Katelyn Williams: A Story of Faith, Purpose and God’s Intentionality

2015 Gardner-Webb Alumna Shares Journey of Grief and Trust in God’s Plan 

BOILING SPRINGS, N.C.—In the face of deep loss, Katelyn Shepherd Williams, a 2015 alumna of Gardner-Webb University, has learned to trust God with her story. Her faith was tested in 2025 when her 24-year-old brother died from injuries sustained in a car accident. 

“I was deeply grieved, but also just so angry,” reflected Williams, of Winston-Salem, N.C. “My parents were deeply grieved. It was just me and my brother; there’s no other siblings.”  

Sharing her testimony during a GWU Dimensions program, Williams explained to the students how she wrestled with questions of faith and fairness. “I was like, ‘God, we’ve been faithful to you,’” she began. “‘You know, we’ve loved you. We’ve been devoted. We’ve served in the church all our lives. We’ve never had a moment where we ran from you and had a rebellious period that we had to come back that you’re teaching us this lesson. How could this happen?’” 

As Williams kept searching, God began to reveal his goodness. “About a week after the accident, we got a message from a woman on Facebook,” she shared. “She said, ‘I live right outside of the crash site. I sat with him and stayed with him so that he wasn’t alone.’ She was a gift to our family, and God was intentional to let us know that piece of the story.”  

Working through her grief, Williams realized God was moving in other ways. “My husband and I set intentions at the beginning of every year, goals for ourselves,” she explained. “One of those was to draw more people to the Lord. We didn’t know what that looked like specifically.” 

Her brother pursued many different interests and had made friends through collecting Pokemon cards and sharing his enthusiasm for muscle cars. More than 400 people attended the funeral. “We met so many different people from so many walks of life that he was able to touch,” she observed. “I just have to believe that some of those people heard Jesus proclaimed for the first time and walked away with a deeper knowledge of him. I said, ‘God, I didn’t intend to make disciples like this. This was not my goal, but I can tell that you’re intentional.’” 

The experience deepened and affirmed how Williams understands Scripture. She believes that the Bible is not a collection of isolated stories, but a single, intentional narrative revealing God’s faithfulness across every season. She described how God continually showed up for people in the Old Testament and then throughout the New Testament. He never left them. “God wastes nothing, no situation, no words,” she explained. “The more you read scripture, every word is so intentional. He didn’t put that there by accident. We waste words as humans, but God does not.” 

Her faith journey began early, shaped by a strong Christian upbringing. That foundation deepened at a church summer camp, where journaling led her to seek a more personal understanding of God’s voice. After returning home, she continued growing through church and youth group involvement. She chose to attend Gardner-Webb, drawn by its welcoming community and Christ-centered mission. 

Williams immersed herself fully in academics, spiritual life, and the GWU campus community. A religion class centered on spiritual disciplines proved transformative. A book assigned in the course, “Celebration of Discipline” by Richard J. Foster, stays on her nightstand. “It just radically changed how I looked at all the things I had been taught my entire life,” she noted. “What does it look like to fast? To meditate on God’s word?”  

Her search for answers led to late nights spent in the Dover Chapel prayer room. “I remember praying really big prayers, asking some hard questions of God, and crying there knowing it was a safe place to do that,” Williams related.  

Beyond spiritual and academic growth, she also met her husband, Rodney, at Gardner-Webb. The relationship began during their first week on campus. “We were both from Winston-Salem and came two hours away to meet at Gardner-Webb,” she observed.  

After earning her master’s degree in counseling from UNC-Greensboro, Williams embraced what she describes as a “multi-passionate” calling that blended her many interests.  

“I knew I loved words. I knew I loved kids. I knew I loved teaching,” she stated. “As a kid, I loved being that listening ear, the friend who gives you advice. I took the pieces of what I wanted, and all those things came together in being a school counselor, which was really beautiful and special to me.”   

She helps students navigate anxiety, self-doubt, and identity. “I tell kids that sometimes we have to trick our brain because whatever we think the most, our brain believes,” Williams explained. “Words are powerful. Say those things that are positive, and at some point, your brain will believe them, and you’ll act accordingly.” 

That same emphasis on words extends beyond counseling into her personal passions. Williams discovered a love for writing as a child, often creating stories as gifts for family members, though it took years to fully embrace her talent. Her children’s book, “What Can Brown Girls Do?”, was written in 2017 but remained tucked away until she rediscovered it years later and published in 2026. 

The inspiration for the story came from a deeply personal place: seeing a Disney princess who reflected her identity. “I was so excited about it, because I had never seen a Disney princess that looked like me,” she said. “It made me kind of reflect on the other times in life that I wanted to do something, but I didn’t see someone that looked like me or that had my skill set or was my age that did it, and so maybe I wrote it off as it wasn’t for me.”  

Today, the book is impacting children in unexpected ways. At one reading, a young girl with a disability shared how the story helped reshape her view of her own limitations. “It just makes me think that there is absolutely nothing that I can’t do,” the child said, affirming for Williams that the message extends far beyond its original intent. 

Moments like that reinforce what she shared at Dimensions: God’s story is intentional, and every person has a place within it. Reflecting on her journey, Williams said, “Seeing the different pieces of my life over time—the jobs I’ve had, the interests I’ve had, the passions I’ve had—God is saying, ‘The way that I made you was intentional.’” 

“What Can Brown Girls Do?” is available online on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or wherever your favorite books are sold. 

Gardner-Webb University is North Carolina’s recognized leader in private, Christian higher education. A Carnegie-Classified Doctoral/Professional University, GWU is home to nine colleges and schools, more than 80 undergraduate and graduate majors, and a world-class faculty. Located on a beautiful 225-acre campus in Boiling Springs, N.C., Gardner-Webb prepares graduates to impact their chosen professions, equips them with the skills to advance the frontiers of knowledge, and inspires them to make a positive and lasting difference in the lives of others. Become More at gardner-webb.edu