Shared by Mike and Heidi Toft, AIM Directors in Saint Charles, Minnesota.
“There is one thing stronger than all the armies in the world,
and that is an idea whose time has come.”
–Victor Hugo
I love the fact that if we are still breathing, we have an opportunity to create change. It is never too late to do what you want to do. And there is no time like the present. Catchy phrases are nice, but action is what makes your dream materialize. And if your dream is to help people live well, AIM will help you get there.
We were first introduced to AIM’s juice powder of barley grass in 1998. My dad had been diagnosed with lymphoma. The side effects of the proposed treatment were not ones that my dad was ready to live with. My parents, AIM Directors Larry and Marsha Bernhardt, began to research a holistic approach and were led to The AIM Companies™. I watched as they began to live a radical lifestyle of raw, organic foods and vitamin and mineral supplementation.
Their courage to go this alternative route inspired me, after our third miscarriage, to try a different approach to my hormone deficiencies. Although I know our three children were mostly answers to a lot of prayer, I give much credit to AIM also. Through the years, my mom has made sure we were never without BarleyLife, frequently giving it to us at no cost. We fell in love with other AIM products too. Sometimes we could afford them, but many times they were gifts from my mother, who often gave away BarleyLife to help people in ministry be healthy.
Those who are called to ministry, especially in the role of pastor, will face many challenges. One of these challenges is to remain healthy. It is easy for stress management and healthy lifestyle choices to fall low on the priority list until it is too late and good health has been compromised.
In the summer of 2015, we decided to take action in this area, and I became an AIM Member, promising to be faithful in taking my supplements. I ordered business cards and planned to share the products and build a business. I already had the passion for good health. Through my own health struggles I had learned quite a bit and desired to see other people reach good health.
And then the fight of our lives began.
The church that Mike pastored had some serious problems brewing. We kept up with our AIM supplements as we intended, but there didn’t seem to be mind space left for starting a business. I often looked longingly at my pretty business cards sitting on the shelf and hoped for my second chance. Hope is a powerful thing. Hope is not action, but it does keep the possibility of future action afloat until it is time to act. Our time came in 2017.
Every year, Mike and I each choose a word for the year— a word that encompasses how we want to grow for the next twelve months. Without knowing it, we both chose the same word for 2017: THRIVE! We were excited. We were not going to just survive, we were going to thrive. Little did we know that within two weeks, our family would experience the darkest and most difficult trial of our lives.
I once read that not always telling all the details of your story is the more tasteful choice, and that is what I will choose here. But anyone who has endured the path of complicated grief will understand how difficult it was to consciously make the choice each day to thrive. At the same time, the church problems had only advanced, and it was time to make some big life decisions.
The AIM idea came to both Mike and I one day in March. We started to research what made The AIM Companies so desirable. We spoke with really helpful people from the company, we discussed our plans with family and friends and we prayed about it. We found the AIM Academy on our Member home page and both of us completed our Living Well Coach certifications. We spent the month of March envisioning a future helping people live well.
“Through my own health struggles I had learned quite a bit and desired to see other people reach good health.”
On April 3, we opened for business. We decided that Team Toft would be all about building relationships with people while we coached them on their living well journey. We found that when you get people to talk about their health, they open up about their life. We also found that there are many people who aren’t feeling well and many people who are hurting from the circumstances of life. We committed to pray for each member of Team Toft to thrive. We love the Healthy Cell Concept that challenges us all to reevaluate the choices we make in what we eat, how we think, what we allow into our environment and in why we exercise and supplement with the superior products from AIM. We are most excited when we hear that someone is experiencing improved health.
Realizing that it was time to move on, Mike chose to step down as pastor of the church, where we had been serving for eight years. Our passion is to help people be the best version of themselves by living well and finding God’s purpose for their lives. Because of AIM, God has given us more “work” in this area than ever before. We are excited for the opportunities that lie ahead.
We hope our story gives some late bloomers (like us) out there the inspiration they need to reignite any fires that have been smothered by circumstances. The decision to thrive is yours. Perhaps the time has come for your idea.
Testimonials should not be construed as representing results that everyone can achieve.
The AIM Companies 