Joanne Goodwin’s Stories and Stuff: Musings from a Messy Life and a Marvelous Jesus is a warm, laugh-out-loud collection of short reflections. Each story blends self-deprecating humour, candid storytelling, and steady Christian hope.
The Voice
Jocelyn and I first heard her voice in a church in Peterborough, Ontario. We were Bible College students in 1977. Joanne Goodwin was a guest singer from Montreal. Little did we know that years later we would become her pastor and friend. She tells stories that will make you laugh or cry but will definitely inspire you. We encouraged her to make the world a better place and write her story. And she did! 
Joanne writes like a wise friend who’s been through the ringer and come back with faith intact — not because life was easy, but because she learned to look for Jesus in the ordinary, the awkward, and the painful. The subtitle says it plainly: these are not polished spiritual manifestos but small, honest accounts of a life being shaped by grace.
She starts her book with a fitting quote from Madeline L’Engle:
“Jesus was not a theologian. He was a God who tell stories.”
And then she proceeds to tell her own stories.
Joanne has more real life, unforgettable experiences than anyone I know. Rocking a drunk, diagnosed with a biochemical imbalance that required medication, her firstborn baby who was close to death.
The strength of the collection is its voice. Joanne’s tone skips nimbly between comic timing and sober insight: moments that begin with a humorous anecdote about a family mishap or a clumsy attempt at domestic competence often finish as quiet invitations to notice grace in seemingly small places.
That balance keeps the book from becoming saccharine or glib: faith here is practical and embodied, tested by real struggles yet resilient and tender.
Stories and Stuff
Structurally, Stories and Stuff works as a series of short pieces — easy to read in a single sitting or to return to when you want a fresh perspective. That portability is a virtue: readers who pick up the book in a waiting room or on a slow afternoon will find it comfortably readable and unexpectedly nourishing. The chapters vary in length and theme, but each is tied together by Joanne’s central conviction that Jesus shows up amid mess, not just in tidy spiritual victories.
Thematically, the book navigates common human territory — family tensions, health scares, aging, memory, and the small failures that make us humble — but does so without preaching.
Instead of offering abstract theology, her reflections are tethered to narrative, and through story she invites reflection. This approach will particularly appeal to readers who want spiritual formation shaped by lived experience and who appreciate humour as a theological tool rather than a distraction.
A Gracious God
In short, Joanne’s Stories and Stuff offers honest, approachable reflections that celebrate a gracious God who meets us in mess. It’s the kind of book you’ll give to a friend who needs to be reminded that faith is lived as much in the messy kitchen moments as it is in the church pew.
For readers who enjoy personal, story-driven devotional writing, Joanne’s voice is a memorable addition. Her book will leave you smiling and thinking, with a renewed sense that grace often arrives in the middle of ordinary chaos.
Purchase your copy on Amazon.ca for $22 CAN.
Post a comment for Joanne and then leave a review of her book on Amazon. She’ll love you for it.
More on Joanne… 27 Just In Time Lines
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