Narrative Summary
Interview with Lena Gorlock by Victoria Gredvig
As we sit at a table in her restaurant Honey Heaven and the Bee-stro Café, Lena Gorlock
smiles and openly tells me that she is full of stories every day, but she doesn’t know what will
happen in the more formal story-telling setting of an interview. Anxious at first, she quickly
finds that her stories become progressively easier to recall, and that her spiritual journey holds
more wisdom within it than she would have originally given herself credit for. I walk away from
the interview knowing that the woman who has been my boss, my Mama Bee for four years,
holds a deep-rooted, authentic, and intimate relationship with Jesus Christ.
Identifying herself as “Catho-bapti-costal-ish,” she laughs as she recounts her diverse
religious experiences and how they have contributed to her perception of God. Growing up
Catholic, her parents raised her to make God real to them and that idea has never faded from
Lena’s mind. The people who most deeply impacted her spiritual life helped her to realize that
denominations don’t form a person; their love of Christ defines their being. Her interview was
full of stories pertaining to her personal relationship with the Lord and varied from acrostics to
songs full of wisdom that she credits to the Lord—she just takes dictation. I watch as her mind
sorts through her spiritual journey, rocky marriages, and the internal battles with herself. I am
amazed at her consistency in giving credit to the Lord for bringing her through it all without an
ounce of doubt in his ability.
What I found to be the most interesting part of the interview was her response to a
question regarding whether or not she had ever felt a distance from God. She looked at me,
thought for a minute, and confidently responded, “No.” I found this to be intriguing because the
typical Christian analogy of a walk with Christ entails mountain and valley times, or spiritual
highs and lows. For her to tell me, “no” went against my entire mental concept. To Lena, though,
Missouri State University
Fall 2010
Religious Lives of Ozarks Women
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God had always been intimate. Lena’s faith goes beyond the boundaries of denominations—
which I thought was really interesting. Denominations are man-made and she pursues a raw
relationship with Christ. She emphasized to me the importance of making my relationship with
him, “as real as real can be” and to make him a part of everything I do.
She spoke a lot on how she struggled with self-esteem in her younger years. She
referenced how the Bible says to “Love thy neighbor as thyself” but that she always loved her
neighbor far more than she loved herself. She spoke on how the Lord progressively taught her to
love herself for who she is, and in doing so, she could properly love others. At the end of the
interview, when asked about a final piece of advice, she said, “To love thyself as I love thy
neighbor,” which I found to be a really interesting way to look at the concept. She realizes the
value of loving the person she was meant to be in a way that reflects her love for others.
Throughout the interview, my questions were posed more as conversation starters than a
direct question needing answers. I found that with Lena, one question brings up many stories,
many examples, and if I’m lucky enough, maybe a song or two. I was able to leave the interview
inspired by her faith and confident that her life lives out her message.
Her advice to young women in religion is to seek after God and make him a real presence
in their lives, because there will never be anything earthly to fill the place of God. Lena desires
to be an elder to the younger generations in the sense that she desires to instill the value of
pursuing God in the hearts and minds of young women. Regardless of her circumstances, she is a
living expression of faithfulness.
Missouri State University
Fall 2010
Religious Lives of Ozarks Women