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By Jennifer Taylor

When tragedy struck, Nashville worship leader Jasmine Christmas Brady didn’t have to search far for the songs that could carry her through.

They’d been there all along—in her blood, her heritage, and in the melodies she’d written as a grieving teenager. She’s the great-niece of Vestal and Howard Goodman of the Happy Goodman Family, granddaughter of Joel and LaBreeska Hemphill, and daughter of Candy Hemphill Christmas.

For Nashville worship leader Jasmine Christmas Brady, music isn’t just a career—it’s a multigenerational calling woven into the fabric of her identity.

Surrounded by her encouraging musical family, Jasmine knew she wanted to pursue music at the age of three. As she grew up, her mother became one of the main acts with the Gaither Homecoming tour, selling out 20,000-seat arenas across the country.

Dinner with Legends, Dreams with Purpose 

“At every family gathering, we would have the Happy Goodmans gathered around singing, and Bill Monroe, the father of bluegrass, would come and sing,” Jasmine recalls.

“It would just be like family dinners.” What seemed ordinary to young Jasmine was extraordinary to everyone else. “Our nanny would take me to see my mom sing, because my dad was an evangelist and my mom would be traveling with the Gaithers,” she explains.

“My dad would be evangelizing around the country, and so on the weekends, our nanny would take us to see my mom at these huge arenas. I thought every kid did that—I thought every kid went and saw their moms singing and dancing in front of thousands of people.”

Jasmine started songwriting and performing in her preteen years while her mother toured with the Gaithers. “I can remember them talking it through with me—how to craft songs, how to craft lyrics—and then they would let me sing it on the road with them,” she said.

“It was quite a heritage to be born into, and I’m grateful to carry on that legacy through my music, and hopefully through the music my children will make also.”

When Grief Becomes a Gateway 

In the last year, Jasmine released her fourth album, Lover of My Soul. But the project’s origins trace back to two pivotal moments—one recent, one from her youth.

“My brother passed away unexpectedly in February 2022,” Jasmine shares. “When we go through seasons of unexpected grief, we gravitate to words that we know—words like Psalm 23. I think for me, it’s difficult to come up with something to create in those kinds of seasons.”

So she went back to a song she’d written at 16, after a friend passed away. “I wrote most of the songs to carry me at that time,” she explains. “And I went back as a 35-year-old to those words in a new season of grief and finished the song.”

The album’s title track was also inspired by watching the 2023 Asbury Revival unfold on news outlets and TikTok.

As a worship leader, one detail struck her: “At three o’clock in the morning, there were no words on the screen. So it really inspired me to write songs that are singable—that we could close our eyes and lift our hands, just sing, and not necessarily have to worry about the lyrics.”

A Message of Victory in Uncertain Times 

Her hope for the music is clear: that people will know God is victorious and worthy of trust, praise, and worship.

“We can trust Him to see us through tumultuous and uncertain times. He won the victory on the cross at Calvary,” Jasmine says.

“Even though things look uncertain, we have a sure word—as the Scripture says—that Jesus Christ has conquered it all. Everything that the enemy tries to throw at us—fear or whatever else it could be—Jesus Christ has already won.”

“The second thing I would hope people would get from this album is just to be inspired to worship and to declare God’s victory. They can lift their hands, close their eyes and sing the words, ‘Nobody loves me like Jesus.’ Remember that God is on our side.”

From Worship Leader to Bible Teacher 

Besides leading worship, singing, and songwriting, the wife and mother of three has become a successful podcaster. Her Wholly Holy podcast has been reading through the Bible with listeners since 2023.

“At the end of 2023, I thought I would just do a video talking about different Bible translations and maybe different Bible plans because I have people message me every year asking all those kinds of questions,” Jasmine explains.

“Well, the video got so much more response than I had anticipated—like several thousands. In one week, we got 83,000 views in six hours, which is just incredible, because people are hungry for the Word.” The response revealed something deeper.

“I think people want to read their Bible, but it’s ancient literature. It’s tough to just jump into it if you don’t know what’s going on,” she says. “Just taking like 10 minutes on Monday to talk about the Word of God—it’s been such a great blessing to me personally, but also I’m seeing people grow in their spiritual walk.”

Listeners have even stopped her in Costco to share how much they love the podcast. People are engaging with Scripture in fresh, new ways. The Bible reading has inspired Jasmine so greatly that she’s gone back to school to study more of the Word. In the last five years, she’s earned her associate and bachelor’s degrees, and she’s now pursuing her Master of Divinity.

The Power of Small Yeses 

“I believe that when we say yes to the Lord in the small things— even if it’s just reading your Bible after your baby goes to bed in a one-room apartment—we never know what God will use it for,” Jasmine reflects.

“You just know He’ll use it for great things. That’s the thing about saying yes to God and reading His Word: when we say yes, He’ll do it exceedingly abundantly above what we could ask for (Ephesians 3:20).”

Her advice to others is both practical and profound: “When we give God our yes, we don’t have to know what the outcome will be. We don’t, but God does. He will be a lamp at our feet, a light at our path. He won’t be a stadium light—you can’t see the whole way. So when God prompts us to do whatever it is, and we say yes, we don’t have to know the outcome. We trust Him with that outcome.”

She adds one final word of encouragement: “Persevere and do not give up, because anything worth having is worth fighting for. There will be times where we say yes because we know that God called us to it. He prompted us to do it.”

You may listen to Jasmine’s Wholly Holy podcast and music on YouTube and all platforms. Follow Jasmine Christmas Brady on all social media platforms.