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Practical Chats for Intentional Living
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Friday Sep 21, 2018
Friday Sep 21, 2018
[00:00:00] <music>
Laura Dugger: Welcome to The Savvy Sauce, where we have practical chats for intentional living. I'm your host, Laura Dugger, and I'm so glad you're here.
[00:00:17] <music>
Laura Dugger: Today's episode is brought to you by one of my favorite brands in Central Illinois, Leman Property Management. With over 1,600 apartment homes in all price ranges throughout Morton, Pekin, Peoria, Washington, and Canton, they can find the perfect spot for you.
Check them out at MidwestShelters.com or like them on Facebook by searching Leman, L-E-M-A-N, Property Management Company. Thanks for sponsoring today's episode.
Today's message is not intended for little ears. We'll be discussing some adult themes, and I want you to be aware before you listen to this message. [00:01:03]
Today we get to learn from Tracey LeGrand. Tracey specializes in the treatment of pelvic floor issues. She understands the physical and emotional needs of patients dealing with issues such as pelvic pain and incontinence.
Today we'll be specifically focusing on how to treat pelvic floor issues related to pregnancy, sexual pain, and chronic pelvic pain. Here's our chat.
Welcome, Tracey.
Tracey LeGrand: Hi. Thanks for having me.
Laura Dugger: Well, we are so excited to hear from you. Can you just start by giving us a snapshot of who you are and what you like to do?
Tracey LeGrand: Absolutely. I wear a lot of hats. I'll start with my career. I am a physical therapist. I've been practicing as a physical therapist for close to 20 years now. I have a specialty in treating pelvic floor issues.
I'm actually a board-certified clinical specialist in women's health physical therapy. [00:02:01] The name of my practice is Cornerstone Pelvic Health and Wellness. I spend all of my time treating all sorts of pelvic floor issues. That's what I love to do. I'm very passionate about it and the people that I treat.
But I'm also very passionate about being a mom. So I have two boys at home, ages 10 and 6. They keep me very busy. And I have a wonderful husband. Actually, today is my 21st wedding anniversary. So I've been married for 21 years, and God has blessed us tremendously. We are very involved in our community, in our church.
Laura Dugger: My goodness. Happy anniversary.
Tracey LeGrand: Yes, thank you.
Laura Dugger: How did you get interested in helping those with pelvic floor issues?
Tracey LeGrand: Everyone wants to ask me that question. I have probably answered that question at least two or three times this week already. Because I know that even patients who come to see me, a lot of them, even when they are referred for this type of treatment, they don't even realize that this type of physical therapy exists. [00:03:06]
So actually I didn't really know a whole lot about it either when I was in PT school. Honestly, we didn't get any type of training in this type of therapy within our physical therapy program. So honestly, I was kind of interested in treating shoulders. I thought I was going to graduate specializing in shoulders, but I do feel like I always had an interest in kind of women's health issues, even in PT school before I knew that this was an option.
I would do my research papers on the effects of female hormones and just kind of do things a little bit differently. So when I graduated PT school, basically one of the gurus in this field came to my state and did an introductory class in this area. I took the class and I just immediately became intrigued. The more that I went to training I just realized that this was a huge field.
There's not a lot of therapists who even today specialize in this area of physical therapy. [00:04:08] I said in the beginning that I'm a board-certified clinical specialist. I'm one of only four in the state of Kentucky, and there's only about probably like 350 of us, 375 maybe, in the whole United States. So it's still a growing field, but a very specialized form of physical therapy.
I think the more I got into treating these issues and realized they're very sensitive issues, I treat everything from sexual pain disorders, urinary incontinence, pelvic pain, lots of very sensitive things. So I wanted to kind of combine ministry with my job. I don't look at my job as just something that I do, a paycheck. I really do feel called to minister to people, to serve people, to share love with people.
So I think as I got into this area, my personality and being able to show kindness—I kind of have a quiet personality, but very calming—I was able to use that to really help these women. [00:05:13] Actually I treat men too, but you know, it's embarrassing sometimes to talk about some of the things that I treat. So I feel like it was just a natural progression and doors continue to open. And before I knew it, that's all that I was treating.
Laura Dugger: It's also fascinating coupling that with your degree in counseling as well.
Tracey LeGrand: Absolutely. Honestly, when I was probably practicing physical therapy for about 10 years, maybe not quite 10 years, and as I began treating these issues, it was kind of the joke around the clinic that I would come out of my treatment rooms trying to find the Kleenex box because ultimately all of my patients were always in my treatment room crying because there's just a lot of emotion that goes along with some of these issues that I treat.
So I think I realized, okay, I need something else to help me help the emotional aspect of some of these things. And so, yes, I felt kind of led to go back and to pursue a counseling degree. [00:06:19] It took me about six years to get that degree because I continued to work as a physical therapist full-time. I had my first child in the middle of that. So it took me a while, but I feel like I use that every single day in my practice. I do feel like I am able to listen better and understand.
I think it's also helped me establish relationships with those in my community who are psychologists and counselors and I have a great network of clinicians that I'm able to refer to because I feel like I'm able to recognize when they need to be referred on to a sex therapist or a pain psychologist or any of those other clinicians in the community that can then put all the pieces together.
Laura Dugger: That's awesome. This might be backing it up a little bit. But can you give us a brief education on general pelvic health, especially if pelvic floor is a brand new term to someone listening? [00:07:17]
Tracey LeGrand: Well, everybody has a pelvic floor, but if it's working well, you may not ever think about your pelvic floor muscles. But it's actually a very important part of your body. Your pelvic floor, basically, you have muscles that go from your pubic bone to your tailbone. There's actually three layers of muscle that make up the pelvic floor musculature.
Your pelvic floor serves three very important purposes. First of all, it's a supportive structure, basically, so it is supporting very important organs. So it helps to support your bladder, helps to support your uterus if you're a female, it's supporting your rectum, your colon. So it's giving support to all of those pelvic organs.
It is also very important for sexual function. Those muscles are a huge part of sexual pleasure and sexual functioning, so it's important that they continue to do their job during that aspect. Also, they help you maintain what's called continence. [00:08:19] So if your bladder is filling up with urine and you need to get to the bathroom, you want those muscles to be able to keep everything in so that you're not leaking or having an accident. Same thing with your bowel movements.
Again, some of these things are kind of funny to talk about or uncomfortable to talk about. But you know what, if you're sitting in a meeting and you feel like you need to pass gas, you don't want to do that right in a crowd So it's those muscles that help you hold that back.
Then also your pelvic floor is part of your core. People think of your core muscles as just your abdominal muscles. I've got to get my abs strong, that's my core. But really what I teach my patients is that your core is made up of a group of muscles that start at your diaphragm, go all the way down to those pelvic floor muscles, and everything in between. And they work together in a very coordinated way to give you postural stability and support and help you manage changes in intra-abdominal pressure if you're lifting or pushing or just picking up your kids. [00:09:22]
Your pelvic floor muscles are functioning in those situations in a very important way. Very important muscles. But again, if you don't have to think about them, you may not realize that those muscles are important until something goes wrong.
Laura Dugger: Oh, that definitely makes sense. What are a few common issues related to the pelvic floor?
Tracey LeGrand: Well, probably one of the most common things that I would say most people are familiar with would be urinary incontinence. So we've all seen the commercials on TV, Gotta Go, Gotta Go, or all the commercials for the Depends pads or the Poise pads, those types of things.
So basically, urinary incontinence is leaking urine when you don't want to leak urine. So there's a few different categories of incontinence. You have what's called stress incontinence. So that's if you cough or sneeze or laugh really hard and you leak a little bit of urine during those types of activities. [00:10:20]
Or a common thing, you know, a lot of women after having babies they come in like, "Oh, I can't jump on the trampoline anymore and play with my kids because I leak urine. I pee on myself when I do that. So that is stress incontinence.
Urge incontinence is kind of like overactive bladder. So you feel the need to empty your bladder often throughout the day. You feel a lot of urgency, frequency, that type of thing. And then you can have a mixture of the two. That's probably one of the most common things I think that people would recognize. Again, your pelvic floor muscles are the muscles that help to control that.
The other thing that's common but probably not talked about often, but with women after having children as they get further into live menopause, postmenopausal women with the pelvic organ prolapse can be a scary thing if you don't realize that that can happen.
But again, those muscles are part of your support system. So as you have more babies, there can be a hereditary factor as well. [00:11:24] But as your support system weakens and ligaments get stretched during pregnancy and delivery, sometimes your pelvic organs like your bladder, your uterus can drop further down and sometimes can protrude and there can be like a bulge. Now that's a little scary but that can happen. And that's another reason why it's important to retrain your pelvic floor muscles like after pregnancy and delivering and those types of things.
So there's so many different things. There's pelvic pain issues, which can involve a lot of different things. About one in four women have pelvic pain. Definitely the pelvic floor muscles can be a huge component when it comes to pelvic pain.
I treat a lot of GI issues. So people don't think about constipation as involving the pelvic floor, but it has been shown that a lot of people who deal with chronic constipation, that a big component of that is their pelvic floor muscles not functioning properly.
So there's a lot of conditions that can fall under the category of pelvic floor muscle dysfunction or just issues that can involve the pelvic floor. [00:12:32] So we could probably talk about each of these in a whole segment, but I guess that kind of summarizes a few of the main things that I treat anyways.
Laura Dugger: That's very helpful. And maybe we can stay on a few of those for a little while further. Let's just start with pregnancy-related pain. What are the pelvic implications of pregnancy?
Tracey LeGrand: Definitely any woman who has been pregnant and gone through pregnancy and delivery, you know how drastically your body changes for the baby to grow. Your body has to basically accommodate that growth in the uterus and the baby.
So your pelvic floor muscles, again, part of your support system. Just think about as you're growing, the baby's growing, all of that pressure that the pelvic floor is having to adjust to and hold up against just during the changes of pregnancy. Your abdominal muscles get stretched out as well. [00:13:31]
I often talk to patients about the changes that happen during a vaginal birth and say, you know, there's no other muscle group in your body that's asked to be stretched quite like the pelvic floor muscles during a vaginal delivery. Ultimately it's amazing how much the body does recover after that.
But definitely after pregnancy and delivery there needs to be some retraining of those muscles because they've been stretched, they've been weakened with the whole process. Sometimes the incontinence, pelvic organ prolapse, those types of things can just begin right after going through the process of pregnancy and delivery.
But then also during pregnancy, every pregnant woman has kind of felt her back aches a little bit more as she gets further along into her pregnancy because those muscles are having to kind of compensate and adjust to all the changes in her weight.
You know, women can have pelvic girdle pain. [00:14:31] And sometimes the pain, maybe they can adjust to it or they can kind of deal with it, but then sometimes the pain can become so severe so that they can't walk without sharp pain into their buttock or into their pubic area or their pelvic bone.
So there are a lot of conditions that can develop during pregnancy that can definitely be helped with physical therapy to help with the pain issues during pregnancy. Then I love treating my postpartum women. If I can get them six to eight weeks right after having their baby, really start doing some good training for their pelvic floor and their abdominal muscles, it would be a very, very important thing.
I really think, for every woman to go through that, but unfortunately in our country, you know, that's not the norm. Women after six weeks, you know, they're cleared, "Oh, everything's good. You're good. Go back to doing life. No issues. Good return to intercourse."
And then sometimes, you know, they don't realize that they're kind of vulnerable during that time, and that the changes of their body, they need to kind of work to reestablish good core control, good pelvic floor muscle control, and all of those things. [00:15:40]
Laura Dugger: Let's talk about that woman then that is about to deliver, let's say, and she's going to set up a meeting with her physical therapist, or if they're in Lexington, Kentucky, they could reach out to you. But what would that treatment look like for those six to eight weeks?
Tracey LeGrand: As a pelvic floor physical therapist, I check the pelvic floor muscles. So once they've been cleared by their physician, I do a pelvic exam for me to be able to assess their pelvic floor muscles, their strength, their muscle tone, if they're recruiting those muscles correctly. I need to be able to assess the muscles.
So I will do a pelvic exam and I will check their muscle function, have them contract their muscles, check their muscle tone, screen for signs of prolapse as well. Then I will just start my process of teaching them how to properly recruit the pelvic floor muscles and how to coordinate those muscles appropriately. [00:16:43]
I do something called biofeedback treatment, if necessary, where I can actually hook their muscles up to a computer and as I am retraining them to recruit their muscles the right way. They're actually able to see that muscle contraction on the screen. So it helps them.
How I describe that is it's helping them connect brain to body because those muscles are hidden, right? I can watch someone and watch their quad muscle contract or their bicep muscle contract. But the pelvic floor is a little bit different. Those muscles are hidden. There's a lot of misinformation about it. How to do a Kegel, or how to do a pelvic floor exercise.
So I really spend a lot of time just educating my patients on what a proper contraction looks like, how to breathe, and how to coordinate their muscle contraction with the appropriate breath. So it helps, I think, when they've got that visual feedback on the monitor as we're kind of going through those types of treatments. [00:17:47]
So then I just progress them depending on what I find, progress them through appropriate exercises. And then sometimes, you know, right after pregnancy, depending on what happened during the vaginal birth, sometimes women have episiotomies where they tear and they've had stitching, and so sometimes that's also a time when women will discover that intercourse has become painful.
When they're given the clear to return to sexual intercourse, yes, everything's healed, everything looks fine, but then they attend intercourse for the first time and they are definitely surprised that there is pain associated with that. And sometimes that can just be where scar tissue has formed if they had to be stitched up and those muscles and tissues just aren't as elastic. So there needs to be some work to help that.
And that can be very easily treated with physical therapy and some of the treatments that I do. Unfortunately, I've had women come in a year or two postpartum that are still having pain with intercourse and very easily could have been helped very sooner in the process. [00:18:52]
Laura Dugger: But that's so good to know because it sounds like... I think what you're saying is it's never too late, but you would definitely recommend starting early if somebody is having that symptom.
Tracey LeGrand: And I think just understanding that there is something. Because women recognize that their bodies have changed and you know, there's a lot of things that are going on in that postpartum period. So they're trying to reestablish their balance too.
Sometimes I think it's just a lack of knowledge of realizing that, okay, I am having pain. I know I don't want to have pain, but okay, I guess it will get better with time. And then it just never does. And then maybe they're embarrassed to ask their physician about it. So it can develop into this cycle of pain that definitely the sooner that it's treated, the better.
Laura Dugger: I'm curious, is this just recommended for clients who have had a vaginal delivery, or do women who have had a cesarean section also need this retraining? [00:19:55]
Tracey LeGrand: Oh absolutely. So when you're talking about women who have had a c-section now you have your abdominal muscles have been cut in two and then also they have scar tissue that forms. I mean naturally anytime you have a surgical procedure you're going to have scar tissue. That's just a normal part of healing.
But it can be helpful to teach them how to do scar mobilization to help that heal better, to allow the tissues and the muscles to have the appropriate liability.
And even though they didn't have a vaginal birth still, research has shown that women even after C-section can also have pain with intercourse, and still they've carried those babies for nine months so they also need to retrain their core muscles appropriately.
Laura Dugger: And now a brief message from our sponsor.
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Laura Dugger: Let's move on to a little bit broader topic. Who struggles with chronic pelvic pain?
Tracey LeGrand: One in four women will experience chronic pelvic pain. Chronic pelvic pain usually equals complex pain, right, and often involves a lot of different systems. So the urinary system can be involved, the GI system, the muscular system. There can be a lot of systems involved.
There's a lot of different diagnoses that kind of fit under the title of chronic pelvic pain. So that could be women who have struggled with endometriosis, there is a condition called painful bladder syndrome or interstitial cystitis. And sometimes it becomes chronic. Maybe they started experiencing pelvic girdle pain during pregnancy. [00:22:55] And then that pain just continued on after delivery. It didn't necessarily go away and it just then kind of turned into a chronic condition.
Women and men who have chronic constipation issues can develop chronic pelvic floor pain and abdominal pain and those types of things. So it can involve a lot of different things. Some of the sexual pain disorders would also fall into chronic pelvic pain. They're kind of some big names, vestibulodynia, vaginismus. There's a lot of different things.
Laura Dugger: If somebody is listening to this, if they've never heard anybody speak on this topic before, and they're relating to what you're saying, what are some symptoms that they might identify with and know that they need to schedule an appointment?
Tracey LeGrand: That can involve a lot of different things. I would definitely say, let's kind of take constipation, for instance. [00:23:55] That's a common problem, actually, and a lot of women deal with constipation. And yes, it's true, probably need to get more fiber or water intake, that type of thing.
But if it becomes a problem where they are having abdominal pain, when they try to have a bowel movement, they have to push and they have to strain, which sometimes can lead to hemorrhoids and just pain in general, those are signs that, okay, if they're having to push and strain and they can tell that those muscles, maybe they don't really recognize that it's a muscular problem, but they can just tell that things are just not coming out very well, that would definitely be assigned to check in with their family physician and then maybe go through the appropriate referrals.
Maybe they need to go to a GI doctor and just have everything checked out and then educate themselves. And definitely physical therapy can help with a lot of those types of things.
Then when it comes to just pelvic pain in general, pain with intercourse, what has been found is that women with chronic pelvic pain, 90% of them will have painful intercourse. [00:25:02] So sometimes that can just be the first thing that, oh, okay, this is not comfortable, my muscles feel really tight, the penetration is very painful, or they're just feeling a lot of pressure or maybe deep pain in their pelvic area during thrusting and those types of things. So there can be those types of changes.
Pain with intercourse, most of the time, can indicate some issues with the pelvic floor muscles. So those would definitely be signs that I would say, yeah, don't wait. Seek out some more assessment from either their OB or their family physician.
Laura Dugger: That's great. I'm sure somebody is feeling very encouraged or motivated to schedule an appointment, and it sounds like with treatment, there's hope. That you're saying these symptoms are treatable and it can get better. Is that right?
Tracey LeGrand: Yes. [00:26:02] And that is the one thing that keeps me going with my practice actually is just I love being able to offer hope to these people who a lot of times come into my practice. Unfortunately, research has shown that women who deal with some of these chronic pain conditions, it can take up to six to eight years from going from physician to physician to get a proper diagnosis or to get finally sent to the right person to kind of get them the help that they need. And that's unfortunate.
Really I think there's just more education that needs to be done. There are a lot of providers who specialize in treating pelvic pain issues. Plus these issues are sensitive and sometimes they go underreported because the patient doesn't feel comfortable bringing up pain with intercourse or leaking or whatever or constipation. [00:27:04]
So sometimes it's just a matter of they don't have the courage sometimes to bring up these issues or they feel rushed. You know, unfortunately, in our medical system today, physicians are pushed to see a lot of patients. So these types of issues take a lot of time to be able to talk through. So sometimes maybe it's just that they aren't being given the time to discuss these issues. But there's hope.
Even when patients show up at my office, if that's the first thing I can offer them is I can help you with this... because most of these issues there's muscular changes. If it's the physical aspect that as a physical therapist I can definitely help them but we're mind-body-spirit, right?
So when you develop these chronic pain issues, it's very natural thing, especially if you feel hopeless or you don't understand it, then the fear sets in, then the anxiety sets in. [00:28:03] If you've been to multiple practitioners, providers, and you didn't feel like you got the information or the help that you needed, then you start to think, okay, well something must be wrong with me. Or sometimes physicians will leave patients to think, oh, this is all in your head or you know they're just given wrong information and so then those emotional issues start combining with the physical issue and then I get the feeling of hopelessness.
So if I can, through education, a lot of times my first session with a patient can be over an hour because I think one of the most important things that I do for my patients is just to listen and allow them to share their story and get my Kleenex box out and let them cry and let them express. And they'll say, I'm so sorry, I don't mean to cry. I'm like, it's okay.
They need to be able to have the space to express what they're feeling and how that's impacted their lives. [00:29:03] But when they finally hear someone say, Yes, I've treated this. Yes, this can be helped. That's why I do what I do.
Laura Dugger: Is there anything we can be doing proactively to combat the likelihood of developing pelvic floor symptoms?
Tracey LeGrand: First of all, I would just say education. I think that's coming around. I feel like in the last probably five or six years, there's been more the media. Like a lot of your major magazines have covered articles about pelvic floor dysfunction, pelvic floor problems and are shedding some light on even pelvic floor physical therapy. I think that it's coming around.
But I think first of all just needs to start with women educating themselves and being more aware of what their pelvic floor is and why their pelvic floor is important. And then asking the right questions.
And then if their physician doesn't recommend physical therapy after having a baby, they request it or they ask if they can be referred. [00:30:09] It kind of depends on what state you live in. Kentucky is a what's called a direct access state. So technically, I don't need a referral to treat patients unless their insurance provider requires it. Medicare requires a physician's referral. But still, I think it's good to have the physician in the loop.
I think women just being more proactive in asking and understanding. You know, I hesitate. There are some good groups out there where you can get information, but then there are some that are not so good. So I hesitate to say, oh yes, you need to do your Kegel exercises, which can be good, but then sometimes it just depends on what's going on.
Like women who have chronic pelvic pain, a lot of times their issue is that they are holding too much tension in their pelvic floor muscles. So a lot of times I have to work with them on just learning how to let their pelvic floor muscles relax and then we can restore proper coordination and work towards strengthening. [00:31:13] So it's not always as easy as do your Kegel exercises because sometimes that can make the condition worse.
I guess the best thing that I would say is just if you're listening today, if this has piqued your interest, I can give some good referrals to some articles or blogs if you want to attach it to this segment that people can maybe refer to.
But then if you have more questions, ask. There's lots of great pelvic floor, even though we're kind of still a small group, there's lots of amazing pelvic floor physical therapists all over the world and we have a great referral source. I have found people therapists in Canada. I have found people therapists in different states. So ask and I can definitely get someone pointed in the right direction.
Laura Dugger: Thank you for offering that. That would be wonderful. We will definitely link to some of those articles in the show notes. For those listeners who are lucky enough to be local to Kentucky, can you tell us where they can contact you for further information or set up an appointment? [00:32:18]
Tracey LeGrand: I am in Lexington, Kentucky. Again, my practice name is Cornerstone Pelvic Health and Wellness. I have a website, cornerstonepelvichealth.com. I have a Facebook page, Cornerstone Pelvic Health and Wellness. So you could start there and get my contact information. I'm very accessible by email. Small practice, so often I will have people who find my information online and they have questions and they'll email me. Most of the time I get back in touch with people in a very timely manner.
Laura Dugger: Wonderful. Well, one final thing before we go today. We got our name, The Savvy Sauce, because "savvy" can be defined as practical knowledge or insight. And we would love to hear your unique applicable tips. So as our final question today, what is your savvy sauce?
Tracey LeGrand: I'm gonna have to say the Squatty Potty. [00:33:17] So some people may not have heard about this, but there are all sorts of funny videos about the Squatty Potty. You can YouTube it. So Google Squatty Potty and look at the funny YouTube videos.
But basically what a Squatty Potty is, is basically like a stool that you can put underneath around your toilet, and then you pull it out when you are ready to have a bowel movement, all these wonderful things we're talking about today, and you put your feet up on it, which everybody thinks that's so funny, but if you think back before the invention of toilets, everybody used to squat to eliminate. And anatomically that is the best position because it opens up your pelvic floor muscles and anatomically allows things just to come out easier. So I recommend the Squatty Potty to all of my patients.
Actually, I sing on my praise team at my church, and I have gotten everybody on my praise team using a Squatty Potty. [00:34:20] It's funny in the beginning, but it makes such a big difference. I have one in my office bathroom for patients. I keep a couple at my house.
My poor children are probably going to grow up traumatized because of what their mother does. But they know all about the squatty potty because it just allows your muscles to do what they're supposed to do when you are needing to have a bowel movement. So as funny as that may seem, I think that that is a great thing for everybody to go and look up and consider getting a squatty potty.
Laura Dugger: That's amazing. I love it. Thank you for sharing. Tracey, I just want to say again, thank you for your time. You're so approachable and easy to chat with. And I know that listeners have very much benefited from all that you shared today. So thank you for joining us.
Tracey LeGrand: Thank you so much. I greatly appreciate you inviting me. [00:35:21]
Laura Dugger: Hey, friends, we've purchased a resource that we think you might find helpful after listening to today's content. It's actually authored by our previous guests, Dr. Clifford and Joyce Penner, and it's titled, Restoring the Pleasure. We would love to give away a copy to a listener today, so just go to our website, thesavvysauce.com, and click on our "Giveaways" tab for more information.
One more thing before you go. Have you heard the term "gospel" before? It simply means good news. And I want to share the best news with you. But it starts with the bad news. Every single one of us were born sinners and God is perfect and holy, so He cannot be in the presence of sin. Therefore, we're separated from Him.
This means there's absolutely no chance we can make it to heaven on our own. So for you and for me, it means we deserve death and we can never pay back the sacrifice we owe to be saved. We need a savior. [00:36:21] But God loved us so much, He made a way for His only Son to willingly die in our place as the perfect substitute.
This gives us hope of life forever in right relationship with Him. That is good news. Jesus lived the perfect life we could never live and died in our place for our sin. This was God's plan to make a way to reconcile with us so that God can look at us and see Jesus.
We can be covered and justified through the work Jesus finished if we choose to receive what He has done for us. Romans 10:9 says that if you confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.
So would you pray with me now? Heavenly, Father, thank You for sending Jesus to take our place. I pray someone today right now is touched and chooses to turn their life over to You. [00:37:22] Will You clearly guide them and help them take their next step in faith to declare You as Lord of their life? We trust You to work and change their lives now for eternity. In Jesus name, we pray, amen.
If you prayed that prayer, you are declaring Him for me, so me for Him, you get the opportunity to live your life for Him.
At this podcast, we are called Savvy for a reason. We want to give you practical tools to implement the knowledge you have learned. So you're ready to get started?
First, tell someone. Say it out loud. Get a Bible. The first day I made this decision my parents took me to Barnes and Noble to get the Quest NIV Bible and I love it. Start by reading the book of John.
Get connected locally, which basically means just tell someone who is part of the church in your community that you made a decision to follow Christ. I'm assuming they will be thrilled to talk with you about further steps such as going to church and getting connected to other believers to encourage you. [00:38:24]
We want to celebrate with you too. So feel free to leave a comment for us if you made a decision for Christ. We also have show notes included where you can read Scripture that describes this process.
Finally, be encouraged. Luke 15:10 says, "In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents." The heavens are praising with you for your decision today.
If you've already received this good news, I pray that you have someone else to share it with today. You are loved and I look forward to meeting you here next time.
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