Four Games. Four Surgeries. One Unstoppable Purpose.

“I literally was distraught. Like I didn't know who I was, Like, what am I worth? What do I do with my life?”

In February 2020, Landry Williams was in the middle of her junior year—and playing the best basketball of her high school career. She had already committed to the University of Missouri–Kansas City, drawn by the leadership of Christian head coach Jacie Hoyt.
But everything changed during a game when Landry tore her meniscus and ACL. The injury forced a re-evaluation of her priorities.

“It wasn’t like ‘I’m Landry and I love Jesus, it was ‘I’m Landry and I play basketball.’ It was everything, and not a good everything. It was literally, you know, it took me a little bit to figure it out but it was my full identity,” she said.
Landry spent the next few months rehabbing -- strengthening both her knee and her faith.

“It gave me a good realization of like, ‘Basketball is what I do it's not who I am.’ And I think my perspective on life and the game like completely changed after that injury. I knew, ‘Okay, I’m going to play basketball to glorify God and he’s going to be number one in my life,’ but I knew it wasn’t going to be that easy all the time, but I just kind of wanted to make a promise between me and the Lord, ‘Whatever happens with basketball, whether it’s great or terrible, like, I'm going to keep him at the forefront,’” said Landry.

After high school, Landry headed to Kansas City—ready to chase her dream of playing college basketball. But early in her freshman season, heartbreak struck again.
“We were just running sprints one day, and I just like turned and planted on my knee, and it just like, gave out.”

MRI results revealed a torn meniscus. Landry shared the news with her coach.
Landry recalls, “I was distraught. I remember Jacie crying with me.”
Then something miraculous happened.

“I just remember I prayed and we were going to try to just rehab me without having to have surgery and just see if I could play on it. And so I was I remember I was on crutches and one night I was in my little small freshman dorm and I woke up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom and I just like hopped off the bed and I was kind of sitting there and I was like, ‘Did I just walk?’ and I remember like I jumped up and down and I was like completely fine and I was like, ‘Ohh my gosh!’ And I was like, ‘It's Jesus!’ like I was like, ‘Jesus healed my knee!”, Landry said.

Landry played her freshman year shooting better than 50% from three. After the season she found out that Coach Jacie was leaving to coach Oklahoma State, and she wanted Landry to follow.

Will Dawson: “You had said that Oklahoma State your dream school. When you heard that she was going did you think I want to go to immediately?”

Landry: “Immediately. Out of all of the coaches I could have played for out all the schools I choose Jacie and then out of all the schools she could go to like she gets a job here.”

Just when things were turning around, the setbacks piled up. First, foot surgery for plantar fasciitis, then an emergency appendectomy. Later in the season she had her gallbladder removed. Her sophomore season had come and gone.

Landry said, “I was like oh this season was a bust, like it was just a bust.”
Dawson: You think, “God you brought me here and you helped me get better for my knee, only for this to happen? Did you question him and and how did you maintain joy?

Landry: If there was a time in my life that I think I felt like the furthest away from God, it was then. I honestly was so angry at God. I was so over basketball, I hated it. I was miserable. And I just think that was I felt really sorry for myself that year. I played the total, like, ‘Why me?’ card, you know, like, ‘How can this be your plan for me? Like, what did I do to deserve this?’”
Her parents lovingly encouraged her to continue trusting God.

“And they just kept telling me, you know, like, ‘Welcome to being Christian. Like it's not always going to be easy. And ultimately, it's not about you. It’s not about what you want. It's not about how it makes you feel. It's about if this is God's will for you.,” she said.

With her time on the court limited, Landry found a new purpose—investing in her teammates off of it. The summer before her senior year, she began leading team bible studies.

Coach Jacie Hoyt: “Literally everyone on the team showed up -- believers or non-believers and so it was it was really neat to just watch her you know work in that space, and God has just given her such a heart to take care of others and and love on people and I think that you know a setting like that you're able to see Landry really operating in her gifts.”

“I was just looking at less performance things and just like, ‘What is God wanting me to do here with this team in this season?’”, she said.

“I learned enough now that, like, God wanted me at OSU for a reason way bigger than just basketball. I had just been really praying I remember I was like, I’ think it'd be really cool to, like, play a part in someone coming into Christ and getting baptized.’”

After weeks of leading bible study, Landry witnessed something bigger than basketball—three teammates and a graduate assistant giving their lives to Jesus and getting baptized.

“Oh my gosh. I mean, it's like my favorite moment I'll ever have. Ever in basketball. Over going to a tournament or anything like that it will be my favorite memory. I just stood there and just like bawled. And I really felt the Lord kind of tell me, like, ‘This is what it's about.’ Like, ‘This is why I had you here. This was going to be bigger than any win, a loss, a shot, any, honestly, like a fun memory trip. Like he was like, this is exactly why I have you here.’”

Landry would need another knee surgery her senior year. Although she wasn’t able to display her talents on the court, God gave her the ability to use her gifts in ways she never expected.

“I think just how good he is that he never gave up on me in those moments where I would give up on myself. I feel like my life is a perfect example of that. He works everything together for the good and that, you know, things that we think are valuable and that we think they should go this way, like he always knows better,” she says.

“I just think, you know, How good is God to have that grace on me and continue to love me no matter, you know, when I kind of turned away from and I was frustrated with him. He’s taught me that his way is better and when I surrender and just leave everything at the feet of Jesus, that’s when I’m the best version of myself.”