Interview Spotlight: Chelsea Fain - Christian Author of 'The Divine Plotline'

It's difficult to believe The Divine Plotline is Chelsea Fain’s authorial debut. An ambitious and carefully constructed work, Fain’s book has already garnered multiple honors within the Christian writing community (including a 2026 Christian Book Excellence Award), and it is easy to see why. With clarity and conviction, she traces how God weaves the twists and turns, trials and triumphs of life into a purposeful, meaningful story. Drawing deeply from Scripture and illuminating it with personal testimony, The Divine Plotline is comprehensive, theologically rich, and marked by faithful exegesis and meaningful application.

This is a book with timeless ministry value. Suitable for personal reflection or small group study, it addresses the age-old question, “How do we respond when life does not unfold as we planned?” Fain answers not with sentiment or self-help, but with biblical truth, pastoral warmth, and the wisdom of one who walks closely with God. We sat down with Chelsea Fain to learn more about the heart behind the book and the journey that shaped it.

Getting To Know Christian Author, Chelsea Fain

Q: What would you like readers to know about you? The Divine Plotline feels deeply personal, even when you’re teaching theology. When did you first begin to sense that your story could be used by God to minister to others in a published book?

A: I never set out to become an author. I've always enjoyed writing, but I never dreamed of writing a book. After a traumatic miscarriage in January of 2025 that almost killed me, the Lord met me in my most vulnerable place. After five months of spiritual revelation and tremendous healing, God asked me to begin writing down what He had taught me. My writings quickly took the form of a book outline. The lessons became pages. Pages became chapters. And, before I knew it, it was September 2025, and I felt the tug of the Holy Spirit on my heart: “It’s time to share what I taught you.” From there, I researched self-publishing, designed the book's cover and my website, and started sharing the book with my social media following. By January of 2026, on the anniversary of the miscarriage that started it all, I published my first book.

Q: What an inspiring story, Chelsea! In your book, you write about suffering not as an interruption, but as formation. The Bible shows this to be true. Can you give us some more insight into the season when this truth became a reality for you? A: This truth didn’t become a reality to me until I was at my lowest point physically. I was experiencing a host of health problems due to 35-40% bloodloss. Forced to be sedentary, I didn’t have very much to fill my time. After facing the very real possibility of death, I spent a lot of time in prayer, Bible study, and journaling. It was in those moments that God began revealing hidden truths in these well-known Bible stories to me. 

It was also during this season of physical healing that God brought about significant spiritual and emotional healing for my past. As someone who left a psychologically and emotionally abusive marriage, I struggled with tremendous shame over my divorce. God took me back in my memories to specific instances in that marriage and the ensuing divorce/custody battle. He showed me every place where I had felt alone and abandoned, and the truth of where He was in each of those painful, traumatic moments. It was so healing for me to see Him in my painful memories and to see how He worked such powerful testimonies into the lives of the people in the Bible. 

Q: Thank you for sharing. We know that spiritual formation is not always a fun topic. It can be slow, hidden, and often painful or uncomfortable, as you've experienced. Now, on the other side of your pain, what has God been forming in you most recently? A: Since releasing my book on “trusting God in the midst of trials and uncertainty,” God has been walking me through just that! It feels almost as if He is saying, “Ok, you wrote it. You shared it. Now, let’s address areas of your heart where this message still needs to work on.” Most notably, my grasping for control. For my book, in marketing, sales, and social media growth, I have been trying to drive growth and sales by my own means—instead of trusting God with this work. God has also been at work in my parenting! I have four kids in our blended family. My stepson and my daughter have to go back and forth between homes. This brings so much uncertainty in our home and in my heart. Through it all, God has been asking, “Do you really trust me in this?” Releasing control and trusting him in the unknown is definitely hard. I’m learning that the more I trust Him and abide in His Word, the better off I — and my kids — are!

Diving Deeper Into 'The Divine Plotline'

Q: This is such a substantial debut, ambitious, structured, and highly comprehensive. How long did this book take to develop, and what did your walk with Christ look like while you were writing it?

A: The learning process began in January 2025, and continued through June. God asked me to write down everything He had taught me. Over the next few months, it was like I was drinking from the Holy Spirit’s firehose. There were times when I felt utterly compelled to write!

For the first time, I truly understood what Jeremiah meant when he said, “...there is in my heart as it were a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I am weary with holding it in, and I cannot” (Jeremiah 20:9).

There were times when the pressing of the Holy Spirit to go write was so heavy that I couldn’t ignore it. The entire first manuscript was written by the end of September. I released it to Beta readers shortly after, and the final manuscript was completed by mid-December. I chose to publish the book on Amazon on January 9, 2026 — one year after the tragic miscarriage. I learned to listen and obey when God spoke to me. I found that when I was faithfully submitting my mind, my heart, and my time to Him, He was so generous in His outpouring of revelation. It was a humbling season, and my faith in Him grew tremendously.

Q: In Chapter 4, your treatment of Job is tender and theologically steady. The evaluators really connected with your line, “The goal of the Christian life was never comfort; it was always transformation.”  What was studying and writing about this often "difficult" read like for you?

A: As I mentioned in my book at the beginning of Chapter 4, I have always avoided the book of Job! It wasn’t until God started my healing journey of 2025 that this changed. I found the book Pain, Perplexity, and Promotion by Bob Sorge. His book radically blew up my entire perspective (and avoidance) of the book of Job. It forced me to take an even deeper dive into the book of Job through my own studying. Through Sorge’s book, my own personal study, and the revelation God revealed to me personally, I came to understand that it was through the pain and hardship of life that God does His best, most transformative work with a heart that is submitted to Him. I continued to see this thread of truth through countless lives in the Bible. This brought me to an unquestionable truth about our God: we are not here to “be happy” or comfortable. We are here to be transformed more into His image and to bring glory to His name! And that transformation takes place best through the fires and hardships of this life. No great testimony was ever birthed through ease and convenience in life. 

Q: Your chapter on Paul, “When Misplaced Zeal Meets Transforming Grace,” also stood out to our team. Why was it important for you to highlight transformation over performance in his story?

A: I think Paul (or Saul as we know him while he persecuted the early church) often gets a bad rap from the Church. If we really look at him with honest hearts, I think there’s more within him that we can relate to in our modern context. Too often in the Church today, the mindset of performance-at-all-costs causes toxic legalism and religion that poisons the growth and transformation that God desires for the Church, both individually and corporately. When I was writing this book, I wrestled over which people to include in the final manuscript (I started with twelve people). Paul remained a necessary person to include because of his unique beginnings. This is a story of someone who, from an onlooker, appeared to be “on fire for God.” However, we know that this zeal was focused on performance and legalism. Not seeking the truth! God still desires today to release people from the trap of performance and legalistic religion to bring them into a personal, intimate relationship with the Lord. That is why it was important for me to include Paul in my book!

Q: In Chapter 13, your section on apathy—where you describe spiritual disengagement as “rebellion in disguise”—is a bold and urgent truth for the body of Christ. What prompted you to address apathy so directly, and why do you believe the modern Church needs this message today?

A: The apathy chapter was a chapter I really wrestled — nay, argued! — with God, over including because it felt too harsh. In the end, I think God put this truth so strongly on my heart because of how apathy is running rampant through the Church today. It’s easier to “check out” when hard things come rather than to reveal your heart to God and allow Him to do spiritual open-heart-surgery in the midst of hardships. There are countless outlets for apathy at our fingertips: social media’s endless scrolling, video games, live streaming, binge-worthy video streaming services, and the more extreme forms of apathy, like alcohol and drug abuse. It’s so easy in our modern world to “check out” when things get hard instead of getting on your knees, opening the Bible, and doing the work of seeking God’s face. Our Western world too often reverts towards that hidden rebellion of the heart—apathy—because it fits our instant-gratification culture, instead of slow, steady spiritual growth by “crucifying the flesh.” 

Q: Chapter 17, “Jesus: The Author and Finisher," is a beautiful culmination of your book. You write, “Our stories don’t just tell what we’ve survived; they proclaim who He is.” Tell us about your writing process for this pivotal chapter.

A: Chapter 17 is actually my favorite chapter of the book. It wasn’t even in the original manuscript! After meeting with a trusted advisor—an elder from my church who knows the Bible better than anyone I know—he said to me, “You have to include Jesus in this book!” After talking to him, I actually completely reconstructed chapters 4 through 17 and added the chapter on the life of Jesus. This was the culmination of everything God had been teaching me and healing in me. Writing Chapter 17 was truly an experience and encounter with the Lord as the words poured through me and onto the screen. As much as I would like to take credit for Chapter 17, I have to give full credit to the Lord. Even now, when I read that chapter, I can’t help but weep as I recount the sweet intimacy God brought to me in the writing of this chapter. It was the cherry-on-top of my healing journey. The chapter I didn’t know that I desperately needed. 

Q: We've loved learning more about you and your book. There's so much more we could ask, but if readers walk away remembering only one thing from The Divine Plotline, what do you most hope it is? 

A: The biggest message I personally took away from my own journey through The Divine Plotline was this: our temporary circumstances do not determine the eternal character of God. He is the same—yesterday, today, and forever! My hardships and difficulties do not change who He is! I cannot allow these temporary things to taint my view of God. Instead, I need to search Scripture to find who He is and lean on the strong foundation of the Word of God—not the human emotions brought about by pain. 

Also, don’t let your trials be fruitless. God produces sweet fruit in our lives when we submit our heartache to Him. However, when we cling to bitterness and accusation towards the Lord, the pain of this life becomes fruitless—like a rotting tree or a withered grape vine. It cannot produce fruit (or what fruit is produced is sour and inedible). However, when we submit our hearts in surrender to the Lord while the storms of this life rage on, God works miracles within our hearts for great spiritual transformation—and even greater fruitfulness! 

About The Author

Chelsea Fain is an award-winning Christian author of The Divine Plotline, a worship leader, and an educator whose work helps readers recognize God’s redemptive hand in every season of life. She holds a Master’s degree in Education and is a former public-school English teacher, where she cultivated a deep love for words, thoughtful curriculum design, and teaching that reaches both the heart and the mind. Drawing from this background in education and curriculum development, Chelsea weaves Biblical truth with lived experience to guide readers through seasons of grief, waiting, and transformation—helping them see their lives as God-written stories marked by purpose and redemption, not as random chapters. In addition to writing, Chelsea serves as a choir director, worship leader, and private vocal coach for her home church, helping others encounter God through music. She lives with her husband, Joshua, and their four children in a home filled with faith, music, homeschooling, and the everyday reminders of God’s grace at work.

You can connect with Chelsea Fain on Facebook, Instagram, and through her website. The Divine Plotline is available for purchase on Amazon.