Pain and Heartache with Nana Dolce
Today, we’re talking about pain and heartache with our friend Nana Dolce. Nana Dolce is a visiting instructor at Reformed Theological Seminary in Washington DC and a Charles Simeon Trust instructor who trains women Bible teachers. Nana has a Master of Arts in Theological Studies and teaches in her local church. She was born in Ghana and currently lives in Washington, DC with her husband Eric and their children.
We pray this conversation with Nana encourages you as you face various hardships and trials today. This is the very last episode in our current series “Let’s Talk About”! Be sure to subscribe to the Journeywomen podcast so you don’t miss our next mini-series that releases this September!
INTERVIEW QUESTIONS
What brought pain and heartache into the world? How does that impact our lives to this day?
In what particular way do women bear the curse of Genesis 3:16?
Throughout this series we’ve talked about sexuality, struggles with food, and struggles with clothing. As we experience pain in these respective areas, what is the hope that we have? How will the curse of Genesis 3:16 be reversed for women?
How does this hope help us endure other areas of pain and hardship, like childbirth, infertility, parenting, strained family relationships, etc?
How do the stories of biblical women fit into the narrative of the redemptive story of the Bible? What might we learn from them?
How does God use all the pain and heartache in our lives to point us to Jesus? How does he use it to point others to Jesus? How, specifically, does the gospel of Christ meet us in our pain?
What idols or sins might we be tempted toward in our heartache?
How can we trust in the promises and character of God in the midst of our suffering? What do we learn about the character of God in the midst of our heartache?
Does pain have an end date? If so, when will that relief come?
How can we come alongside others in their heartache and pain?
NOTEWORTHY QUOTES
”The first mention of pain comes in Genesis 3:16-17, and it’s mentioned twice there. That God would multiply the woman’s pain in childbearing, and that in pain the man would eat from the ground.”
“But the word ‘pain’ in Genesis 3:16 and 17 shows up after the hope of Genesis 3:15.”
“God gives a promise of salvation and deliverance even before he gives the judgment of a painful life for the man and woman.”
“God promises to send a Savior born of the woman, the woman who had been deceived to sin against God. He inserts her into his glorious drama of redemption.”
“The pain Eve would suffer goes beyond labor contractions.”
“This woman who should have died is named ‘mother of the living’ and she gives birth to a child that she is hoping is the snake-crusher, the deliverer. But what she will find is that this son will take the life of her second son…”
“Eve will bury a child…she will know the bereavement of a dead son and a second son who is driven away from the Lord…in pain you will bring forth children.”
“In Genesis 3 everything falls—there’s this cosmic fall that happens—but the hope that I have is even before Genesis 3:15. It starts at the beginning in chapter 1 of Genesis. We have this transcendent, incredible God who forms the heavens and the earth. He’s the only actor. But then immediately we see that this God, who acts alone, who really doesn't need anyone or anything, is still pleased to come into relationship with the people he’s created.
“God’s desire is to dwell with his people. That is marred in Genesis 3, but as the story continues, our hope is that he is taking us back to that original plan. God doesn't leave us in our fallenness, but he enters this fallen world ultimately as the man Jesus Christ who will take on everything that was marred in that garden.”
“Our hope as we go through struggles and pain with sexuality and with food and with clothing and with the pain that we face in different ways is that God’s plan from the very beginning to dwell with his people will be realized. Jesus has entered this broken world. He has died, he has resurrected, he is the promised seed from the beginning who would crush the head of the serpent. And we are returning to a place where there is no more struggle with sexuality, with food, we’re invited to a table to feast with him, we are clothed in righteousness, and he will wipe away all tears. We are returning. We are going to dwell with our God.”
“We live in a world where everyone faces pain—Jesus said in this life you will have trouble—that’s whether you're a believer or not. But those of us whose faith is rooted in Christ, we know that our best life is not now, that whatever pain and suffering that we face, that suffering is not worth being compared to the glory that is to be revealed to us (Romans 8:18). We’re not living our best life now. There is glory coming…and it has already begun.”
“God shows immeasurable kindness to those of us who are in his Son. And if he has given his Son for us, what else would he not do in giving comfort in the here and now?”
“The comfort he supplies to us, the grace that sustains us, he says to cast all cares on him and to rest in him…it has already begun.”
“We can throw those cares with confidence to the one who says to draw near to the throne of grace and receive mercy today and find grace today and find help today in our time of need (Hebrews 4:16).”
“My encouragement to sisters who are going through hard things is to pray boldly to the one whose immeasurable kindness will be revealed to us; and we see the foretaste of it now in his help and in his grace.”
“This Jesus, this Savior who our hope is in, is a God who can relate to our pain. We know that he knows all things, that he is omniscient. And so yes, he knows our pain. But he also literally knows our pain, in that he came down as a man who was despised. So when I go through those moments where I feel disregarded or unloved, I am encouraged to go to a high priest who is able to sympathize with me. A high priest who—because he came just like his brothers, except for sin—is able to make intercession for me. And so I can go boldly to his throne for help in time of need.”
“We live in the wilderness, east of Eden, but I love that God didn’t send the man and the woman out alone. He actually leaves with them; he stays with them. We know that because he sends his Son who was born into this world.”
“Our pain is always something that can point to a God who does that—a God who is faithful, a God who is with us, a God who is redeeming, a God who keeps his promises.”
“The things that we suffer, I think God can use them to point to a God who is stronger than idols, stronger than family traditions, stronger than whatever it is that is competing. Jesus is strong, and we see it in the stories of the women in Scripture and in our own lives, and in the lives of faithful women who have gone before us.”
“When we’re going through heartache and pain and uncertain times, there is a temptation to hold onto something for some extra security. But God invites us to cast our whole weight on him. His track record has shown that he is able to hold us and he is able to keep us.”
“If he has given his son to die on a cross, what else will he not do?”
“We are encouraged to trust him, knowing that he is faithful and that his faithfulness has been proven. So may he help us to do that, to cast our whole weight upon him and trust that he is good no matter the outcome before us.”
“We can turn to God’s Word itself and see his faithfulness.”
“These stories boast of the testimonies of what he has done.”
“When I’m in pain, I’m tempted to forget. But having people who remind me of truth is so important, and praying that God would help me not to forget is also very important.”
“God is a good Father. He doesn’t always spare his children from suffering, but he never leaves us alone to bear it. He is with us in our suffering.”
“Look to that date [when Christ returns], but remember that there are foretastes of it now.”
“We can be believers who are mourning, but not as those without hope.”
“How can we come alongside others in their pain and heartache?
- Believe our friends when they share how they need to be served
- Pray for them
- Just sit with them, let them know you are there
- Find tangible ways to serve them (even from a distance)”
“Ours is a Savior who is literally called a man of sorrows. Jesus came and knows what it is to suffer. He was beaten, he was rejected, he really went through a lot of incredible suffering. Scripture says that he is a faithful high priest because of that.”
“Our is a God who can understand our pain because he has suffered it. Jesus knows it because he is omniscient, but Jesus has experienced it, and so he knows what we’re going through. This should encourage us to be bold in our prayers for each other.”
“The God who literally knows what it is to have pain in your body, that’s the God I’m praying to for this friend who has pain in her body.”
“This can even help us to not be so quick to throw the cliches, but to remind each other that ours is the man of sorrows, he’s able to intercede, and he’s with us.”
RESOURCES MENTIONED
The Seed of the Woman: 30 Narratives that Point to Jesus by Nana Dolce
He Will Be Enough: How God Takes You by the Hand Through Your Hardest Days by Katie Faris
Invitations to Abundance: How the Feasts of the Bible Nourish Us Today by Alicia Akins
SCRIPTURE REFERENCES
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
In what particular way are you currently experiencing the curse of Genesis 3:16?
How has the good news of the gospel met you in your pain? What have you learned about the character of God in the midst of your heartache?
How does knowing that pain has an end date give you strength to endure through the trials you are currently facing?
What is one way you might come alongside someone else in their heartache and pain?
What might you do or implement based on what you learned in this week’s episode?
IMPORTANT NOTE
Journeywomen interviews are intended to serve as a springboard for continued study in the context of your local church. While we carefully select guests each week, interviews do not imply Journeywomen's endorsement of all writings and positions of the interviewee or any other resources mentioned.
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