The last year has not been easy for Trinity members Pat and Julie Anderson. While 2025 was among the most challenging. Throughout the years, the Andersons remained faithful and focused on all that God has provided them. With this new “lease on life,” as Pat calls it, he feels God is calling him into a new chapter.
Nagging ankle injuries had finally caught up with Pat and there was only one recourse: total ankle replacement. Surgery was scheduled for April 2025. This was terrible timing since Julie was recovering from back surgery.
“It was actually two surgeries in one,” Pat said. He explained that the foot was misaligned from repetitive injuries, so the first part of the surgery involved breaking his heel bone to realign his foot and place plates and pins to hold it in place. The second part was the total ankle replacement. “I had 11 weeks of not bearing any weight on my foot. I had a knee scooter and my ankle was in a splint.”
Pat said the 11 weeks dragged on, but he and Julie had plenty of help and he was actually relieved to have the years of ankle pain behind him.
“I started counting my blessings. When you go from enough pain that you can’t do steps to no pain, you have hope,” Pat said. “We had a hidden support system already in place and there for us. I never felt alone or isolated. I always felt like I was still engaged with people.”
He said the Wednesday morning men’s Bible study group would check in and pray for him. Julie’s sisters were readily available to help—one even worked with Pat to figure out a way for him to get in and out of his van with his knee scooter so he and Julie could leave the house.
After 11 weeks, he was able to start walking with a walker and graduated to a boot. The end of the process was in sight--but then he broke his other foot.
“We had the carpet cleaned and there was one chair that we wanted to straighten the way legs lined up. After I did that, I pushed off my foot to stand back up and broke it,” said Pat. “It was a really bad sprain that pulled a small part of the bone away.”
While the break didn’t require surgery, it did require another six weeks in a boot.
“I said, ‘So you’re just going to make me be patient, aren’t you God?’” Pat said. “In the summer, I golf and I bike. I have a very nice Trek bike and it sat there. I would go into the garage and look at it and say, ‘maybe someday.’ It was frustrating but we got through it.”
By the third week of August, nearly four and a half months after surgery, Pat was able to put on a pair of shoes. Later in the fall, Pat and Julie took a trip to the Upper Peninsula and he was able to do light hiking paths. And things kept getting better from there.
“I’m already hitting golf balls. I’m looking forward to a good golf summer for 2026. I am ready to ride my bike--to get on my bike and ride as many miles as I want. We had hired a lawn service for last summer, but this year, I’m going to take back the grass too,” said Pat, adding he and Julie hope to make lots of day trips this year as well.
“The way I’m viewing my health and my recovery is that He still has things for me to do and I want to be open to what I’m supposed to be doing,” Pat said.
He said he looks to Isaiah 6:8: Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I. Send me!”
“It’s scary to say that out loud but it’s true. Who am I supposed to be helping? Now that I have my health, what am I supposed to do?” Pat said.