61. Living God's Purpose Through Storytelling: a Conversation with Bestselling Novelist Jennie Goutet

In this episode of Curious for Christ, I welcome Jennie Goutet, an accomplished author of over 13 historical romance novels, to discuss her journey of faith, creativity, and life in a small town outside Paris. Jennie shares her remarkable story of discovering Christ, her marriage, and how her experiences across the globe shaped her relationship with God.

The conversation delves into Jennie’s writing career, from penning her memoir Stars Upside Down to becoming a full-time novelist. Jennie opens up about how her Christian faith influences the depth of her characters and stories, emphasizing love, goodness, and integrity. She also provides valuable advice for aspiring Christian writers, balancing authenticity and creativity in a world that often challenges faith-based values.

What You’ll Hear in This Episode:
1. Jennie’s journey to Christ through moments of humility and divine intervention.
2. How a dream of marrying a Frenchman led Jennie to meet her husband on the first day they attended church.
3. The inspiration behind Jennie’s writing and how grief propelled her into storytelling.
4. The influence of author Georgette Heyer in Jennie’s transition to historical romance.
5. How Jennie’s faith shapes her creative process and the values in her novels.
6. Advice for aspiring writers, including the importance of persistence, discipline, and trusting God’s guidance.
7. Jennie’s thoughts on navigating the secular literary world while maintaining integrity.

Resources Mentioned:
• Jennie’s blog: A Lady in France (faith articles available).
• Get Jennie's books: https://jenniegoutetbooks.com/
• Join Jennie's Reader Facebook Group

Connect with Jennie Goutet:
• Website: https://www.jenniegoutet.com/
• Sign Up for Jennie's Newsletter
• Follow Jennie on BookBub


Episode Takeaways:
1. God is the ultimate storyteller, and He is the author of each of our lives.
2. God has placed dreams in our hearts, according to His divine plan, and only through Him can we see how our story unfolds. These dreams ultimately draw us closer to Him, as our greatest dream is to know God and have an eternal relationship with Him.
3. God’s plan for our lives often emerges through seasons of grief or hardship.
4. While not explicitly Christian, the qualities we admire in characters and heroes in any story actually stem from the fruit of the Spirit, such as love, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, loyalty and faithfulness
5. Prayer is an invitation to bring God into every aspect of your life and work.
6. Creative tip: First, create, then edit. These are two distinct processes that require different mindsets.
7. Matthew 12:36 says that everyone will have to give an account on the day of judgment for every empty word they have spoken - this reminds us that whatever we do, we should do it to honor God.
8. Ultimately, God is our King and our greatest reward, far beyond any success we might gain in this world!


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Transcript

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I was very interested in just having a career of, sophistication, adventure, all of these things. And God didn't really fit into the picture. But over a period of about two or three years, I went through a lot. And in the course of those years I was reached out to by the same church, the one I still go to now four different times. I didn't put it all together until afterwards, but it was a very comforting sign that God was leading me to the place that He wanted me to be. And it was also through much grief and difficulty that I found God Welcome back to curious for Christ. I'm your host Alexandra. And today we are kicking off the holiday season a little early. With a very special episode, featuring my friend, Jenny Jenny is the best selling author of 13 historical romance novels, including the clustering Chronicles, memorable proposals and the daughters of the gin tree series. Her books have received first place honors in historical romance at the new England reader's choice awards hit the number one spot in Regency romance on Amazon and have been translated into six languages. Jenny is an American born Anglophile who now lives with her franchise Benz and their three children just outside of Paris. Her imagination, however, resides firmly in Regency England. The backdrop for her clean romances, her work, not only transports readers to another era, but also reflects her face and values in a meaningful way. In this episode, we'll hear how Jenny's face influences her writing and how she's used her God-given gifts to touch readers Worldwide. Jenny's journey is a Testament to how God's purpose can guide our creative pursuits and how our talents, when surrendered to him can bring light and joy to others. So settling for this inspiring conversation, it's the perfect way to begin the season of gratitude. And reflection. Welcome to curious for Christ. Do you ever find yourself lying awake at night? Wondering about God's plan for your life. Maybe you wake up with big dreams, but feel unsure where to start or what your next step should be. If you're curious about exploring your faith and finding purpose, then you've come to the right place. Hi, I'm Monica, Sandra. I too felt lost unsure of the direction my life was taking. I yearned to understand my purpose and have someone guide me. But I kept telling myself I was too busy, the timing wasn't right. And my lack of clarity prevented me from being consistent until I found Christ. He brought peace into my life and we field the way to find purpose by anchoring myself. In him. In this podcast, we'll journey together, exploring the Bible to gain a deeper understanding of him. and cultivate your own personal relationship with Christ. So open up your Bible, put in those ear buds and listen up because God is speaking to you. He is making everything new and you don't want to miss it. Let's get started. Hey there, before we dive in today's episode, I want to take a moment to talk about something really important. When we become Christians, God takes the lead in every decision we make. We step back and let him guide. Because we know he has the ultimate plan. My coaching program, spiritual growth coaching. Isn't just an option. It's essential. Your relationship with God is the foundation of everything, your identity, your purpose, your relationships, your family, your children, your children's children. And so on. And of course in every aspect of your business. Can creation understand a creator's plan. Remember when God asked job. Were you there when the earth was formed? Where are we. It's time to stop relying on our limited understanding and start building our lives on the truth of God's plan. God is mighty. He is. Almighty. And he is the answer to everything we're searching for. So if you are unsure of how to start building a relationship with God, Connect with me for a quick discovery call. Just go to bit dot L Y forward slash curious for Christ discovery to book a free call and start living your life on the unshakeable foundation of God almighty. B I T dot L Y forward slash curious for Christ discovery. Good morning, Jenny, or should I say good afternoon? Cause we have the pleasure to have you directly from France, a little town outside Paris. How are you doing? Thank you for joining me. Oh, thank you so much for having me. I'm doing great. I'm very happy to be here. Oh it's such a pleasure to have you. I first discovered your work, actually, I stumbled a few years ago on your biography, and I was immediately captivated by your story. And then when I had the chance to meet you in person in Paris, your hospitality was so heartwarming, very French. Loved it. Thank you. Thank you. So to start, I'd love for you to tell us a little bit about your faith journey for you to share how you came to know Christ. Tell us about even meeting your husband and then all the way to moving to France. Okay I will try to do this rather quickly, or rather succinctly, but in a few words. But if anybody is, if this sparks curiosity in anyone, I did write a memoir. It's called Stars Upside Down, and the whole thing is in there. But basically, I grew up Presbyterian, going to church. I respected God, but I wouldn't say that I wanted to follow him. I was very interested in just having a career of, sophistication, adventure, all of these things. And God didn't really fit into the picture. But over a period of about two or three years, I went through a lot. I was traveling. I was living in Asia and in New York City. I was living in Paris and just trying to discover myself. And in the course of those years I was reached out to by the same church, the one I still go to now four different times. And in those four times, two of them were in New York City, one was on a beach in Hawaii, and one was in Paris. And so that was obviously, I didn't put it all together until afterwards, but it was a very comforting sign that God was leading me to the place that He wanted me to be. And it was also through much grief and difficulty that I found God, I think I needed perhaps to have been humbled a little bit in order to open my eyes and see what I truly desired, which wasn't all those things I was going after. It was eternal life and relationship with God. And so that is, The story in a nutshell, and my husband and I came to church, I had dreamt that I would marry a French man when I was 18 years old. And he and I came to church on the same day for the first time. We were both an hour early because it was daylight savings time. And we got baptized about six weeks later, me at night and him the next day. And, and then we started dating three years after that. That was another sign where you know, because I had been dating a French man, and that was one of the difficult things to give up because he was not interested in God. And that was also a comfort, like God saying no, I have something better for you. And so here I am in France, married, three kids, and very grateful. Amazing how God weaves our stories and brings us to Him. And you have written over 13 historical romances. How did you begin writing and what inspired you to choose romance as your main genre? Yes, okay, that, that is quite a story. It was not Straightforward. Although, when I was younger, I did write a book, that's in air quotes, because, it was a handwritten, eighth grade novel. And I had always dreamt of publishing a book, of being a writer, but when I tried I, Got about 10 chapters in and my husband was like, this is boring, like nothing's happening. So I was like, okay, I'm not a writer. But when everything settled down, we got our house, I had my three kids and, the youngest was a baby and I was just like, it was the period of blogs. So I started a blog. It's called the lady in France. It's still there, but I don't have time to add to it. But it does have some faith articles, by the way, he's still on there that you can look for. And people would say, Oh, you've had an interesting life. You should write a memoir. And I did not really take that seriously until I had a second term miscarriage. And there was something about this deep grief, which kind of brought everything to the surface. And I just plunged into. Telling my story like the subtitle of the memoir is I think it's called a memoir of grief, travel, and an incandescent God or something like that. And I just realized that there was something unifying, and it was just the story that God was writing. of my life. And so I wrote that. When I was, when it was out and it was published, I realized, Oh, I don't want to go back to just the blog posts. Like I, I want to keep writing longer works, but I didn't have the courage to I had just discovered by that point, George at hair, who was an author who lived. last century, and she wrote Regency Romance. She developed the genre. She was not a contemporary of Jane Austen, but she was the one that brought all that back again. And I thought she was brilliant. Before then, I think I thought that romance authors were not very not a respected literary genre. But when I read her, I was like, wow. Romance can be so rich and there's so much you can do with it. And so I wanted to write a historical like she wrote. I didn't have the courage. I popped out two contemporaries and then I was like no. I'm going to do it. So that's when I started writing historical romance. It was because of her, I would say. That's amazing. And your vocabulary is fantastic, I have to say. I love it. I know I have to catch up on the latest one, but I've read a few of your books. So I want to explore a little bit. As a Christian, how does your family How does faith shape the way you explore relationships and emotions in your novels? And how do you think your approach also impacts your readers? You were impacted by Georgette Heer. So how do you think your approach with your faith impacts your readers compared to more mainstream romance novels? Yeah. I know that something that really touched me When I was younger was reading books that were not necessarily with an obvious faith focus but had all of the nobility of character that we aspire to as Christians or the ones that are listed in Galatians five, like the fruits of the spirit and, and I know that was, that gave me something to aspire to that gave me a goal, even though I was not yet, seeking Christ, I was seeking those attributes. And so I think there's something about that, which makes me want to write those same kinds of things. I would say that perhaps the characters might be deeper in some ways or since we can't Go into all the physical attraction. It's there, but we can't go into detailed physical attraction. We have to build the connection on a more basic human connection level of the heart. And so I think that is that's what's maybe different than some Somebody else that might write with more open door scenes mine are very much about the hearts of the two people coming together. Yeah, I don't know if I answered that well, but that's, there's like maybe a slower transformation as well of their, of their, Love, it develops more slowly because, you're everything is all the physical side is repressed until the right time. And so the romance is able to develop. Yes, the relationship, the change of heart and everyone is inspired by love, goodness, integrity. all these things. So definitely I see how appealing it would be to anyone. You don't express overtly your faith in your books, but could you tell me a little bit how your faith actually influenced your creative process? And also, do you feel like God is guiding your work or? Have there been moments where you felt his inspiration, the Spirit's guidance? Yes and no. So my faith guides my work because there are certain lines I will not cross. I do not want to make anyone stumble reading my book. I don't want anyone to stumble in their You know, if they're trying to, for instance, if there is somebody who is single that's trying to stay pure, I don't want my book to be a cause of stumbling. That's probably the most obvious way that my faith affects my book. And in terms of God guiding my career, I will say that the very first book that I published that had a huge success, which was A Fall from Grace, that was just God. Because I would just look at my husband and I'm like, Oh my goodness. It's still selling. It's like it's been two months and it's still selling, like really well and you know that was when I was starting to be able to earn my living as an author and I was like, Oh my goodness, and it was very clear to me that was God. That was not my brilliance. That was just 100 percent God. But in terms of how he guides my sort of journey. Day to day, or, do I feel his process a lot of times writing for me is really work. It's there are some people. There are some authors, but it's. Where the stories just bubble out of them. They're, they've been gifted with this storytelling thing, but I was, I don't have that. It is a work for me. And a lot of times I feel like I'm going very blindly, I'm feeling my way through and I'm like, okay, and it's, it, I have to force myself to sit down in front of the computer. And sometimes I write, not even really knowing where I'm going or, and I'll think, oh, this was no good. And then I'll read it back. And I was like. Actually, I can work with this. This is better than I thought. Yes, it needs work to bring out more emotion or whatever, but this is going in the right direction. And that's God. I know that it is. And I do pray every day before I start writing. I do pray. But I will say that I'm not one of those people that Where it's just such a natural gift that it flows out of me almost. With no work. No. I sweat blood for the, for these books, Yes. You have to show up. You have to do the work and and I would say this is a work of faith. This is what faith is. Being certain of what you do not see. Yeah. So you can see right away where this is going. You just faithfully sit down and, do the work. And then you see, oh, that it can produce something. So definitely, I would see how it has a huge impact on even your process. Yeah, it does. And I wouldn't be able to do anything without God, without prayer, because God is the master storyteller. He's told the story of so many people throughout time. And he's the one that needs to tell my stories for me or through me. Yeah. And that is love. What more suitable as this genre to, to read about him and people's stories. Yeah. I wanted to see if you had any advice to aspiring writers who share the same faith beliefs what advice would you give to Christians who are interested in writing romance or fiction? You also collaborate with a lot of authors that do not have the same genre, that do not share the same beliefs. So how do you. How do you keep your, integrity in a world that does not follow your value? Yeah. Let's see. Okay. Advice to aspiring writers. I think I have two levels of advice. One is for the pure act of writing. And my advice for that, if there's anybody that's just starting out My advice. Is to really push yourself, every day, if you can, even if you just write 1000 words, or even if you can only write 500 words push yourself every day to sit down and write that and do not edit while you're creating, because those are two different processes. And you really need to just focus on the creation and then go back with the edits afterwards. That's my advice for for writing. And, if you are, you said to writers who might share the same faith, I think one thing is to find out if you want to write inspirational because there are many other ways. Amazing inspirational love stories or, or any like historical stories that are supposed to bring people to God. They're supposed to make people lift their eyes to God. Maybe that's the genre that you need to be writing and that is great. If you decide to write something that is not necessarily mainstream, and the reason I personally made that choice, I think it was twofold. One, because I grew up reading the classics. And for me the classics didn't have a lot of like mention of people sitting down to pray through their problems or opening the Bible. And so that was the kind of literature that I was writing. And so I was, it didn't seem natural for me to add that. The second reason was because back when I was You know, when I believed in God but was not interested in following Him, I would say that all those books that I read that were not necessarily blatantly Christian, and those books, the ones that were blatantly Christian, might have caused me to push back. But the ones that showed all the Christian characteristics, those were the ones that I would read, and it would stir something in my heart and make me want to follow God, which I eventually decided to do. So for the aspiring writers decide, do you want to write inspirational? There is a place for you. Do you want to write romance or something else that doesn't necessarily appeal to the crowd of proclaimed Christians? That's okay too. But something I think about is, I think about the scripture that says we will be, it's something I'm paraphrasing, but we will be judged for every word. That we say there's a scripture that says something like that. And I just think, wow, I want my books to honor God, no matter what I think it's worth taking that into consideration if you want to draw near to God what kind of legacy I'm leaving? Am I leaving behind? What am I, portraying to the readership? Yes, the scripture, I found it as you were talking. Thank you! Matthew 12, verse 36. But I tell you, on the Day of Judgment, people will have to give an accounting for every careless and useless word they speak. Yes. Yeah. And when you're writing, it's not careless or useless. You have reread that thing 10 times, so just, I think to me that's, yeah, I want to please God. I want him to say, well done, good and faithful servant, including with the books that I write. That's great. That's integrity. I love that. Thank you. So what can we expect from you in the future in terms of writing? Are there any new things? Are there any themes or directions you're excited to explore? Yes, there is. Yes, I I can tell you that the project I'm working on now I cannot give all the details, but I signed a three book series with Baker Publishing Group. So they're the ones that have Bethany House, with writers like Julie Klassen and Erika Vetch, and, you know, they're really this really great. Publishing house. I'm so excited. And the series is going to be set on the continent in the Georgian era, which means that the books are going to be in the 1700s and they're going to take place in Belgium, although Belgium was not yet a country. Yes, the first book is in Spa but it was not Belgium at the time, not until 1836. It was the Southern Netherlands and then the second book takes place in Paris and the third book takes place in Rome. And so I'm working on the first book for that series. It's not coming out until summer of 2026, but I am very excited about it. Congratulations. How exciting. So lots of writing. A thousand words a day. Yes, at least, do you have a deadline or how it's due mid mid January, the first draft, but it's the first polished draft, as if I thought it were ready to publish, and then it will go into development, edit it so that I'll get it back. And there will be tons of changes to make, hopefully. The more prepared it is, the less changes there will be because I'll of course be working on my next book that's outside of the, the publishing house. So yeah, it's, I'm, oh, it's, I'm nervous but I'm very excited too. and thank you for carving time'cause it's, you're in the middle of it, I'm assuming, since you Yeah. Finished by mid January. Thank you so much. I wish you the best with that. And so my last question, my last. A few questions. Is there anything that you'd like to leave our listeners with regarding faith and creativity? Yeah. One thing is, a reminder that God is A creator. So he he honors our creations. And, even in the Old Testament, he chose specific people to create for the temple, these people are going to work with cloth, these ones are going to work with wood, and these ones with gold, and, and Creativity is a gift, and it's something that God honors and so I think you, you should treasure it, if you, if there's any form of creativity, no matter what it is, whether it's writing or sewing, or quilting, or anything, it, it comes from God, and you should value it but I think that The other thing to remember, especially if you aspire to being successful or things like that. There's nothing wrong with that. But I think to remember that nothing on this earth is going to remain, and I'm very conscious that yeah, my books, God has allowed it. He's allowed me to have fun. He's allowed me to give pleasure to my readers. But, I'm, I'm really nothing. My books are going to go up, in the, on the last day and maybe he'll give me something else to do in heaven, and I'll have a different type of creativity. But this is not going to last, the only thing that lasts is our souls and his words. So not to, don't. think more highly of yourself than you ought. That shouldn't be the main, no matter what your creative goal is, even acting or anything, that shouldn't be the main thing that you focus on. It should just be pleasing God and enjoying yourself. That's so true. Yes. Our hope is in God and God alone. And he We can't dethrone him for something that we create or whatever dreams or passions that we have. Exactly. Thank you so much for sharing that. It's a great reminder. And then finally, you mentioned your blog. Where can our listeners find your books? Connect with you. I'll put all the links in the show notes. Okay, thank you. Yeah, so the blog is A Lady in France, but again, I don't write much on there and you can find me on my books, either my website JennyGoutte. com, but there's also JennyGoutteBooks. com, which is an actual shop. Most of my books are in libraries. If you don't have a physical copy, you can ask them to get it. But ebooks, audiobooks, you can get it for free on YouTube. Listen to audiobooks on YouTube if you don't mind listening to the advertising. Otherwise, you can get them on the Nook, Apple, Kobo, Kindle, Google, like all the platforms. They're everywhere, or of course in paperback. Thank you so much. Thank you for your time. I'm not going to take more of your time because you're a very busy woman, but I wish you the best with everything. for putting God first. Thank you so much. Thank you for this time. I feel honored to be here. My pleasure. Bye. Bye. What a conversation Jenny's journey as a writer reminds me of how God weaves his purpose through every area of our lives. Her commitment to creating stories that are clean, uplifting, and rooted in meaningful connections. Shows how we can glorify God in our work while serving others. So here are a few key takeaways from our time together. Number one. God is the ultimate storyteller and he is the author of each of our lives. Number two, God has placed dreams in our hearts, according to his divine plan. And only through him, can we see how our story unfolds? And these dreams ultimately draw us. Closer to him is our greatest dream is to know God and have an eternal relationship with him. Number three God's plan for our lives often emerges through seasons of grief or hardship. Number four while not explicitly Christian, the qualities we admire in characters and heroes in any story, actually stem from the fruit of the spirit, such as love. Patience kindness. Goodness, gentleness, loyalty and faithfulness. Number five. Prayer is an invitation to bring God into every aspect of your life and work. Number six, creative tip. First create, then edit. These are two distinct processes that require different mindsets. Number seven Matthew 12 verse 36 says that everyone will have to give an account on the day of judgment for every empty word they have spoken. This reminds us that whatever we do, we should do it to honor God. Number eight, ultimately God is our king and our greatest reward far beyond any success we might gain in this world. I hope this episode encourages you to reflect on your own story. The one that God has written for you. Instead of judging it based on where you are now. How can you start. To see it the way God sees it. Take a moment this season to consider how he might want to use your unique gifts, talents, and abilities for a greater purpose than just yourself. So what's one step you can take today to align your story with God's greater narrative. Join me again next week for more episodes, as we continue this journey together. Until next time. Hi, I hope you enjoyed today's episode. If so, would you like to take 30 seconds and share it with a friend who may also struggle with knowing God and His purpose for their life. Also, leave a review on applepodcast. com. Podcast, and let me know what topics you'd like to hear about in the future. Your voice matters. I'll meet you back next Friday for another episode.