Story Of The Week: Coming Into Focus

This week’s story follows the travels of one family who tore up the traditional map to success, and hit the road in search of togetherness, adventure, and a deeper dependence on God.

As we share 52 stories from the Woodmen community in the year ahead, there’s just one problem: God is writing so many beautiful, redemptive stories, that it’s hard to pick just one each week!

This week’s story follows the travels of one family who tore up the traditional map to success, and hit the road in search of togetherness, adventure, and a deeper dependence on God.

Aaron Anderson is a top-flight pro photographer with a national reputation. His client list includes brands like Sony, Coca Cola, Oracle and more.

For more than a decade, Aaron and his family have called Woodmen home when they’re in the Springs, and he’s graciously shared his talents with our church community.

If you’ve been around Woodmen for a while, you’ve seen his striking Launch magazine covers and teaching series graphics featuring Jonah underwater and a young man perilously balanced on a highline over a ravine.

They say life imitates art. So perhaps it’s no surprise that Aaron’s collaborations with Woodmen have pointed to God carrying people through hardships. We recently invited Aaron to share how God has showed up in his own life and in his family’s journey in recent years.

Buckle up, kids. We’re in for quite a ride.

LIVING THE DREAM

In 2019, it seemed the Andersons were living the dream — two kids, a steady income and a home. But the demands of a freelancer’s life were taking a toll. Their family life was getting squeezed to the margins.

Burned out and from 80-hour work weeks, Aaron and his wife, Joy, began to talk about realigning their life. Before the year ended, they sold their house, bought a fifth-wheel RV and a truck, and got ready to hit the road.

What began as a bold step into the unknown turned into a five-year odyssey marked by deep dependence on God — for direction, for provision and at one point, for their daughter’s life.

STOP MOTION

In February 2020, they waved goodbye to Colorado.

“We made it to Disneyland,” Aaron recalls. “Three days later, it shut down for a year. COVID had come to America.”

For a family on the road, the pandemic brought chaos. Laundry facilities and playgrounds closed. Aaron’s photo projects evaporated. The new lifestyle they sought seemed like a mirage.

Financial strain followed close behind. “There were six months of no work,” Aaron says. “We were down to zero.” But God showed up just in time: A providential phone call from a fellow photographer led to a grant that carried the Andersons through.

PRAYING FOR HEALING

By 2023, the Andersons had relocated to a peaceful, affordable RV park in Whitney, Texas.

That April, Aaron was alone with the kids while Joy was on a weekend trip, when their daughter Trinity, then eight years old, started showing signs of serious illness. She’d been losing weight and became lethargic and was having difficulty breathing. “By the time Joy got back, we headed straight to the ER,” he says. “Trinity could barely walk.”

In the emergency room, doctors swarmed around her. Trinity’s blood sugar was over 500 — dangerously high. The diagnosis: Type 1 diabetes with diabetic ketoacidosis. The doctors were amazed she wasn’t in a coma.

For five days, Trinity remained in Intensive Care. For five days, Aaron and Joy prayed, processed and learned a new way of parenting — how to help their daughter manage a lifelong condition.

Through God’s faithfulness, Trinity slowly regained her health. Then came another setback.

SURPRISED BY MERCY

The hospital bill was $70,000. The Andersons had no health insurance. “We prayed a lot. It was gut-wrenching,” Aaron says. Yet God was still writing the story.

A kind social worker helped them apply for a charitable program through the hospital. Days later, Aaron got a surprising call.

“Everything was covered. Zero dollars owed,” Aaron recalls. He was amazed at the Lord’s constant mercy: “I hung up the phone and just collapsed. That was miracle number ... I don’t even know anymore. I lost count.”

The Andersons stayed in Texas long enough to receive consistent care for Trinity and participate in a church small group that supported them through meals and prayer. “Those people barely knew us,” Aaron says, “but they became the hands and feet of Jesus to us in that season.”

GOLDEN HOUR

In 2024, God called the Andersons back to California. It was a redemptive, full-circle moment. Aaron shares, “I was working with a creative crew I knew from years ago, and God reminded me that He hadn’t forgotten the dreams He planted.”

This season brought a sense of closure for the Andersons. In Aaron’s words, “This time, we came back stronger, more grounded and deeply aware of God’s faithfulness through every twist in the road.”

WILDERNESS TO WONDER

The Andresons settled back in Colorado in the summer of 2025. They’re excited to be part of what God is doing at Woodmen Downtown. Looking back on their travels, Aaron sees more than just obstacles and miracles. He sees transformation.

“Five-and-a-half years — it was the most incredible, hardest thing we’ve ever done. But we wouldn’t trade it,” he says. “We got to be there for so many moments with our kids.”

On the path where God is leading them — through all the wild and the wonderful —the Andersons have discovered a deeper trust in God’s steadfast goodness.

“There were so many moments we didn’t know how we’d make it through — flat tires in the desert, financial strain, medical trauma — but every time, God made a way,” Aaron says. “It’s not a question of if He’ll come through. It’s just a matter of how.”

Return to Stories