Jesus Was: Not What We Expected but Better Than We Imagined

by Susy Flory, Scott Johanningsmeier

Genres: Theology

240 pages, Paperback

Published September 23, 2025

About the author

Susy Flory is the New York Times bestselling author or co-author of 18 books, director of West Coast Christian Writers, and founder of Everything Memoir. Her book, The Unbreakable Boy, was made into a feature film starring Zachary Levi and Patricia Heaton, and released across the country by Lionsgate Studios.

A graduate of UCLA, Susy has a background in journalism, education, and communications; she is currently in a doctoral program at Houston Theological Seminary. Susy loves reading and writing stories about unforgettable people who are living lives of adventure, courage, hope, redemption, and transformation.

She first started writing at the Newhall Signal with the legendary Scotty Newhall, an ex-editor of the San Francisco Chronicle and a one-legged cigar-smoking curmudgeon who ruled the newsroom from behind a dented metal desk where he pounded out stories on an Underwood Typewriter.

Susy's first book, Fear Not Da Vinci, was co-written with Gini Monroe with contributions by Ward Gasque, and published in 2006. Other books include So Long Status Quo: What I Learned from Women Who Changed the World (Beacon Hill, 2009); Miracle on Voodoo Mountain (with Megan Boudreaux, Harper Collins, 2015); and The Sky Below, a memoir with NASA Hall of Fame astronaut Scott Parazynski.

Susy's runaway bestseller, Thunder Dog: The True Story of a Blind Man, His Guide Dog, and the Triumph of Trust at Ground Zero written with Michael Hingson, hit the New York Times bestsellers list in both hardcover nonfiction and e-book nonfiction the first week of release. Thunder Dog has also been adapted for the stage, optioned for film, and translated into over 15 languages, including German, Dutch, Portuguese, Japanese, Korean, Indonesian, and Chinese.

Her most recent book. Sanctuary, is a love letter to Ireland. Co-authored by Patrick Barrett, this unique title tells the story of Ireland's Donkey Sanctuary, and how the donkeys saved Patrick's life.

A breast cancer survivor of four gnarly surgeries, Susy celebrates life by chasing great stories in places like Cuba, Haiti, Turkey, Israel, and her own backyard. She's written with celebrities, heroes of the faith, athletes, explorers, and the girl (and boy) next door She loves riding a crazy ex-racehorse named Stetson, hiking in the High Sierras, and skiing black diamond runs whenever she can.

Reviews

[Cori · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a wonderful book, with a contribution from my dear pastor. This is a beautiful look into the character of Jesus.

[Carol · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting concepts presented in this book, but one particular complaint. At the end of the chapters, included in the few questions, there almost always was a reference to how your faith community handled that particular concept. Overwhelmingly, I felt as though the all of the author’s assumed that everyone reading their book attended church. Only in the very last sentence of the book does the author acknowledge that there are people reading this book at various stages of a life of faith, including people “ …who have never been involved in a life of faith… “. Had I not read that last line in the book, I would have been left feeling as though many people have been excluded and only the Christian elite could truly engage with this book

[Gita Kamdar · Rating 5 out of 5]

Each chapter is so thoughtfully written and presented in a way that connects you to who Jesus was and who He still is today. The personal stories that tie each truth together really hit home.