Nebraska author brings light to shunned populations

The Holy Spirit is moving through the writings of 38-year-old Nebraska Christian fiction author Jennifer Rodewald, and where He leads is sometimes even a shock to her. 

Just finishing up her current book, “Red Rose Bouquet”, which centers around the experiences of a post-abortive woman,  Rodewald’s emotional reservoir is spent. 

“There was nothing easy about this story. I found myself shredded through the process of research—something I usually love to do,” Rodewald said about her experience writing “Red Rose Bouquet”. “Still, the story would not let me surrender.” 

‘Not letting her surrender’ encapsulates Rodewald’s journey to where she is now with writing Christian fiction—it is where her heart has always been.

“If you want me to write a story, it will have to be from a Christian world view,” she said. “That’s who I am.”

Early Years

Like any preteen, Rodewald, a Colorado native, kept a diary. While re-reading her entries one day, she decided she needed to deliberately direct her writing passion towards something productive. That’s when she began writing short stories.

As the years went on, Rodewald dismissed the idea of professional writing as a stable career, especially after a friend commented that Christian fiction was waste of time. 

“That discouraged me,” she said. “I didn’t want to dishonor God with my writing, so I didn’t go in that direction.”

A teacher by trade, Rodewald taught for one year after college, then became a full-time mom after she and her husband, Anthony, had their first

 child. 

However, the love and desire to write never left her, so she signed up to take an online course on how to write Children’s books. She admits the class had good things in it, but it did not fulfill her hearts desire of writing for God. 

Her ‘Aha’ Moment

It was during her daily Bible study one day that Rodewald had a moment that changed everything. 

“Just watching Jesus teach and do what he did, I noticed He taught with parables more often than he taught with anything else—He taught with stories! It was an awesome moment.”

From there Rodewald felt free to express what the Holy Spirit was putting on her heart. 

She began to keep a notebook where she jotted down her ideas, but it took her several years, and a practice novel, to finally feel she was at a point to launch into the publishing world—which was another whole new experience altogether. 

Not Your Everday 

Christian Story

Led by the Holy Spirit, Rodewald dove into topics that she felt God was leading her to give a voice to. Her first assignment—alcoholism. 

“God put this story into my mind and it was bizarre, because it was not something that I ever saw myself doing or even imagining,” she said. 

 From this inspiration came her first book “Blue Columbine,” which Rodewald finished in 2010, but was not published until 2015. Why? For the simple reason that major Christian publishing houses would not give her a chance. 

“I got told through different avenues in Christian fiction that nobody wanted to read about an alcoholic that was a jerk. That kind of hurt,” she said. 

She even questioned the Christian church as a whole.

“Gosh, is this really what the church is all about? We don’t want to deal with people who are a mess? That’s not what we are called to do,” she said. 

So she began to pray and ask God where to put her book, which led her to a freelance editor. The editor helped her clean up her script, and led her to the American Christian Fiction Writers’ Association, where she has found much needed support. 

After continually getting turned down by major Christian publishing houses, and encouraged by her support group, Rodewald struck out on her own and started her own publishing company called Rooted Publishing in 2015.

Since then she has published five books: ”Blue Columbine,”—about alcoholism; “Reclaimed”—about divorce; “The Carpenter’s Daughter”— about abandonment; “Ordinary Snowflakes”—about a single mom raising her daughter alone; and “Red Rose Bouquet”—about the experiences of a post-abortive woman.

“Each of these stories I feel has pushed me into the theme of compassion; of looking past the surface to look at the heart of issues,” she said. 

To take a break from the emotional work of writing “Red Rose Bouquet”, Rodewald is now working on a fun children’s book. She is also working on her next novel, which she hopes to have out by the end of the year, she said. 

Rodewald is excited about where God is leading her, and is amazed at what He has done in her life so far. 

“God just puts things together and I just stand back and think, ‘Wow, You are awesome.’ (He has gone) beyond what I ever thought or imagined, and I am so glad.”

Jennifer and Anthony are raising their three daughters and one son on 20 acres north of McCook, Neb. For more information on Jennifer and her books, logon to her website at https://authorjenrodewald.com/