FAITH
Faith - I think one of the best definitions of faith that I've come across is it's an action of showing our hope for something that we cannot yet see. Like the picture above, sometimes, we have to take a "leap of faith" with whatever it is, and we are not sure whether or not we are going to land on our feet. Right? We can do a lot of research and due diligence before we act, but sometimes, it takes that initial step of faith to put us into action. It's through that action on faith that it becomes knowledge. When you have faith to leap, and you land on your feet, your faith increases.
I know in life, there are so many times that we put our trust or confidence in a person or thing with the hope that good things will come. There is one thing that I know is constant with faith. When we put our trust and "faith" in Jesus Christ, you will always come out on top. Our religion is a big part of who we are and has taught us to be the people that we strive to be. That is to follow Jesus Christ, live his teachings, and try to serve others as he served.
Faith is a principle of action and power. Whenever we work toward a worthy goal, we exercise faith. We show our hope for something that we cannot see yet. Having faith means to rely on Jesus Christ, trusting in his infinite power, love, and intelligence. When we exercise faith in him, we believe his teachings and we act on those teachings. The other saying that I love is "faith without works is dead". You can have faith, but unless you take action, it's no good.
When we made this goal to go to Tonga, we had faith that the Lord would help us get there. We planned this trip back in 2010 and picked 2016 for the time to go serve in Tonga. We try to serve the people around here locally as much as we can, but we wanted to go to a different culture, different people, different country to serve and experience something unique as a family. This trip has taken a lot of preparation, sacrifice, time, and effort. But, we had faith and took action. I've had a lot of people say, "Oh, it would be so cool if we could do something like that." The reality is that you can! Whether on a small scale or a large scale. Whatever it is, if you want it bad enough, you can do it. The DESIRE and the ACTION has to be there. It's taken 6 years to be able to do this. Heidi is a big reason we're able to go and serve. She is so frugal and works so hard. That's why I love her so much.
Personal Experience - We have had a number of obstacles lately that we feel have been hurdles to overcome in going on this trip. We had to have faith that everything would work out. But, more importantly, it took action.
1. One big hurdle is that our practice's insurance clearing house went out of business about a month and half ago. They gave us no warning, just a certified letter stating that they were closing the doors and could no longer serve the Dental community. What this did to our finances was it delayed payments by about a month and a half. I did not want to leave with our finances in distress. We had to quickly find another company and resubmit all the insurance claims. Our office manager worked crazy hours to get it done and we got it all caught up.
2. We had one of key employees abruptly quite on us two months before we were to leave. We had planned on her training her replacement, but she came in one day and said she was done. In 12 years of doing Dentistry, I've never had someone do that. It was a big surprise! We wish her the best, but it didn't put us in the best of circumstances. We eventually found someone that we had to spend extra time to train and be able to help our patients.
3. The last month, we have had a lot of our Dental equipment break down and we have had to get it fixed. Extra expenses and time were not planned for, but we have an awesome team that got on it and took care of it.
4. We have an "adopted" family member who has had some severe health issues and has been in the hospital for the last 5 weeks.
5. We had a Dr. to cover me for the summer, but that fell through in November of 2015. We then had to find someone else and have them be a part of our practice when I come back. Blessing in disguise.
The reason I share this is not to get too personal, but to show that with faith, determination, and action, GOOD things will happen. We have caught up on all the insurances, we have found someone that is great for the front, we have fixed what we need to fix, our family member is stable and trying to recover, and we have a great Dr. that is covering for me and will eventually become partner in the practice. Faith and good works - that's the key!
I know in life, there are so many times that we put our trust or confidence in a person or thing with the hope that good things will come. There is one thing that I know is constant with faith. When we put our trust and "faith" in Jesus Christ, you will always come out on top. Our religion is a big part of who we are and has taught us to be the people that we strive to be. That is to follow Jesus Christ, live his teachings, and try to serve others as he served.
Faith is a principle of action and power. Whenever we work toward a worthy goal, we exercise faith. We show our hope for something that we cannot see yet. Having faith means to rely on Jesus Christ, trusting in his infinite power, love, and intelligence. When we exercise faith in him, we believe his teachings and we act on those teachings. The other saying that I love is "faith without works is dead". You can have faith, but unless you take action, it's no good.
When we made this goal to go to Tonga, we had faith that the Lord would help us get there. We planned this trip back in 2010 and picked 2016 for the time to go serve in Tonga. We try to serve the people around here locally as much as we can, but we wanted to go to a different culture, different people, different country to serve and experience something unique as a family. This trip has taken a lot of preparation, sacrifice, time, and effort. But, we had faith and took action. I've had a lot of people say, "Oh, it would be so cool if we could do something like that." The reality is that you can! Whether on a small scale or a large scale. Whatever it is, if you want it bad enough, you can do it. The DESIRE and the ACTION has to be there. It's taken 6 years to be able to do this. Heidi is a big reason we're able to go and serve. She is so frugal and works so hard. That's why I love her so much.
Personal Experience - We have had a number of obstacles lately that we feel have been hurdles to overcome in going on this trip. We had to have faith that everything would work out. But, more importantly, it took action.
1. One big hurdle is that our practice's insurance clearing house went out of business about a month and half ago. They gave us no warning, just a certified letter stating that they were closing the doors and could no longer serve the Dental community. What this did to our finances was it delayed payments by about a month and a half. I did not want to leave with our finances in distress. We had to quickly find another company and resubmit all the insurance claims. Our office manager worked crazy hours to get it done and we got it all caught up.
2. We had one of key employees abruptly quite on us two months before we were to leave. We had planned on her training her replacement, but she came in one day and said she was done. In 12 years of doing Dentistry, I've never had someone do that. It was a big surprise! We wish her the best, but it didn't put us in the best of circumstances. We eventually found someone that we had to spend extra time to train and be able to help our patients.
3. The last month, we have had a lot of our Dental equipment break down and we have had to get it fixed. Extra expenses and time were not planned for, but we have an awesome team that got on it and took care of it.
4. We have an "adopted" family member who has had some severe health issues and has been in the hospital for the last 5 weeks.
5. We had a Dr. to cover me for the summer, but that fell through in November of 2015. We then had to find someone else and have them be a part of our practice when I come back. Blessing in disguise.
The reason I share this is not to get too personal, but to show that with faith, determination, and action, GOOD things will happen. We have caught up on all the insurances, we have found someone that is great for the front, we have fixed what we need to fix, our family member is stable and trying to recover, and we have a great Dr. that is covering for me and will eventually become partner in the practice. Faith and good works - that's the key!
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