Today we’re back to our biblical theology series with a conversation with Nana Dolce as we trace the themes of fruitfulness and barrenness all the way through Scripture. Whether you’re experiencing physical or spiritual barrenness or you’re longing to grow in producing gospel fruit, this conversation is for you. As she always does, Nana offers biblical wisdom, gentle encouragement, and rich gospel hope. We hope this episode left you in awe of our God who brings life and fruit to our barren places—and who has done this ultimately in Christ!
Timestamps from the Conversation
09:20 – What Does Biblical Fruitfulness Really Mean?
13:48 – Tracing Barrenness and Fruitfulness Through Scripture
29:14 – Jesus, the True Vine, and the Promise of Fruitfulness
37:59 – Finding Hope in Seasons of Barrenness
46:43 – Bearing Fruit Through the Power of the Spirit
NOTES & QUOTES
“We are called to abide in Christ who is the vine, and we are called to be people in God's kingdom who bear fruit.”
“We live in a world where God is doing so much. And he calls us to participate in that as people who are bearing fruit for the kingdom. And that might look different for you than it might look for me, but God is calling all of us to bear fruit.”
“I am not a fruitful woman just because I've produced four children. I'm working, I'm praying, I'm teaching, I'm discipling, I'm feeding [my children] the gospel. I'm praying that I would be fruitful as a mom, not just because I've produced children, but because I am working, abiding in Christ so that there can be fruitfulness even in my mothering.”
“To someone who is listening who isn't married—a single woman. My prayer is that she isn't sitting in a dry, empty, famine kind of season, but that she's abiding in Christ and she's bearing fruit in the way that she loves neighbors, in the way that she is saturating herself in Scripture.”
“What does it mean to abide? It means to be with Jesus. Through the Word, through prayer, through community, and then relying on the power that the Spirit gives us, that we are bearing fruit in the way that we are displaying the gospel to people around us. And so this is a topic that applies to everyone—men, women, whatever your family structure looks like—we're called to bear fruit in God's kingdom.”
“We have a void nothingness, and then we have a triune God through whom is life, through whom is fruit and abundance.”
“God never changes his mind, but because of sin, this glorious abundance that flows from fellowship with God becomes hard, barren, and painful for man and for woman.”
“God starts to initiate this plan with [Abram] a man who has not one single child and his wife is barren. I mean, it tells you right away that if this is going to happen, it's not going to be from Abram's power, or ability, or strength. It's going to be God who is doing it.”
“In the prophets, we see this theme of fruitfulness, or a lack thereof. Isaiah says, ‘This is why you will be sent into exile,’ but then he gives another picture, reminding that God hasn't turned to a plan B. If we are faithless, he remains faithful. So God will bring about a nation, a covenant people who are bearing fruit.”
“Jesus is true Israel, right? Jesus is producing the fruit that Israel could not and did not produce. He is the true vine that is able to produce fruit worthy of the vine-dresser, worthy of the Father. But what's amazing is he then turns to his disciples and he says, ‘If you abide in me, you're like a branch connected to the vine.’”
“God's plan from the beginning was to fill the earth with image bearers who are producing fruit, who are overtaking the wilderness, the thorns and the thistles, and showing that he gives abundant life. And the church today, we're called to reflect that. We're called to show that. We're called to be people who are bearing fruit. ”
“Adam and Eve are sent out of the garden at the very beginning of Scripture. At the end of Scripture, we will all gather with God in this new garden city where there is an abundance of fruit and provision. How Scripture begins is how Scripture will end—but even better, even more glorious. The God who made a void, nothingness into everything, is going to consummate all of that by gathering an innumerable number of his children that he has birthed through his Spirit, who will dwell with him in abundance in life, in provision, in health. All of that is how Scripture ends, but actually it is the new beginning of a new life with God.”
“Infertility is so painful. It is so painful. There are a lot of ways we'll suffer in this life east of Eden. And the pain that's unique to infertility is this being afraid to hope. Every month you're hoping and yet you don't want to hope so much that you're crushed. The fear of hope that comes with infertility is a unique pain. If you're listening, sister, and you're going through that, I want to say that may God's grace meet you where you are and may he show that his grace really is sufficient. It really is sufficient for the pain that you're dealing with. And may he himself be your hope so that you're not numbing yourself from hope. But as you're waiting, may you be swimming in hope because you know he is sufficient. So may he prove that to you and may he help you.”
“It may not always be wise for us to take [the stories of barren women in Scripture] and claim it as our promise. What we can do is trust in God himself who is our hope, trust in God himself who is good, trust in God himself who does bring life and fruit into our dry, barren seasons. He does that. It just doesn't always look like the way we think it's going to look. It may not look that way, but whatever he does, it is good and it is for our good. And it is worth waiting on him, it is worth trusting in him, it is worth leaning on him, and it's worth allowing him to write a story we can't even imagine for ourselves.”
“The God who made everything out of a void nothingness, that Spirit was hovering at the beginning. Our fruitfulness comes from the empowerment of God's Spirit. Without him, we can do nothing.”
“You didn't work to become saved in Christ. It wasn't by the keeping of the law. If you could keep the law, it would not have been grace. It's because we could not do it. We were dead to our sins. And God's power through his Spirit has made you alive. It looks like Sarah having Isaac. That is how you have come to know Christ. So if you've come to know Christ in that way, maintain that. So the gospel doesn't just save us. We live by the gospel.”
“And so, sister, you bear fruit not because you are trying by your own strength, by your own wisdom, by your own capacity to hold everything up. You bear fruit through the enabling power of God's Spirit. We look to him because without him we can do nothing.”
“Whatever your family structure, whatever your situation, you're putting it before the Lord, and by the strength that he supplies with the help of his Spirit, abiding in him, looking to him, we're asking that he would establish the work of our hands and that what we do will last because it is for his glory. And what God is doing right now is filling the earth with his glory. The earth will be covered in the glory of God as the waters cover the seas. That's what Scripture says. So may we be women who bear fruit through the power of the Spirit.”
“Our God is so faithful and he's so good and he doesn't leave us alone. He is close, he is near. And so fall into the grace of his presence. Do so through prayer, do so through taking in the Word and through community, through other people. That's a grace that he gives us. So don't forfeit that grace.”
RESOURCES
You Are Redeemed by Nana Dolce
The Seed of the Woman by Nana Dolce
The Seed of the Woman Study Guide by Nana Dolce (pre-order between now and 1/04/27 and use the code JOURNEY30 for 30% off!
SCRIPTURE REFERENCES
John 15:1-5
Genesis 1:1-2
Genesis 15:5
Isaiah 5:1-6
Isaiah 54:1-3
Revelation 7:9
Revelation 22:1-2
John 12:24
Galatians 4:21-24
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
What comes to mind for you when you think of the themes of barrenness and fruitfulness?
How does seeing the ways that God interacted with barrenness (whether barren women, Israelites in the barren wasteland, the barrenness of death, etc.) impact your view of him? What does it tell you about his character?
How does Jesus’s life, death, and resurrection impact the areas of barrenness in humanity? What about in you personally?
What would it look like for you to bear fruit in light of the gospel?
What might you do or implement based on what you learned in this week’s episode?
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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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