An Interview with Wholly Loved Ministries’ Jessica Brodie

An Interview with Wholly Loved Ministries’ Jessica Brodie on their New 90-day Devotional, Drawing Near

Today, we offer an interview with Jessica Brodie of Wholly Loved Ministries. Wholly Loved Ministries has a new book, Drawing Near: 90 Day Devotional, that is written by a number of women (including Jessica) designed to help deepen our faith and grow our relationship with Christ. Here, Jessica shares about how she felt God’s call on her writing and what motivated her to contribute to this devotional.

1. Hi, Jessica. Can you tell us a little about yourself?

Thanks for hosting me, Julie! I’ve been writing since I could pick up a pencil, and one of my first memories is of playing with my mom’s old manual typewriter pretending to write books. I grew up very shy and moved around a lot, so I was a huge bookworm, reading anything I could get my hands on—especially novels. My love for writing prompted me to study journalism and English in college, and today I write everything I possibly can. Not only do I blog and write devotionals for Wholly Loved Ministries, but I write contemporary women’s fiction, I have my own weekly faith blog called “Shining the Light,” I am a freelance writer and editor, and I am the editor and primary writer for the South Carolina United Methodist Advocate, the oldest newspaper in Methodism. 

2. When did you know God wanted you to write?

I am an expressive person, but as a “reformed shy person,” expressing my thoughts to people wasn’t always easy. God led me to writing in childhood as a healthy outlet for my thoughts and feelings. As an adult, I ran a secular community newspaper for a number of years, but I kept sensing a nudge toward other opportunities. One day, without knowing why, I started browsing the website for the South Carolina Press Association—I knew no one in that state, so I had no reason at all to look there. Immediately, the job came up for someone to run a religious newspaper for the United Methodist Church there. I happened to attend a United Methodist Church, so I applied and got the job. I was writing a lot of secular fiction at the time, and about two years into my job at the Methodist newspaper, I was driving to work when I heard a voice speak into me: “Jessica, I want you to write a Christian novel.” The entire plot of that book, which became my first Christian novel, flashed before me as though it were a movie. That day I turned all my writing over to the Lord and haven’t stopped.

3. Did you ever wrestle with the call?

I’ve never felt like I “shouldn’t” write, though for many years I let my faith writing take a backburner to my professional writing. Transitioning to a faith-based day job blurred those lines. Now I try my best to led God lead whatever I write and stay out of His way.

4. How does your marriage play into your writing?

My husband and I are both very creative yet practical people—he’s a photographer and videographer—so being married to him really helps me as a writer. We know we need to take days to fill our creative cups through travel or a hike in the woods, while other days we have to focus intensely on finishing a project.

5. What do you enjoy most about writing/your career?

It’s so much fun to go deep and challenge myself to write tight yet vulnerable. And I never get bored! There’s always a new devotional to write, a new plot twist for my character, a new article, etc.

6. What is one truth you wish you had rested in earlier?

I don’t have to be perfect. I just have to trust God, align myself with His plan, and do my best.

7. What motivated you to contribute to this devotional project?

I have a huge passion for digging into the Bible and growing in faith as an authentic disciple, and I spent a lot of years getting over past emotional baggage. I love this devotional because it’s from real women who have been through real things, each of us struggling to push aside the past and grow closer to God.

8. What are you working on now? 

I’m working on an identity devotional for Wholly Loved Ministries, a ton of blogs, my monthly newspaper, some fun mental-health-and-faith articles, and my favorite—putting final tweaks on the first draft of my new novel, Tangled Roots.

To learn more about Jessica, including her fiction and weekly blog: https://www.jessicabrodie.com/. For more about Wholly Loved Ministries: https://youarewhollyloved.com/. For more about Drawing Near: 90 Day Devotional: https://www.amazon.com/dp/179757826X/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_U_342lDbQQFHHVJ

Jessica Brodie is an award-winning journalist and author who currently serves as the editor of the South Carolina United Methodist Advocate, the oldest newspaper in Methodism. She is the author of More Like Jesus: A Devotional Journey (2018) and editor of Stories of Racial Awakening: Narratives on Changed Hearts and Lives of South Carolina United Methodists (2018), both from her newspaper’s Advocate Press. She also writes contemporary women’s fiction, represented by Bob Hostetler of The Steve Laube Agency. Her novel The Memory Garden won the American Christian Fiction Writers’ 2018 Genesis Contest. She is a member of the Wholly Loved Ministries team and has a faith blog at JessicaBrodie.com.