Vestal!: "Lord, I Wouldn't Take Nothin' for My Journey Now"

by Vestal Goodman, Ken Abraham (Contributor)

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Genres: Music, Biography

320 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 1998

Reviews

[Brian · Rating 3 out of 5]

“Nothing happens by accident on the journey of faith.” (3.5 stars)

VESTAL! is the autobiography of the late southern gospel singer Vestal Goodman, and if you are not a fan of that music genre, I doubt you would have any use for it. Mrs. Goodman comes from a conservative evangelical background, and the simplicity with which she explains her journey of faith might irritate those who wish for more theology or dogma. I was just looking for her story, and in this text, I found it.

Mrs. Goodman was idolized in evangelical circles for her simple, homespun, and enthusiastic faith, and I have to admit that my very German/English (thus not overtly emotional) cultural background found myself stirred a few times by her enthusiasm, and love of Jesus, and for proclaiming Him.
That might not be for many readers, but it was for me. Also, having some background knowledge of her, I knew what I would be getting when I picked this text up.

Once she reaches adulthood in the text, the book’s organization is not strictly chronological, but often seems to be organized around a theme or an idea. I don’t think that device worked well. Some stylists can pull that off, but Goodman was not a writer, and chronological order would have aided her in her task of keeping the book on point and structured.

I picked up VESTAL! to learn more about a singer whose work I enjoy. This text provided that.
I end with a line from the book that I just loved for its implied strength of faith, “Satan is not nearly as bright as he thinks he is.”

[Barb · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked this book. Everything she said I agreed with, at least in principle. I'm just not sure how I feel about the miracles she describes. I believe in miracles, but it does seem she has had a lot of them in her own life and witnessed many others. I hope it is all true. It sure seems, from the book, that she was very close to the Lord.

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

"You'd never have gotten that song if you had stayed on the mountaintop. The richest soil is always down in the valley."

I enjoyed reading this wonderful book written by my all time favorite singer and woman of God. I especially loved the parts about her early life in a much simpler time. Very inspirational!💕 Can't wait to hear her sing again in heaven!

"There′s a name above all others,

Wonderful to hear,

bringing hope and cheer. It's the lovely name of Jesus,

Evermore the same, what a lovely name.

What a lovely name, the name of Jesus, Reaching higher far,

than the brightest star.

Sweeter than the songs they sing in heaven,

Let the world proclaim, What a lovely name!"

(written by Charles B. Wycuff)

[Joan Arnold · Rating 2 out of 5]

I started this book because I love LOVE her voice. I was eager to learn about her life.
It started off good. Learned about Alabama and the Pentecostal church back then.
As the book progressed especially during the Jim and Tammy Baker time, I was SO disappointed in them! While I attended Winthrop University during that time, a group of us rode thru their during Christmas to see the lights and their house. IT WAS MONSTROUS. The doghouse was air-conditioned and heated! There were two Rolls Royce’s parked in the front of the house and several Jaguars. And I remember being shocked at the extravagance and MONEY that I was looking at. It was disgusting considering how they asked and begged for money in TV.
I had NO idea who Vestal and Howard were then and only years after they died did I discover their music
It literally broke my heart to read in this book that they lied for Jim and Tammy, hid them and lied more. That they tried so hard to continue living in the huge 3 story home that the Bakers let them use well after the Bakers were gone. Dishonesty. And then ridiculed the house! It was the nicest house they ever lived in Im sure and sat over a lake in an exclusive, millionaire filled neighborhood.
Anyway, then she relates all the miracles she witnessed and says in the book if you pray and believe hard enough, you won’t die of Illnesses. WHAT? Children die every minute of the day of cancers and diseases. I’m sure their parents prayed harder and would have swapped souls for their babies to live. I’m ashamed of her.
I’m glad I read the book but won’t be listening to her music anymore.

[Connie Mckissack · Rating 1 out of 5]

I quickly read this book to add to some research I am doing about the time period of Dottie Rambo in the hopes that the colorful and rich character Dottie has always spoken about Vestal would be returned in this book. It wasn't. To know that the romantic games played by Vestal and Howard ended in a virginal bridal evening for the both of them left a collard green colored lump in my stomach. Cute stories of miraculous healing and how God reached out and made Howard miraculously play the piano are tossed about as if their reality was as every day as cornbread was. I find it insanely ironic that the ugly side of judgement was slapped right back on the matriarchs of southern gospel - gay southern men find these matriarchs something of diva/hero worship and so Vestal couldn't finish the book without recognizing it but admonishing males who don't look like males and females who don't look like females. Oh, but wait, hate the sin - love the sinner. Good thing Mark Lowry busted up in there with a new homecoming ideology that they won't be able to ignore much less condone. God bless Vestal and Dottie for goodness sakes--those white hankies, elaborate gowns, hair jacked to Jesus and clownish makeup that covers the wincing pain and snap of real life's heartbeat.

[Hannah Strouse · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am incredibly biased when it comes to Vestal Goodman. I grew up watching the Gaither Homecoming videos and there was always something about Vestal that drew me in. I have never heard a voice likes hers and I doubt I ever will. Vestal's love for Jesus has helped shape my own faith.

This book isn't perfect by any means. The way it was structured didn't always work and some of the stories, admittedly, were a bit hard to believe. I feel weird saying that since I do believe in miracles...it just seemed like she experienced an awful lot of them. That could just be a testament to her close relationship with God. And a testament to how cynical I am lol.

If someone else had written this book, I probably would have given it 3 stars. But I added a full star simply because it's Vestal. Lol like I said...I'm incredibly biased!

[Tyler Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

My earliest memories concerning my relationship with God involve this woman and all of her singing. Born in 1993, I’ve lived more life since her death than together here on earth, but her music is still as much alive today as it has ever been. I used to sit and cry when listening to her music when I was just 7/8 years old. This book put her whole life into perspective. It really helped explain how each song was written, and what she had overcome in her life to make each and every song so anointed.
Many would read this book and not believe half of it as it deals with the many miracles she witnessed and encountered. As a receiver of a miraculous healing myself, I 100% believe your book Vestal, and I want you to sing me inside the pearly gates one day.

[Jane Alexander · Rating 3 out of 5]

Parts were very enlightening - My family listened to the Happy Goodman Family all the time while I was growing up. Parts were like a self-licking ice cream cone. I was disappointed that they were involved with Jim & Tammy Bakker, but like she said in the book, they had no clue what was going on. RIP Howard & Vestal Goodman

[Kathy Watson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful and strong lady with amazing faith. So glad I was able to read this book. Such an inspiration!!

[Jon · Rating 2 out of 5]

My introduction to Vestal Goodman came on a lengthy car ride when a fellow passenger insisted on playing a YouTube video of The Happy Goodmans singing the (gently comic, due to its escalation in pitch) song "Looking for a City." I found that captivating (and something of an earworm) and it was always neat to catch a glimpse of her and/or The Goodmans singing. I picked up this book in order to gift it to my aforementioned friend as an unexpected treat, but figured I would read it first. I wouldn't say it did me much good, especially in my regard for her. It starts out rather wonderfully when recounting her sometimes difficult childhood. Her growing enthusiasm for Jesus amid the atmosphere of her home life and town is palpable. Her courtship with Howard was a bit unusual to say the least (and certainly not very thoughtful in terms of her "fiance!") The early days of the singing family and their efforts to establish a church, etc... all fine. The struggle bus (literally) and the road to success -- all interesting. Then they "make it" and the story takes a bit of a turn. Whether one believes her account of various miracles or not falls upon the reader and his or her own viewpoint. What really can't be denied, though, is her approach to most other people of note. (Other pastors are always going to be an issue because a vast number of fundamental Christians think *they* are the ones who are right about this piece of scripture or that. And when an impasse is reached, a clump of them leave the ministry and go down the street to create their own church. Hence you wind up with "First ____ Church of _____" and then "Main Street _____ Church" and so on! They splinter. Community theatre companies are like this, too, by the way...! This is all apart from ones who are just plain greedy for control or resources and who "victimize" the ones currently in charge by ousting them. It goes on and on and always has.) What I refer to is her attitude about other entertainers. She name drops various people, points out their detriments such as inappropriate clothing, hair, song material, lifestyle, then announces that she's not judging them. It's not her place. (But ya just did, hon....) By far the worst of all is her unbridled support of Jim Bakker. She glosses over his "one night" with Jessica Hahn (he did more than play with *her*...) and doesn't even acknowledge that the man misused millions of dollars in order to live an elaborate, repellently-ostentatious lifestyle -- which is what got him into not just hot water but PRISON. (And he's since gone even further off the rails with nutty prophecy and, literally, snake oil sales in the form of colloidal silver used as a panacea!) She tears down the highway like Large Marge on crack, relentlessly and dangerously outracing reporters and paparazzi with four kids under a blanket in the backseat, enlisting the aid of truckers for evasive maneuvers, in order to deposit two of the children to The Bakkers' Gatlinburg hideaway (no doubt paid for by more gullible TV viewers.) Then to bring the hypocrisy full circle, she announces that she and her husband never drew a salary from PTL, as if to justify their involvement with the bilking television channel. No... ya just lived rent-free in an expensive house and then fought like hell (excuse the expression) to hang on to it when the whole scheme began to publicly fall apart. Really sad. She's forever praying to be cured of heart disease, cancer, neuropathy and heaven knows what else, but the irony didn't ever seem to hit home that all those Sunday pot lucks with fried chicken, mac 'n cheese, biscuits and peach cobbler had put her body in a place where many diseases could find a welcome home. In the end, the book left a bad taste in my mouth, which was a shame. (I'm sure that wasn't the goal....!) Five years after its printing, she ran out of healing miracles and was taken from this world at 74, just over one year after her husband. I hope her music does more for people than this book did for her. Any clear-thinking person can recognize the hard reality to be found amid the gaps in it.

[Brian · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an enjoyable look at the life of the "Queen of Gospel Music", Vestal Goodman, in her own words. I enjoyed reading about her life before music, how she met Howard, and the people she met once their career took off. Vestal talks candidly about her health problems, dependence on prescription drugs, and family heartaches. A lovely look at a life well-lived.

[Michelle Marshall · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed reading about Vestal's life. Lovely woman.

[Darlene Ledford · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it.