David Heflin (00:01) Well, I want to welcome you back to In the Seams and you in a moment are going to be able to hear my interview with Rachel Lundy, who has a website full of great blogs and, and referent or resources and some other references to works that she, that she has done. It's at, it's called Cranberry Tea Time. I'm sure if you just Google that, of course it's going to be in the show notes, but if you just Google that you'll, you'll be able to find it. And it was the conversation was such a blessing. Rachel has such a encouraging spirit about her when she speaks and she just speaks, I don't know, with a sense of a sense of conviction in God's presence, but it's a very unhurried kind of conviction. And it just you feel kind of relaxed when you're listening to her talk. And I just think you're going to really enjoy the conversation. We did talk about her story, and I may not say all these right. I may not even try, but Ehlers-Danlos syndrome. We've had people on the show that have that. talked about POTS. All of this is under a dysautonomia. I can't say I might have said that wrong, but anyway, the umbrella, kind of an umbrella term that all of these different problems, these different diseases fit under that. And so it's a little bit of a moving target when you're trying to get the exact diagnosis, which may not be the point anyway, because it's going to be different for everyone. And you've just got to try to... ⁓ find out what works for you. It really stood out to me though, Rachel details a situation where she had to get ready for a 30 minute event, an occasion, a get together that she was going to and all the preparation she had to do just to do that 30 minutes. And it was worth it, she said, but then also there had to be planned recovery for it. And so she really deals with a lot of adverse circumstances, chronic fatigue. And so I say all that to say I think that a lot of our listeners, a lot of you will be able to relate to her story in some way. She has a wonderful family, wonderful husband that supports her on her journey. so that's a real positive. But it all kind of works together as a faithful testimony to the presence of God in our lives, in our suffering. and that God can be at work in our suffering. That He's not through with us just because we have chronic illness and chronic pain. That we're not living a purposeless existence because of it. So I really just hope that you do listen and that you are blessed by the conversation, that you will check out the resources that will be in the show notes, different books that we talked about, as well as our website and so forth. I think all of this could be a real blessing to you. We're grateful Rachel came on the show with us, grateful for her ministry overall that she's been doing since 2007 through her blog and website. So she's been out it a while and she's blessed a lot of people over the years. And now you'll get the opportunity to be blessed by her and her ministry as well. So enjoy listening. David Heflin (00:01) Well, I'm very glad to have Rachel Lundy here with us on The Seams and want to welcome our listeners back to sharing this time with us. And I've become familiar with Rachel through a mutual conference that we're involved in called the Diamonds Conference and have been intrigued just to see how, Rachel, you've been able to help people through your ministry. I was particularly impressed when I was, I think, looking back through your website and some of the history there. It looks like Cranberry Tea Time has been around as a website since what, 2007? Is that right? Okay, that's a long time. I really, I was really thankful for that because generally speaking, when I've looked, especially in past years, when I've been looking for different resources, I couldn't find that much. And it's good to know that yours has been out there for a long time for people to connect to. So Rachel, first of all, welcome and... Rachel Lundy (00:36) Yes. Yes. David Heflin (00:57) want to ask if you could share just a little bit about your story and kind of how cranberry tea time came about. Rachel Lundy (01:05) Sure. ⁓ First of all, thank you for having me on the podcast. It's a joy to be here with you today and thank you for your ministry with Broken and Vended. It's a very needed resource and I appreciate your service to the chronic illness community. ⁓ So for my story, I grew up in a Christian home and I came to know the Lord when I was six years old. ⁓ David Heflin (01:10) course. Thank you. Rachel Lundy (01:31) And I'm thankful to the Lord for saving me at a young age and for providing that biblical foundation that I needed when I was still young, because then when chronic illness came, I was prepared spiritually to handle the challenges that I was facing. ⁓ chronic illness began for me around the age of 12 or 14, depending on which illness or symptoms I think of as the beginning of my chronic illness journey. ⁓ I had joint and ligament pain starting at the age of I believe it was 12, and I was eventually diagnosed with Ehlers-Danlos syndrome type 3. ⁓ But at the time, that wasn't all that limiting in my life. I had to make some modifications with swimming and walking, had to wear orthotics in my shoes, but it didn't greatly impact my life until I was 14. I started having breathing difficulties when I was swimming. I was a year-round competitive swimmer at the time. ⁓ If I wasn't in the water, I was fine. I didn't notice anything. But when I was pushing myself to my limits, I started having difficulties with breathing that I hadn't had before. ⁓ Took a while to get diagnosed, but when I was 15, I was diagnosed with POTS, is postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome. ⁓ It's a type of dysautonomia. Dysautonomia is an umbrella term that covers many other diagnoses. And dysautonomia is a dysfunction of the autonomic nervous system. And the autonomic nervous system controls everything in your body that you don't consciously think about. So heart rate, blood pressure, temperature regulation, energy production, digestion, all those things your body's just supposed to do on its own without you forcing it to do. Those things can get a little messed up in someone with dysautonomia. ⁓ So one of the problems I have is blood pooling. When I stand up, the veins in my legs don't constrict well like they're supposed to to counteract gravity. And so I have blood that pools in the lower half of my body. So the longer I'm sitting or standing, the more blood there is in the lower half of my body. And then the less blood there is to make it back up to my heart, my lungs and my brain. ⁓ So this can lead to fatigue, brain fog, near fainting, fainting, things like that. ⁓ David Heflin (03:40) Okay. Rachel Lundy (04:01) So this POTS diagnosis came when I was 15 and ⁓ I had some ups and downs with my health as a teenager. I did have to quit swimming. ⁓ Sometimes I had to cancel babysitting jobs. ⁓ I had a month here or there where I had to spend the majority of my time in bed just from sheer exhaustion. And this is from someone who had been an athlete and had been swimming two to three miles a day, five days a week doing weight training. ⁓ But my energy was David Heflin (04:27) I don't know. Rachel Lundy (04:30) It was failing. But I did have some improvements. I was able to go to college. I was able to work as a camp counselor for five summers. ⁓ Now each year was successively more difficult in both in college and ⁓ at camp. It got harder and harder as my energy levels were deteriorating. And then I worked for about a year and half after college before I had to quit work completely due to just extreme fatigue and weakness, lack of energy. And I've been primarily homebound ever since. And over the years, I've had other diagnoses come. ⁓ I've been diagnosed with gastroparesis, which is a paralysis of the stomach. For me, it's just a partial paralysis. Sometimes it's worse than others. but I'm thankful that it's not a complete paralysis like it is for many people. I have migraines and chronic fatigue syndrome. Some of my doctors now use the term dysautonomia for me instead of POTS just because of the severity of my symptoms. And some of my specialists think that a mitochondrial disease is the root cause of my dysautonomia. I don't know. I know that I'm very tired. David Heflin (05:32) Mm-hmm. Right. Rachel Lundy (05:57) So for how dysautonomia affects me today, ⁓ my energy levels are very low. I'm always tired and I only get more tired from there. I say that my energy levels are like an old cell phone battery that discharges too quickly. You can have it plugged in. It looks like it's at 100%. You unplug it, it says it's at 50 and then very quickly it's dead and it's just gone and you have to recharge again. ⁓ So for me, my most disabling symptoms are fatigue, David Heflin (06:20) Yeah. Rachel Lundy (06:27) and blood pooling, sensory overload, and post-exertional malaise. The amount of fatigue I feel after exertion is completely out of proportion to the actual activity that I did. ⁓ So to look at me on the outside, I look very normal, I look healthy, ⁓ and people who don't know me would have no idea just how much effort it takes for me to do simple tasks. I myself even frequently forget how tired I am. think, I'm just a little tired, but I can, you know, I can do these, these small things. ⁓ but then something will happen and I'll realize just how far below a healthy person's energy levels I actually am. ⁓ so I'll tell you a story just for a tangible example, very specific example. So recently we went to a friend's house for just a little drop in a party. David Heflin (07:17) Okay. Rachel Lundy (07:24) and we were there for less than 30 minutes. Now to prepare for this, the night before I had to have an IV so that I had enough blood volume to be able to sit up and be there for this. And I had to make sure, had to have my weekend planned so that I knew that my husband didn't have anything going on and I could rest in bed the rest of that day if needed and on all day on Sunday. ⁓ So we had to have the whole weekend planned just for this little 30 minutes at a party. David Heflin (07:54) Mm, yeah. Rachel Lundy (07:54) And I put on compression hose to help prevent blood pooling. My husband drove us there. I brought my ice pack vest. I wasn't sure if I would need it or not. It was only 68 degrees, but when we got there, the sun was so hot that even though it was only 68, I had to put on my ice pack vest just to walk the 20 yards into the house. ⁓ But then it was about 74 degrees in the house. So I had to wear my ice pack vest in the house because that was too warm for me. It was loud, so I had to wear earplugs in there. ⁓ And I also brought my seat cane so that I didn't have to stand for more than a minute. That way if I was stuck standing, I could just open up my little seat and sit down. We were there for less than 30 minutes. I'm so glad I was able to go. It was great to see friends and to talk. ⁓ But it was hard, but I didn't realize how hard it was until we were in the van on the way home. I was leaning back in my seat. I probably had my legs up on the dashboard and I was wiped out. And I told Will, I just, I was so exhausted. And I said, I sometimes forget how tired I am until I go and I do something like that and I can hardly handle it. And then I see these other people where they don't have to wear ice. They don't need earplugs. They can stand up and talk to everyone and then they can go about their day. and do the rest of their Saturday, but for me I had to come home and go right to bed. ⁓ I was able to get up again later in the day after resting for a while. ⁓ But that's just a very specific example of something where, you know, someone might see me out and about and I look fairly normal and I look like I'm handling things. ⁓ But then the crash comes later because the energy just isn't there. David Heflin (09:34) Right. course they would have no idea what you've had to do just to even get ready to to be in that moment ⁓ and like you said that kind of aspect of the invisible illness can lead sometimes a lot of misunderstanding ⁓ so just for context and your story might help people so you said to started 12 or 14 ⁓ may I ask how old are you now how long you've been living with this Rachel Lundy (09:51) Mm-hmm. Yes. Yes, I'm 44. So it's been over 30 years now. David Heflin (10:15) Okay. Yeah, and you're married, you mentioned Will. Do you have children as well, I think? Is that right? Rachel Lundy (10:19) Yes. We do, yes. We have four children. They are 19, 15, seven, and four. So our oldest is in college now and our younger three are still at home. We are homeschooling the 15 and seven year old. ⁓ Four year old's just along for the ride. We haven't started school with him yet. David Heflin (10:41) Right? Okay. Well, and I could just only imagine just how much, you know, energy that requires, which I'm sure you're willing to give as best you can being a mother and a wife. But I'm sure it takes a lot, you know, from you physically when just in the normal aspect of being a mother and a wife. ⁓ I wanted to ask then, so the cranberry tea time, and my understanding its origins are kind of rooted in you having a time of tea with friends in college, if I remember correctly. But tell me a little bit about how that turned into the blog that it is now and the website. Rachel Lundy (11:19) Yes. Yes, I'll do that. Okay. So many years ago, I was part of an online discussion forum for people with dysautonomia and it was a place you could go, you could talk about your ⁓ struggles with dysautonomia, looking, just getting advice from other patients as you're trying to put together the pieces of the puzzle or find doctors or whatever. ⁓ And it broke my heart to see so many people who were going through this chronic illness life without knowing Jesus. This was their one life. This was their one chance at fun. And they felt like it was being taken away from them with this chronic illness. ⁓ here I am with this eternal hope. And I know that this body is not all I'm left with, one day I'll have a resurrection body and I have that hope of eternal life and hope of the new earth and a new body. So I wanted to be able to share this hope found in Christ with these people. But the forum was only for discussing dysautonomia. You know, couldn't get on there and talk about your bicycle that you're repairing because that didn't have anything to do with dysautonomia. So you also weren't able to get on there and share the gospel. David Heflin (12:49) ⁓ Rachel Lundy (12:52) But you could put a link to your personal blog or website in your signature that would show up at the bottom of all your posts. So that was why I originally created my blog. It was so that people could click on that and they could go over to my website and there they would find the gospel shared. ⁓ So when I was trying to think of a name for it, I decided to call it Cranberry Tea Time. And this goes back to a time in college where David Heflin (12:52) All right. Rachel Lundy (13:22) My friends and I would drink cranberry tea. went to college in Alaska and my best friend, Darina and I would go out every fall and we would pick low bush cranberries and then we would make cranberry tea. We would can it and we would have it throughout the rest of the school year and we would drink cranberry tea late at night. Just talking about anything and everything and it was a comfortable, safe, warm, welcoming time where we could share our hearts and I wanted that to be the feel when people came. to my website. wanted them to welcomed into my world, welcome to share their thoughts and feelings and have these ⁓ discussions about important things. So I called it cranberry tea time after our times in college having cranberry tea. David Heflin (14:07) That's cool. Yeah. Well, and how have you seen God use cranberry tea time? I realize it's been going a long time. It may be hard to kind of summarize all the different ways, but just how have you seen God impact other people through it? Rachel Lundy (14:28) Yeah, it's hard to think of very specific stories, but I know I have regularly heard from people who have said how much they have appreciated it, been encouraged by it. ⁓ Some people told me it was the first blog by a Christian with chronic illness that they found or the first one that resonated with them. ⁓ So that's been encouraging to hear over the years. Sometimes you don't hear the stories when they're happening. But then maybe a few years later, someone says, yeah, I found your blog five years ago. And it really encouraged me. It was the first one I found after I was diagnosed and I didn't know what was going on. How was I going to keep living this life with joy? And then I found your blog and it encouraged me. David Heflin (15:16) Good. Rachel Lundy (15:17) Yeah, so it's encouraging to hear those kinds of stories occasionally. David Heflin (15:23) Yeah, I'm sure there's a lot more that you don't hear about that God has blessed people. Those are just a few. You know, we get to hear back from people sometimes. You spoke about the hope, the resurrection, the hope of the new earth. ⁓ I was just kind of piggyback on something you said a little bit earlier when you were sharing your story, that you knew God, you knew Christ from a young age, and that kind of helped you to be prepared for what you were going to face. And I wonder if you might expound just a little bit more on that, maybe say how God has been with you or what he's shown you through this struggle. this journey that you've been on. Rachel Lundy (16:06) Um, yeah, one of the verses that really encouraged me when I was in high school and was first struggling with some physically very difficult days, um, was Romans 8 28. And we know that in all things, God works for the good of those who love him, who are called according to his purpose. And I didn't know how God was going to use this for my good, but I was able to cling to that truth and that promise. And I was able to trust him even. when things are hard. ⁓ for how God's been with me in this struggle. I have the Holy Spirit indwelling me as he does all believers and I don't suffer alone and that brings me great courage and comfort to know that he's with me and that I'm not facing chronic illness on my own. He's with me, he strengthens me, he helps me, he brings me joy and hope, the hope of heaven and resurrection and he gives me comfort. 2 Corinthians 1, 4 says that God comforts us in all our affliction so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. And I've received comfort from the Lord through scripture. His word gives me hope and encouragement. So God's been with me by giving me His Spirit and giving me His word. David Heflin (17:22) Yeah, it's powerful. Yeah, I've known from just hearing you talk in the Diamonds Conference, seeing some on your website, how important Scripture is to you and knowing and holding on to the promises of God. And I certainly appreciate your emphasis on the Holy Spirit as well, that we're not alone. And in other ways, you're not alone too. We mentioned your family a little bit ago, but I wanted to circle back around to your family and especially to Will for a moment. Just kind of, again, I feel safe in asking you this question because I've read a little bit about it on your website. You know, not everyone does have a supportive spouse in their struggle and that makes it much more difficult. I actually spoke to someone yesterday for quite a while who's in a very difficult situation with her spouse. And I just, I'm not in that position either. I have a very supportive spouse. I'm so grateful for that. She's helped me each step of the way as I've maneuvered chronic illness and chronic pain. You know, sometimes I'll feel bad about. all the financial fallout that's happened through this. And she's never once made me feel bad or guilty about that or to think that it would be any different had the situation been reversed. so I've really been blessed by having a wife, a spouse like that. And so I just wondered if you could kind of speak to that in regards to your relationship with Will and how that's been helpful to you. Rachel Lundy (19:02) Yes, we'll praise the Lord for good spouses. We certainly are a blessing from him. So I was chronically ill when Will and I met and he knew that and he could see some of the ways that it affected me, but he wasn't afraid to love me and marry me anyway. And I will always be grateful for that. My health has deteriorated a lot over the years since we've gotten married, but Will's always been faithful to. David Heflin (19:06) Amen. Rachel Lundy (19:30) love me and to do his very best to take care of me. ⁓ He does all the physical tasks that I can't do, such as cooking and cleaning and laundry, shopping and transportation and more. And as our teenagers get older, you know, they can help a little bit, but you know, William became this great help and then he moved out and now he's at college and we don't have him, but we have our 15 year old Adelaide who helps out a lot now too. ⁓ But Will has been my arms and my legs in so many ways, taking me places, pushing me in my wheelchair. He's taken me to probably 99 % of my doctor's appointments. He's even learned how to start IVs for me. So he's just practically helpful in every way. ⁓ But in other ways, he encourages me when I'm discouraged. And he helps me to think through things biblically. ⁓ struggling with something or hurting. He's always ready with a word of encouragement from scripture to build me up. ⁓ For just a very practical story of, or not really story, but just kind of how our schedule works in the evening to show you some of the ways that Will helps ⁓ when he gets home from work ⁓ at 4.30, 5.30. It depends if he needs to stop for groceries on the way home. He'll be later. But when he gets home from work by that time, I'm exhausted even though I've had a nap in the afternoon I'm my body's done and needs to go to bed. So I Go to bed and he stays up with the kids. He prepares supper. He does the bedtime routine with the kids. He brings me supper in bed every evening And so I go have to go to bed and rest in the evening, but will keeps on working and making things in the household run smoothly and are ready for the next day. David Heflin (21:32) That's awesome and you know that is not as you know of course something to be taken for granted and you know it is an example though of Christ's love for the church and so it's beautiful when I get to witness that in someone else and as I said I've benefited very much from with my spouse as well who's very understanding. ⁓ Rachel Lundy (21:39) Mm-hmm. Yes. David Heflin (21:55) Yeah, thanks for sharing that. You know, when I was looking around too, on your website, I found out that you've written more than just blog posts, that you have written a couple of different books. And so I wanted our listeners to be aware of that. And maybe we'll make sure we put links in the show notes so that they can find out where these are and maybe get them for themselves and be encouraged by them. And the first one I want to ask you about is Rachel Lundy (22:08) Yes. David Heflin (22:23) hope for hard days. And so tell us a little bit about that, kind of what inspired you to write it and just how it can be a blessing to others. Rachel Lundy (22:35) Yes. Well, I first got the idea for Hope for the Hard Days when I was reading Rose from Briar by Amy Carmichael because she was dealing with chronic pain and was mostly bed-bound for, believe it was last 20 years of her life. ⁓ And in that time, she ministered to others through her books. I was reading that book and it was ⁓ that was when I first got the idea. I thought, you know, I should write some short devotions. on my hardest days that will be encouraging for others who are facing their hard days. So that was when I ⁓ first started writing. It took me about two years to write this, ⁓ but it's filled with scripture and little devotions about those verses where I find hope to face my hard days. I write from the perspective of someone who's chronically ill, but David Heflin (23:18) understand. Rachel Lundy (23:33) The book could be helpful for anyone who's facing challenging days. There's days, even after 30 years with chronic illness, there are days when I just feel spiritually weary and I need to be reminded of the hope I have in the Lord. There are days where I struggle to cling to hope. And so I wrote the words that I needed to hear on those days. And I hope that this little book, these words, and especially the scripture verses in them will be helpful to others who are going through hard days. David Heflin (24:04) Yeah, thank you. So how many of these devotionals are in the book? Rachel Lundy (24:09) ⁓ It's 30, 30 devotions. Yep. Yes. David Heflin (24:11) Okay, so it's like a 30-day devotional, daily devotional type style. Okay. Well, that's awesome. Rachel Lundy (24:16) Yes. Yes. Yep, and it's available for free as a PDF on my blog. ⁓ It's also available on Amazon. They make me charge 99 cents for the Kindle copy. So if you want a Kindle, unfortunately, you have to pay for that. ⁓ But if you want a free copy, there's a free ⁓ PDF on my blog. And then the paperback is also available on Amazon. David Heflin (24:24) Okay. That's a good deal though. Well, good. And I'm sure that has been a blessing to others. And thank you for your willingness to share from your own struggles, but also God's faithfulness in those struggles to be a blessing to others. And I also saw that you have a free e-book called Chronic Illness and Friendship. Is that also a paperback or is that only an e-book? OK. Rachel Lundy (25:05) That is currently only an ebook. Yeah, so it's available ⁓ for free as a PDF on my on my blog. David Heflin (25:13) Okay, well tell us a little bit about tell us what kind of led to writing that and I mean it's about chronic illness and friendship obviously but what exactly are you emphasizing about that? Rachel Lundy (25:20) Yes. Yes. So originally it started as a blog post series because I had received a lot of questions from various readers of mine who were healthy who were wondering, how can I reach out to this friend of mine who has chronic illness? How can I practically help them serve them? And so ⁓ I wrote a blog post series about different ways that they could do that with various ways to serve a chronically ill friend or initiate friendship. ⁓ different things like that. And I had ⁓ my best friend, Darina, who I picked cranberries with in Alaska all those years before. She has a chapter in here that's written specifically to those who are chronically ill about ways that they can be a friend to their healthy friends. And so when this blog post series was done, I thought I need to put this in an ebook that people can download so they can have all of it in one. David Heflin (25:58) Okay. Rachel Lundy (26:19) place instead of scattered throughout blog posts. ⁓ So I turned it into an ebook at the end of the series. And one of these days soon, one of my next projects, I would like to add to this. I have a few more chapters in mind that I want to add and then get it put up ⁓ as a Kindle and on paperback for people who would like that type of a copy. ⁓ But that might be a little ways out, I am homeschooling, so my time for blogging is more limited than it used to be. David Heflin (26:46) Sure. Yeah, I get it. Well, yeah, I'm glad you wrote that book. actually recently did a seminar, a broken amended weekend, basically for people with chronic illness and chronic pain. One of the sessions, I don't remember the exact title, but basically it was how to be helpful to your chronically ill friends and family. And so the emphasis really was kind of, you know, what are some things or here are some things that are not helpful, you know, to let people know that sometimes even when you're trying to helpful, you can be harmful. But then also here are some things you can do and say that are helpful. And the only resource I really had for that, I did a little crowdsourcing in our Facebook group for Broken Amended. And I got some got some good feedback from people. And of course, I've had my own experiences to what's helpful and what's not. But I wish I had known about your your ebook then, because I would have definitely have read through that before I did that session. I'm sure there's some really good ideas there. And so I'll check that out in the future, probably before I do another one of those those seminars. But it is an important topic. if you're listening and you're not, maybe you're listening with your spouse or your friend, your loved one who has chronic illness and chronic pain, know, certainly we'll put it in the show notes, but encourage you to get that and check that out. again, when we know when we have these supportive people in our lives, no one's going to be perfect. No one's always going to have the right thing to say or always do the right thing. And so it's not really about that. It's just, Rachel Lundy (27:57) It is. David Heflin (28:25) kind of giving people a tool to help us love one another better. And so just grateful that you made that resource for others. And I look forward to being able to check that out myself. Speaking of resources, your website is certainly more than just a blog. It is a collection of really different resources. And you have all kinds of different types of ministries categorized there. And so that's very helpful. I wonder if you could just kind of talk about that for a moment. And then I want to ask you along with that, just kind of talk about your website and what people can find there beyond your blog posts, which in themselves I'm sure are very good, but share a little bit more about the website. And then also if you have any future, well, you mentioned the homeschooling thing, so I could understand if you didn't have any huge future projects right now, but are you dreaming any about other ways to minister to people with chronic illness? Rachel Lundy (29:21) Okay, yeah. Okay, there were a few questions in there. So you're have to ⁓ back up and remind me. So the resources page, yes, that's right. Okay, so the resources page. Okay, ⁓ yeah, I have, I blog, it's probably just a few times a year now. It used to be a couple times a month. That's just a few times a year now. And ⁓ I have... David Heflin (29:27) Yeah, sorry. Let's start with just the website. Yeah, let's. Yeah, so start with the website. Just tell us about that. Rachel Lundy (29:52) Blog posts that I'll share, just stories from my daily life with chronic illness and ⁓ ways that the Lord has brought encouragement to me. ⁓ Sometimes I'll share about like when the Diamonds Conference is coming up, something like that that people would be, that my readers would be interested in. ⁓ And then I have some various pages on my website about dysautonomia, about ⁓ David Heflin (30:12) Mm-hmm. Rachel Lundy (30:21) One is hope and joy, and that's where I share the gospel. So that there's this one section where people can read about the hope and joy I have and why I have that. There's a frequently asked questions section where I have questions that I get frequently from people. So I just thought I'd turn that into a page as well. And then for the resources section, these are places I have some of my friends blogs on there, friends who are chronically ill or friends who have dysautonomia. David Heflin (30:27) Yeah, I saw that. That's good. Rachel Lundy (30:50) And then also various resources that have been helpful to me personally that may be helpful to others as well about dysautonomia, gastroparesis, Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, ME-CFS, mitochondrial disease, and then some Christian ministries, especially Johnny and Friends and Eternal Perspectives Ministries by Randy Alcor and those have been hugely impactful in my life. ⁓ and the various online community and support that people can find. And then some of my favorite books that have encouraged me and helped me. And then some of my favorite podcasts and music. And the In the Seams podcast is on there. So just various things that have been helpful to me in my journey with chronic illness that may be helpful to someone else who's struggling with chronic illness. David Heflin (31:42) So I'm not looking at the website right now. I probably should have had it pulled up while we were talking, but you mentioned favorite books or helpful books. So any particular you'd want to mention that have been a blessing to you. putting you on the spot a little bit too. Rachel Lundy (31:55) Yeah, well, it's okay. I know my two favorite books. Two favorite ones are When God Weeps by Johnny Erickson Tata and Steve Estes. And that's theology of suffering from a biblical perspective. And it is so good. That helped me a lot. The other book that helped me the most was apart this apart from the Bible. Bible's number one. ⁓ But the other book that helped me so much was Heaven by Randy Alcorn. David Heflin (31:59) Okay, good. Right, of course, yeah. Rachel Lundy (32:25) Learning more about heaven has helped me so much to have joy in the here and now. And it just, it has put everything in perspective, learning more about what is to come and the joy that's awaiting believers in heaven helps me to persevere faithfully now. So if I could give two books besides the Bible to every friend with chronic illness, those are the two I would give them. David Heflin (32:25) I've heard so much about that, yeah. All right, very good. Yeah, I've not read either of those. And so I will take note. And I've heard a lot about the Randy Alcorn book. I greatly also admire Joni Erickson Tata. And but thus far, I've not read one of her books, which is kind of been remiss in that regard. I've watched a lot of her YouTube videos and, you know, she's always encouraging and just incredible considering all that she's been through, just how Not just positive, I think that's probably not the best way to put it, ⁓ because she's still very real about everything she's going through, but just the faithfulness in her testimony about a faithful God who's with her and who isn't surprised by anything. And so, I really appreciate you bringing her up. And so we'll make sure and have a direct link in our show notes to the resource page. People can go and check some of that out in case. they're driving and they didn't catch the name on those books or something like that. They can go get that or look at find that. So the other part of the question I was asking there is just, and I like to ask people this, people that have produced content for others, is there anything that you're working on or dreaming about for the future as something that you would want to put out there for others? Rachel Lundy (34:11) Yes, one thing I'm working on currently is making a large print edition of Hope for the Hard Days. One of my blog readers requested that. I have the, it's not on my blog yet, but I do have the PDF version of that. ⁓ I need to finish up the copy, the paperback copy on Kindle, but that's going to require reformatting and designing a new cover. So that's taking me a little while. But I hope to get a large print edition for those who find that. David Heflin (34:17) Okay. Rachel Lundy (34:41) helpful. ⁓ And then I mentioned the chronic illness and friendship ebook that I want to add to and then eventually get that published as a paperback on Amazon. ⁓ Then the other thing, maybe this might be really far in the future, I don't know. But my husband and I have talked about writing a book together someday about marriage and chronic illness and telling a little bit of our story and David Heflin (35:02) ⁓ Rachel Lundy (35:08) talking about marriage and chronic illness and helping to give some help and hope through that, for that ⁓ journey that some people may be on. We have a title for it. ⁓ And at one point we had a rough outline, but that's as far as we've gotten. But we want to call it in sickness and in more sickness because that's something we have, we have often said over the years, our marriage vows should have been in sickness and in more sickness instead of in sickness and in health. So. ⁓ David Heflin (35:29) Good, yeah. Yes. Rachel Lundy (35:38) We actually had a diamonds conference session that we did a few years ago now that we called In Sickness and In More Sickness and we talked about marriage and chronic illness and hopefully someday we can get a little book written. We'll see. David Heflin (35:54) Yeah, that's wonderful. We just had Nate Brooks in our last podcast interview and he has written a book from the perspective of the husband who's got a wife who's going through You know horrible chronic illnesses and he actually doesn't focus a whole lot on what she's going through because he kind of feels like and I respected this is her story to tell Those kind of books are even more rare than someone writing about their own chronic illness But the idea of a couple doing that together in both sharing their story within the same book and that that would be Incredibly helpful and I'm not currently aware of anyone that's that's done that so yeah, I hope and pray that Rachel Lundy (36:34) Jeff and Sarah Walton did. Jeff and Sarah Walton have a book called Together Through the Storms and it is excellent. Yeah, but it's excellent. David Heflin (36:36) Jeff and Sarah Walton. Okay, I'll put that in the show notes as well. all right. Well, Rachel, thank you for sharing all that with us and for sharing part of your story, your journey, your testimony as well to the faithfulness and presence of God. It has certainly been an encouragement to me as we've had this conversation and I believe it will be for our listeners as well. So, thank you again for being on In the Seams. Rachel Lundy (36:46) ⁓ yeah. Thank you for having me. David Heflin (37:10) And I want to just say to our listeners that you can go to brokenemmended.org where you can find the resources that we have available there. As we can find out about our support groups, you can find this podcast there. Obviously you've already found the podcast because you're listening, but you can find it there as well. You can find some of the blog posts that I and a few others have written and also how to connect with us through social media and our Facebook group and all that. And so we hope you'll take advantage of that. and look forward to being able to help you in any way that we can as we continue to connect hurting people to Jesus and each other. So until next time, may God bless you on your journey.