Bible Study
Nana Dolce
Why We Remember Lot’s Wife

Lot’s wife belonged to a family with a great name and trust in God’s promises. She even had angels visit her home! God sent them to personally escort her from His coming wrath to His safety (Gen.19:1-22). Yet, she fell into eternal judgment because she looked back to her life in Sodom. She longed to preserve what she had and became a pillar of salt–a crystalline substance used for preservation (Gen. 19:26). Friends, Jesus is kind to warns us in Luke 17:32-33: “Remember Lot’s wife. Whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life will keep it.”

Why We Remember Lot’s Wife
Bible Study, The Gospel
Nana Dolce
Prayers Rising Like a Sweet Aroma

Cornelius’ conversion account can teach us many things about the spread of the gospel to the Gentiles in the first century church. We see in this story that God’s salvation through Christ is for all the families of the earth. God shows no partiality but comes to redeem people from all nations. All this is true. But my focus today is on that small line in verse four. It makes me wonder: what if my service and prayers to God were like a memorial offering rising up as a pleasing aroma before His throne? 

Prayers Rising Like a Sweet Aroma

Finding Our Hopefuls When Caught by Giant Despair

Finding Our Hopefuls When Caught by Giant Despair

It’s fascinating here to consider Gethsemane. Jesus’ soul was sorrowful to the point of death. He retreats—but not alone. He takes three friends with Him, and His request is that they remain awake and pray with Him. If the sinless Savior desired community in a time of suffering, how much more do we need friends? And surely this includes our pastors, elders, small group leaders, and those we tend to elevate and distance as more spiritual.

As a member of a church staff and a teacher of women, I have never stayed in Doubting Castle (to say so would be to minimize the torture of those who have), but I have strolled its grounds. I have known sudden and unexpected sadness, and my heart has pounded from the ache of anxiety. In these moments, I long for my Hopeful, a fellow pilgrim who will love me at my best and at my worst. A friend with whom I can be vulnerable and weak and not fear, because their love for me rests on the work of Someone greater than I. I’m thankful to share this level of candor with my husband but my soul yearns for more. I’m praying for friends who will receive me in my imperfection, knowing that another Person has been perfect on my behalf.

Read full article at Christ and Pop Culture. 

Do racial issues really “disappear” because of the Gospel? A response to John MacArthur.

Do racial issues really “disappear” because of the Gospel? A response to John MacArthur.

MacArthur is valiant for the truth. As a younger preacher, he was among the 334 evangelical leaders who gathered in Chicago in 1978 to formulate the Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy. Just a decade into his pastorate, MacArthur joined luminaries including J. I. Packer, Francis Schaeffer, and R. C. Sproul to defend Biblical inerrancy against liberalism’s assaults. Since then, he has remained steadfastly orthodox in his passion for the Scriptures. I’m thankful to say that my own theological formation has benefited greatly from his confident preaching.

So when The Master’s Seminary — of which MacArthur is president — released a YouTube video titled “Racism and Black Lives Matter” on July 8, 2016, I expected a strong application of the Gospel to today’s polarizing racial issues. What I heard instead was disappointing.

Read the full article at Christ and Pop Culture

Happy Single Parent Day: The Dynamics of Parenting Alone

Happy Single Parent Day: The Dynamics of Parenting Alone

My mother and father never married. I spent the first seven years of my life with my aunt, a single mother. I’ll spare you the details of my story and will simply say that I know what it’s like to yearn for a parent. I’ve tasted the bitterness that often hangs around a broken home. I’ve lingered near a weary mother, wishing I could share the load.

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After Childhood Abuse, How Can I Trust Others with My Kids?

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After Childhood Abuse, How Can I Trust Others with My Kids?

My first day watching porn was also my last. I was nine when an adult neighbor took me to a house where several of her friends were gathered. The men and women came knowing the agenda—to watch hours of pornographic videos. I was placed on a man’s lap, and the tapes were played. At one point, my neighbor asked if I “felt” anything. I said no, and the group laughed.

I remember the day now as the end of something immeasurably precious—the gift of being innocent and unashamed. I’ve often mourned for my nine-year-old self, her soul plundered and her naiveté stripped. I grieve for her and fear for my two small daughters. What images (and God forbid, touches) might be lurking, waiting to take their innocence? God help us.

Read the full article at Christianity Today.

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Elizabeth: Silence Gives Way to Songs

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Elizabeth: Silence Gives Way to Songs

Zechariah used a writing tablet for communication for nine months (Luke 1:63). Elizabeth must have longed for her husband’s voice in these months. Her first and second trimesters were spent in hiding (Luke 1:24). These must have been quiet months for the expectant mother. A picture, perhaps, of Israel’s own 400 years of waiting in silence for the fulfillment of God’s promises.

Bringing the Prairie to the Hood

Bringing the Prairie to the Hood

I'm excited to write an article for Christ and Pop Culture on the "anomaly" of watching Little House on the  Prairie in Southeast Washington DC. A paragraph is below and the full article is HERE.  Hope you enjoy and thanks for reading!

I live in Southeast Washington, D.C., where the population is 94% black. Watching Little House  in “the hood” is a bit of an anomaly. In fact, with the exception of my husband and three others, I can’t name another black person who would be excited to watch the show. One friend told me that she would watch only if forced. People in our D.C. church laugh when we speak of our love for the program–they assume it’s a joke. Their looks become a mixture of surprise and amusement when we persist in our praise of the series. 

An Overview of the Whole Bible by Dr. D.A. Carson

An Overview of the Whole Bible by Dr. D.A. Carson

The Bible is no ordinary book--66 books written by 40 different authors spanning the course of some 2,000 years! There is no book like the Bible. What other work can claim the very inspiration of God? In the Bible, we have the Word of God! My hope then is to sing along with the psalmist, “Oh how I love your [word]” (Psalm 119:97)! I want to know it well. And to know the Bible well is to understand the “big picture” story of God’s glorious redemption as it unfolds through the full canon of Scripture. Let’s listen as Dr. D.A. Carson gives a helpful 34 minute overview of the whole Bible. I found it helpful and enjoyable and hope you do too!

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Gomer: Praises to the God who Redeems an Adulteress

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Gomer: Praises to the God who Redeems an Adulteress

Whether a prostitute before her marriage to Hosea or after, Gomer left her marriage bed to chase her lovers (Hos. 2:5). She became estranged from her husband at some point and was sold into slavery. Here, God commanded Hosea: “Go again, love a woman who is loved by another man and is an adulteress, even as the LORD loves the children of Israel, though they turn to other gods.” (Hos. 3:1). Hosea obeyed, he found his wife on sale, he purchased her for fifteen shekels of silver and some bushels of barley. And he said to her, “You must dwell as mine for many days. You shall not play the whore, or belong to another man; so will I also be to you” (Hos. 3:2-3). The book of Hosea ends with the hope of redemption.

Confessions of a (Sinful) Overachiever

Confessions of a (Sinful) Overachiever

Grateful for the chance to write for Christianity Today’s Her.meneutics blog. Paragraphs from the piece are below and the full article is found here. Thank you for reading! 

My practice of faith, like most things in my life, is sustained by a propensity for difficult work. I’m a hard driver, often choosing the coarse road. As a mother, I give birth without epidural, nurse for fourteen-months, make my own baby food, homeschool my little ones—all the while working part-time and teaching small groups. It’s admirable—if not for the pesky tendency to pride myself by the praise of these efforts.

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Proverbs 31: What Does Context Say About the Woman Who Fears the Lord?

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Proverbs 31: What Does Context Say About the Woman Who Fears the Lord?

We tend to approach Proverbs 31:10-31 as a recipe to be tried and tested. And as done with most recipe books, we dog-ear and separate favorite pages from the rest. But Proverbs 31:10-31 is not a “formula” for biblical womanhood. The verses are God-breathed Scripture—profitable for our teaching, reproof, correction, and training in righteousness (2 Timothy 3:16). For this reason, we do well to study the passage within its context. Proverbs 31:10-31 follows thirty chapters within the book of Proverbs: how do these preceding verses help us to understand this excellent wife? And how can a contextual view of the text shape our own desire for godly femininity?    

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The Shunammite Woman and Greatest of all Rewards

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The Shunammite Woman and Greatest of all Rewards

The woman who struggles to take hold of God’s promise now grips the feet of God’s prophet in thanksgiving. I’m reminded here of Abraham who, when given a son through the deadness of Sarah’s womb, believed that God could raise even the dead (Hebrews 11:19). Yes, God gives His children good gifts. Yet His blessings are always meant to offer more than mere provision--they are given to reveal more of Him to us. And that is by far the greatest reward of all!

‘The Cosby Show': Black Image and Respectable Idols

‘The Cosby Show': Black Image and Respectable Idols

At some point, The Cosby Show became more than a sitcom; it morphed into a barometer with which to measure success for blacks. But perhaps that was its intention from the beginning. When network executives Marcy Carsey and Tom Werner first pitched the idea of the sitcom to NBC, Cliff Huxtable was a limousine-driving father with a stay-at-home wife and four school-aged children. But before the pilot was shot, Cosby had painted a striking new mural for producers.

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Prayer and the Fellowship of Believers- Lessons from a Widow and Her Oil

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Prayer and the Fellowship of Believers- Lessons from a Widow and Her Oil

The widow had nothing but a single jar of oil. Elisha tells her to borrow many vessels from her neighbors. Her jar of oil would miraculously multiply as she poured it into each vessel. God’s means of provision for this woman sends her to many doors on that day—the more she knocked on, the more vessels she would receive. The more vessels she borrowed, the more oil she would have for her son’s freedom and for their livelihood (2 Kings 4: 2-7).

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The Widow of Zarephath: Chosen by Glorious Grace

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The Widow of Zarephath: Chosen by Glorious Grace

Why is Elijah sent to this widow? She was not among the people of Israel and she herself testifies of her sins. Clearly, she doesn’t choose God but He chooses her (John 15:16). He saves her just as He has and will redeem all those He has predestined for adoption as children through Jesus Christ; this is according to the purpose of His will, to the praise of His own glorious grace (Ephesians 1:5-11)! Salvation is of the LORD.

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Why I Love My Husband

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Why I Love My Husband

On August 2, 2008, I stood before God and witnesses and made a vow of love, honor and fidelity to Eric J. Dolce. I was certain of the LORD’s hand in the union. My husband and I marveled as a rainbow appeared over our reception. Indeed, God's promises for us in Christ have been “Yes and Amen” (2 Corinthians 1:20)!

Today marks seven years since that day. The years have passed quickly but my love for my husband has not.  In truth, I adore him now more than ever…and here’s why:

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Jezebel’s Deadly Deceit and the Pilgrim’s Progress

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Jezebel’s Deadly Deceit and the Pilgrim’s Progress

Jezebel’s hatred of God’s covenant people is one example of the larger cosmic battle between the offspring of the woman and the offspring of the serpent. God put enmity between the serpent and the woman in Genesis 3:15. From here onward, Scripture unfolds the pattern of two communities: those who belong to the promised Seed of the Woman and those who are hostile to that Seed and his people.

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Abortion: A Time to Mourn and a Time to Speak

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Abortion: A Time to Mourn and a Time to Speak

As a member of the Black church, it seems we have passed by to the other side of the road too often on this issue. Where is the outrage? And where is our heartbreak for the little faces missing from our own congregations? I’m sorry to say that, before today, I had never cried for the children aborted in my church. Who is missing today who may have stood next to my own daughter to declare: “God made me!”

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Job’s Wife: God’s Forbearance ought to lead us to Repentance

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Job’s Wife: God’s Forbearance ought to lead us to Repentance

Job’s wife reminds me of myself in some ways. I am certainly not above sounding like a foolish woman when faced with frustrations, disappointments and pain. My prayer is that God’s demonstrated kindness to me—above all, the atoning death and imputed righteousness of His Son—would continuously guard me to a faith that reveals itself in perseverance and joy in trial (James 1:2-5). I want to found clinging to Christ when weighed!

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Rizpah: We Look to a Greater King on a Higher Throne

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Rizpah: We Look to a Greater King on a Higher Throne

Rizpah, Saul’s concubine, is mentioned within a larger drama involving powerful kings, a broken oath, famine, execution by hanging, and propitiatory justice. In short, the plotline is intense. The story is found near the end of the book of 2 Samuel and it’s darker than any fictional folklore the Grimm brothers could have produced. Rizpah held a lengthy vigil over the dead bodies of her sons and her actions moved the mercy of the king of Israel—and the King of Heaven.