Today we remember a sinless Man who took the place of all sinful people. The very Son of God, infinitely more worthy of glory then any one of us. The true ruler of God’s people. God in human form. The spotless Lamb of God, who came to seek & save the lost. To be the good shepherd. To walk a life free from sin despite encountering temptation of every kind.
Only to have the world He came to save... despise & reject Him. “He’s not the real Messiah! He doesn’t look or act like our kings do! There’s no way He’s the one! Crucify Him!” they proclaimed. Jesus truly led in a new way. With justice & compassion. He led RIGHTEOUSLY. The religious leaders at the time were too blinded by their legalistic practices to see Jesus for who He really was, the Son of God. And so He was sentenced to death by crucifixion. He had committed no crimes & deserved no punishment. You know that He could have escaped at any time, right? Because He could have, & was tempted to but did not give in. So there He hung. On a cross. Nails pierced through His hands. Body beaten beyond recognition. Mocked & ridiculed. Treated like the scum of the earth, the Savior is the World hung on that wooden cross with a crown of thorns upon His head. John 19:30 • So when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said “It is finished!” And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit. And in that moment, the spotless Lamb of God had fully paid the price for all of our sins, forever. The Lamb was slain, & the sacrifice was complete. Because Jesus paid the price for my sin, I can be FULLY forgiven & set free from the bondage & eternal consequences of my sin. I can now come before the Lord, with the blood of the Lamb covering my sins. I can be seen as spotless in the eyes of God. He can look upon me as a beloved child. And one day, I can go to Heaven. All because God sent His Son, Jesus to take on human flesh, live a perfect life, & die on the cross for you & for me. Do you know your Savior? Will you accept Him today? John 15:13 • Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends. *Happy* Good Friday, Abby Grimaldi
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My number one piece of marriage advice is this: Don’t ever withhold love or support from your spouse.
When dating, there are certain things you need to withhold from them as a way of guarding your heart... But once you’re married, you get to be all-in for LIFE. You are safe. Sometimes society paints marriage to be this undesirable thing; like it’s such a downer to “settle down.” Or it’s just “doing what you should be doing by a certain age.” But the truth is, marriage is the greatest union God ever made. It’s not an “I’ll do this for you if you return the favor” thing. It’s a lifetime of a husband & wife unconditionally saying “I’m going to give you my all.” People are so into independence these days, & that’s fine in some ways. But it should never be an idol or something that keeps us from meaningful relationships, especially in our marriages. We all need people. What could be sweeter than building a life with someone who will protect & provide for you, ladies? Yes, go build your dreams & provide as well, but know that your husband is happy to care for you however you need him to. Men, what could be sweeter than knowing you have a faithful woman who will love you unconditionally & never stop believing in you? When someone loves you like this, you’re free to bloom. Their love makes you a better person. If you are married, don’t be afraid to really LOVE your spouse. Hug them. Make their favorite meal. Care about the things they love. Take interest in their dreams. Look for all the reasons why they are God’s gift to you. Notice all the differences that make you better in contrast. Tell your spouse why you’re proud to be their’s. Go to Target & make stupid little videos. Laugh at life’s funny moments. Spend as much time together as possible. Travel & make memories. Laugh & dream together. LOVE your spouse. Every day. You will never regret it! I hope this word blesses your marriage. If you are single & desiring marriage someday, I hope this gives you a positive image of what a Godly marriage can be! No marriage is perfect, but by God’s grace, each marriage can be a safe, lifelong, life-giving union! Much Love, Abby Grimaldi #BornToShine Ministry Hey friends, Abby here. This is the most important post I could ever write. It may save your life. As I fight through the hardest couple years of my life, I share these words with you:
Ephesians 2:8 ”For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith. & this is not from yourselves, it is a gift from God.” If you think you’re too bad to be saved, you’re wrong. The truth is, you are a unique creation of God. He loves as a father loves his child. You are priceless to Him. Beautiful. You were made in His image, & He takes delight in you. He knows every detail of your life. He cares that much. He knows the number of hairs on your head - surely He doesn’t miss a thing. He sees your shining moments of kindness & your sinful moments of weakness. He sees the way you parade your sin around. He also sees the way you sit in shame thinking of your sin & imperfections. Never feeling good enough. He sees all of it. For thousands of years, He’s seen his beloved children mess up. God’s laid out good from bad in the Bible because He knows that walking the right path will keep us from harm. But tempted by satan, not a single one of us has been strong enough to withstand every temptation. It breaks God’s heart. He hates to see the way we hurt each other & the way our own sins hurt us. Our sin separates us from Him because He is sinless & we are not. This is the great equalizer. The humanitarian & the killer, the rich woman & the poor man, the teenager & the senior citizen - we have all sinned. None of us are blameless in God’s sight. Not one. Only those without blame can enter Heaven when they die. No amount of good deeds or money could buy a person’s way in. In Old Testament days, God’s people needed a spotless, sacrificial lamb to take their place. We still need a sacrifice for our sins today, as we are still sinful people. The blood of a spotless sacrifice must be shed to cover our sins. But who could pay the price? None of us are spotless. God saw that there was no once-for-all sacrifice, & it broke His heart. How could He let all of His children be taken by the enemy’s tactics & sent to Hell? These are His children. He loves them even if they do sin. So God made a way. God created the perfect sacrificial lamb: Jesus, Son of God, yet fully man. You heard me right. God sent His beloved Son, Jesus to die for all of your sins. All of them - past, present, & future. When He died on that cross, he took our place & paid the price for the sins of man. Understand that He was our ONLY hope. He was the only perfect man to walk the earth. No other god or religion can do. We all deserve punishment for our sins, but He did not. He deserved no punishment, yet he CHOSE to take all of our sins & place them upon Himself. He bore all of my sin on the cross the day He died & all of yours too. A gruesome death on the cross. Let that sink in... After Jesus died on the cross, He was placed in a tomb. His mother Mary and other loved ones/ followers of His ministry wept. What if this was the end? Their Savior has died - as prophesied - but what if He was never coming back? He needed to rise from the dead in order to fully fulfill the prophecy & truly conquer sin AND death. This would prove He was the foretold Messiah. Before Jesus even came to Earth, prophets prophesied of the One who would walk a perfect life, die as our sin’s final atonement, & rise from the dead. God’s people waited in GREAT anticipation, because they knew the world needed Him so desperately. In his time on earth. Jesus declared that He was the Son of God, the Messiah, the fulfillment of the prophecies - yet the religious leaders at the time did not believe Him & put Him to death... which is what God had planned all along. *See how God can use resistance from others to make His will be done? WOW. Don’t underestimate the inner workings of our God.* Jesus spent 3 days dead in the tomb. I can’t imagine the fears & doubts His believers were wrestling with. “‘Maybe He wasn’t really the Savior.” ”Were WE wrong? Could His doubters have been right?” ”I placed all my hope in Him. Please don’t let me down, Jesus.” What a dark time. So dark that a great darkness filled the land all day long. And then some women found that His heavily guarded tomb was OPEN... and EMPTY! Jesus rose back to life! This is why we celebrate Easter: Not only did He conquer our sin, but He also conquered death. He defeated them right then & there. Our Hero. Our Savior. The victory over sin & death is The Lord’s! PRAISE GOD! As stated earlier, there used to be no way for imperfect people like us to go to Heaven when we died... but now there IS! We can be SURE. We can be FULLY FORGIVEN FOREVER. Now Jesus reigns forever in Heaven & wants to see us believe & receive His salvation. He paid the price for each of us, & it would be the worst shame of all for any of us to miss out on the only thing that really matters in our lives - our salvation. The day you die can be the day you enter eternal joy & peace in the presence of God if you accept & believe Jesus’ sacrifice for your salvation. The striking beauty in all of this is that He literally owed us nothing that day on the cross. He still owes us nothing. Yet He loves & saves us anyway. Every day God makes the conscious CHOICE to love us! Many people still despise & reject Jesus... yet He DIED for them & still LOVES them. Expecting nothing in return, but hoping that as many as possible will accept this gift & seek a relationship with Him. Before, our sin held us back from God. But now, when we are covered by Jesus’ sinless blood, we can approach the Father without shame. Without fear of rejection. We can boldly come to Him. We can spend time with Him. We can get to know God closely & serve Him until we finally meet Him in Heaven! Real Christianity is so deeply rooted in grace. It’s not a bunch of things that we “have” to do, but an endless list of things that we “get” to do. We will never begin to deserve the unconditional love, grace, peace, hope, & joy that our Father God gives us, but we can receive it every day. If you have never heard this Good News before that Christians call the gospel, thank you for reading. God has placed this in front of you on purpose. It’s His way of saying, “I love you so much & died for you. I love you so much that I had this random girl write this post with plans of YOU seeing it. Will you believe what you’ve been told today? Will you receive My salvation & love? Will you be My child? There’s no time to waste.” If your answer is yes, I invite you to speak this prayer out loud as a declaration of your faith in Jesus. Receive God’s salvation today. Dear God, I know that I am a sinner. I have done wrong & I know that I don’t deserve Your perfect love. But today I have faith in Your grace. I believe that You sent Your perfect Son, Jesus to die on the cross for my sin. I believe that He rose from the dead giving me a way to be in Heaven with You someday. From this day forward, I commit my life to You. Today I believe. Today I receive salvation by Your grace. Help me to move forward in this relationship with You. Amen. Did you just accept Jesus into your life for the first time? Yes? WOW! Welcome to the family of God! Message me immediately via Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter, & I will help you take the next steps in your faith walk. You just made the most important decision of your life. I could cry. Praise God. To my fellow believers, I hope this reminded you of God’s grace in your life. We need to keep coming back to this miraculous story as Christians. It will keep up on the right path. Please share with your loved ones or even people you don’t know. We all need the gospel because we all fall short & need the saving grace of Jesus. With love, Abby Grimaldi #BornToShine Ministry |
AuthorChristian Singer-Songwriter, Writer, Hockey Wife, & Fitness Fanatic. Nomad with North Dakota roots. Archives
January 2020
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