because those starts are a live thing that you feed. And that's a beautiful analogy for me of Christ. When there's so much in life that is not gonna last, my savior keeps his promises. My relationship with him grows if I feed it. And as I share my faith with others, it grows. And so I've often had people have my bread and then say, Can I buy it from you? And at this point, I've said no, because it would change what it is for me. It's not a business, it's a ministry. And so that's a little bit about how I mean, fun fact, I was having a meeting with my publisher, and I had been really sick. And my husband had given me a priesthood blessing, and it said I would know what to say in this meeting, which wasn't my priority. And I had a Zoom meeting with my publisher and two of the executives, and but I hadn't started my batch of bread that day. So I still didn't know what I was gonna, we were gonna pitch some ideas, and I ran into the kitchen to hurry and make my batch of bread before I got on the meeting, and I could hear God say, you know exactly what your next book is gonna be about. It's gonna be about sourdough. And I was like, I have that's gonna make a liar out of me because I've told everybody I'm never gonna write a book about it. I am by no means like I am by no means a sourdough expert, but the early reviews on this book were from people all walks of life and all faiths and all regions in the country and in the world. And I love that it it did what I hoped it would do. It would sourdough is a connecting thing and faith is a connecting thing, it can be a dividing thing, but my hope was to write this book in a way that it would be an analogy that would stay with someone, even if they were into the geeky world of sourdough, which you know, when I talk to my sourdough friends, we can go on and on about right sourdough. So that and I love this cover. I love that the savior is holding this bread, and that loaf looks similar to one of my scores. I talk about how on the creation process I never know exactly how my scoring is going to turn out when I pull it out of the oven. It always looks a little different than I thought going in. And so, yeah, I hope, especially at Easter season or Mother's Day, like what a great gift to just I've had quite a few people order it and then buy a loaf of bread and give it as a gift to a neighbor or yeah, and then I've had a few people come to me and say they're the person they're giving it to is struggling with faith, but they're already sourdough freaks. And so I that was also a hope to build trust with readers that maybe you're not sure about your faith right now, but you want to read all the blogs on sourdough. So I would love for people to pick it up and I would love to hear about how it impacts, you know, especially if you're going through endings or loss or empty nesting or identity change. This is where I have felt the Lord succor me and comfort me, and it's been in my kitchen making sourdough.

SPEAKER_00 36:03

That is so beautiful. I love the idea of that living bread and the savior and his living that we partake of and what we've eaten and how we take it. Baking's always been therapeutic for me growing up, it really helps. It's like if that was my place, I could feed the bread when I'm eating whatever it is I needed to do. Uh in music, it's always been a part of me that I like to see the savior in that and to when it's especially because when you know, no matter what faith you are, you're breaking bread and you're communing and you're taking communion or the there's so many analogies there. Yeah, and that beauty of taking into us and growing and then sharing out like that's all the savior's way of doing it, and that is so powerful that message that no matter what we're going through, that bread is there to sustain us and give us sustenance through those things in our lives and keep us going no matter how hard it is. It's so powerful, so beautiful. Well, where can we get your book? Where can we follow you? And where can we continue on this journey with you, my friend?

SPEAKER_01 37:14

Yeah, I love keeping conversations going with podcast listeners. My name is so unique that it's easy to find me. You can find my website, and so I have a product page so you can see where all the places you can buy, all of my books. It also has links to all the social platforms because I'm on all of those. And but if you have one that you particularly feel comfortable with and you always are on Facebook or Instagram or LinkedIn, I'm on those. And so because my name is so unique, it's usually pretty easy to find me. And I try to check requested messages. I have a newsletter that goes out every other month. I'm not, I try not to overwhelm email people, but I've learned there's a lot of people out there right now that listen to podcasts but don't like social media. And so I've re energized my newsletter a little bit because they want a newsletter, they want to stay connected and and um and then they can email me back. And so if you want to sign up for my newsletter, it's on my website. The sign-up sheet there is there. And yeah, I love to hear from people, especially if you're able to pick up the book and any thoughts or impact that it's had. I would love to keep the conversation going.

SPEAKER_00 38:25

Especially for anyone who's needing this at this time of year, who's going through things or just sharing and participating in Easter time or Mother's Day, like I say, any pretty much any day. Every day is a day for every talk. Every day is a day we need Jesus, right? It's every moment of every day we need that sustaining bread. I love it. Very good. And I will put all these links in the description below, you guys, so that you can have those and participate and connect with Ganel because she can alan because she is amazing.

SPEAKER_01 38:55

Thank you.

SPEAKER_00 38:56

What is your last thought that you'd like to leave us with today to have us go away with before we sign off today?

SPEAKER_01 39:04

Well, I would just say I really have come to understand that there's sacredness in the quiet and the wandering. And when everything kind of ended a couple of years ago, I could feel God say, I'm in this. Don't just hurry and distract yourself with staying busy. And it's not been a comfortable, you know, I've gone through unemployment. My husband's lost jobs, had cancer, my my sisters died, my father-in-law, my mother-in-law has died, right? I've gone through things that have been hard, but there's always been like babies at home and a podcast I'm hosting. And there's something about that distraction to get through some stuff that you have a core theme. This is the first time in my life it wasn't like I knew the next grade I was going into, or my kids were going into the next grade. There wasn't the next thing laid out. And I know at 55, there's a lot more still to live and learn and experience. And I didn't want to just fill up this gap, this quiet, this wilderness, just so I could feel a little less uncomfortable. I think that for those that are finding this book or finding this podcast, if you find yourself wandering in the middle of something right now, and you're not quite sure where you're gonna come out on the other side yet, the next big thing isn't there. You're not clear your identity, you're not sure where the job is or the marriage is or the kids are gonna be or your health. There's something really sacred about being in this middle. And I hope the essence of this book and what I've been sharing publicly on social media and in my events the last two years, that I've given permission for that, because there's a lot in the world that's like, own your life and what's the next thing and live your best life. And, you know, and I'm not trying to take away from that because I do think there's so much more that I'm gonna create and experience in the world ahead. But don't just brush over this if you're finding yourself in a season of loss or a season of quiet or a season of endings. This world is a constant 24-hour stream of something coming at us. And we have gone to the other extreme where we can't sit still. We don't know what it's like to just sit on the porch and not have the next big goal or achievement or award or advancement or promotion. And I think I'm trying to give permission for that in myself into the world that we need more of that. We need middle-aged women that have lived some life that are metapausal and hormonal and don't have tight skin around our necks anymore, you know? And we have stuff to share and say, but it's okay to sit a little longer and wonder a little bit more of what's next. And don't just crowd out that quiet with distraction. Sit with that a little bit because as we know from the scriptures, God asks us to sit and be still with him. And I have a hard time with that. I'd much rather be busy and distracted and busy and productive and busy. And so that would just be my last little thought of be a little more comfortable in this uncomfortable season if you're in one two, because I'm in one two. And it's okay. It's okay to not know what's next yet. And you're gonna look back. I hope I can look back and go, oh, that was exactly timed perfectly for my greatest happiness, even though it felt uncomfortable and lonely at times.

SPEAKER_00 42:45

I have that, that's the hardest thing for me, too, is to just be still. And yeah, that's my one of my favorite scriptures, is to be still and know that I am God. Yep. I love it. Thank you so much for being on my channel. Thanks for having me. Happy Easter. Yes, you too. Everyone go and check out Anelyn's stuff and follow her, and especially the season sourdough and the savior. And know that you're loved, and hopefully we'll see you next time on Randy Easter.