Impact of Discipleship: Lorena Reyes
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“We never prayed as a family or had faith-based influences in our lives”
I am so thankful for discipleship and how it filled all the voids in my life. There are four things that God showed me that can change someone’s life, especially my own: the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the word of God, fellowship, and time.
I am the daughter to my adopted mother who was born and raised in the Dominican Republic and to my father who is a Mexican-American Veteran from Texas. I grew up in a single-parent household where there was no religion. Most of my family claimed to be Catholic because historically, Roman Catholicism is the official religion of the Dominican Republic. Years later, I found out that my Mexican-American side of the family were faithful Catholics. As for my mother, who I spent all of my years with, she loved images of the Virgin Mary, buddhas, and even Jesus. I would say we attempted to carry some sort of religion, but there were no instructions. We never prayed as a family or had faith-based influences in our lives. However, my little brother and I attended a local Baptist church at different times of our lives due to our age gap. Looking back, God has been pursuing my family for years now.
When my brother was born, I was roughly seven years old. I had been living with my aunt and uncle who were married at the time and had a glimpse of what “family” appeared to be but when I moved in with my mom, I realized I did not live a “normal” home life. My brother and I have different fathers and neither of them took part in our lives. My mom being a single parent had a difficult life. I remember one day crying at the age of 11 because I had gotten into an argument with mom and she called my Tia, which resulted in a conversation. Out of everything she had said to me, this is what I remember so vividly: “Tu eres la luz de esta familia, eres tu que maneja esta familia.” Meaning, “You are the light of this family. You are the one that drives this family.” I remember feeling the burden of my family after that phone call. I was placed under this expectation while being so young and unable to understand why.
“Getting stable in my relationship with Christ was hard because I did not have a set church home”
On top of that, my family never failed to remind me of the role of being a big sister. They would say, “This is your brother; you need to help take care of him.” I ended up filling the void that was missing in our home. I became a mother more than I became a sister due to my mom’s struggles. I remember the resentment building in my heart because I did not understand why I was taking on so much responsibility‒from translating, to filling out bills, going to our leasing office, and setting up appointments for my mom, my brother, and other family members. No one ever had taken the time to care for me, and I was not taught properly how to take care of myself. I never even asked my family members, why am I the one doing this? Instead, I just carried the burden and buried the question deep in my heart.
Fast forward to the age of 20 where I made a profession of faith accepting Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior. I had church-hopped for a couple of years as I was attending college in Iowa. During the summer, I would move back to Kansas City. Getting stable in my relationship with Christ was hard because I did not have a set church home. I got saved but ended up falling back into the world and then tried to change again with little accountability. I would just end up back in this lukewarm cycle.
In the spring of 2018, I was invited to Midtown Baptist Temple by my uncle who attended the Spanish class and knew Pastor Mata since KCBT. By Easter break, I came back again and continued to visit the Spanish class only. I was very intrigued by how the word of God was used so clearly and the references were more scriptures and less of the pastors’ opinions and other people’s quotes. By the end of my Spring semester, I came home for the summer and had decided I would return to Midtown to see more of what they were about. After a few weeks of attending the Spanish Fellowship, Naylene had asked if I was a college student and if I had been a part of C&YA yet. I had no clue what that was and had assumed that this class was all they offered. I then was introduced to my very close and first MBT friend, Victoria Khan. I got so close to her that I spent all the time I could with her outside of church. We were not a part of the same Bible study, but I was able to meet Carolyn Frey right after and she introduced me to an amazing group of girls who were being led by Havilah Guenther. These girls welcomed me with so much love, and they were so gentle and kind.
“I had never experienced investment in my life the way I had invested in others”
By mid-June, I had decided to take the New Members Class and signed up for Cost of Discipleship. I did not wait any longer to get started with what God had in store for me. Unfortunately, I had one more semester of college left. I tried everything possible to not go back. I asked Pastor Brandon if I could just skip out on it and start COD right away, but he encouraged me to finish strong to get my degree and come back and be ready to get discipled by Amanda Allen and Carli Weber. These are two amazing ladies in the faith who received me with so much love and were ready to pour into my life when I got back. There was no doubt that God was going to use these girls to build me up in the faith, restore my strength, and get me established.
After my last semester, I moved back to Kansas City with a hunger for the word, fellowship, and investment. As I mentioned in the beginning, I was always doing the leading and in college, it only intensified more with the leadership roles I had in sports and organizations. I had never experienced investment in my life the way I had invested in others. I did not receive the care and support when I needed it most, but God provided and restored all the lack in my life through discipleship.
After a few lessons into discipleship, I was compelled to move out of my home. I felt that same burden back when I was a little girl, but it increased because I knew that I could not help my mom the way I wanted to. I was tired, mentally and emotionally, from transitioning out of an unhealthy cycle from school and being at home. However, I recognized this pattern in my life was manifesting itself in every area: my home, my job, some of my friendships, and even in the pursuit of a career. It was as if I attracted situations or things that required me to be a “superhero” for everyone. But with discipleship it was different. God was exposing the truth of my life, and I had to make decisions for the sake of my spiritual growth. I finally asked Amanda if I could move in with her and her husband Alex Allen. Thankfully, Alex and Amanda had prayed, and they decided to take me in. It was my first home with a married Christian couple who lived out the word of God and were submitted to a local church and the leaders the Lord had placed in their lives. I would call this my healthy home. God used discipleship, the Allen’s, and the local church to teach me everything that should have been taught to me about growing up. It allowed me to understand that structure and order are a good thing. That “good thing” was lacking all of my life and God used it to restore my soul. God, the author of redeeming and restoring, as it says in Psalms 23:3, “He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.”
“I was able to gain understanding as I sought out the word of God ”
Lastly, this leap of faith and trust redeemed my childhood and all of my suffering. This began with Amanda Allen, who was my friend and a nurturing mother. She loved me, showed me what grace looks like, and took the time to counsel me on my hard days. Carli, a faithful friend, who also poured out her soul and showed her love and compassion. What a great friend and sister I have gained to serve with. Finally, Alex Allen, who had a strong fatherly role in my life, more than I ever experienced in my upbringing. After Monday night basketball, he would share about how well I performed and played against the guys, which is something I had never heard from my parents. Alex gave wisdom in certain areas of my life that were never given to me before as someone who displayed a fatherly role.
Psalm 37:5 Commit thy way unto the Lord; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass.
Matthew 6:33 Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
Psalm 34:8 O taste and see that the LORD is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him.
I was able to gain understanding as I sought out the word of God and applied it to my life. I truly believe God has been good to me and I am forever grateful for the impact of discipleship on my life.
Lorena Reyes is a member at Midtown Baptist Temple and is a part of C&YA. She serves in Kidtown, the Connections ministry, and leads wedding coordination. She is also involved in the Grandview women’s Bible study.