None of us enjoy the trials and tribulations we face here in the valley of the shadow of death. Even though we are the children of God and the ambassadors of Christ here in the domain of darkness, we are not exempt from the effects of its fallen state. We all suffer hardship.

What this passage is telling us is that adversity makes us stronger. As we persevere through hard times, we learn the value of staying the course. We come to see that hard times don't last forever, that there is light at the end of the tunnel.

The world defines peace as the absence of conflict.
Father's peace is much more profound than that.

When we are in extreme pain and emotional turmoil, we feel and know that we are at the end of ourselves. In those moments all we can do is place everything we're facing into the hands of the One who is Love and depend on His faithfulness to bring us through the valley.

We currently live in a “famine” bringing uncertainty, insecurity, and unrest. We live in a seemingly desolate land filled with tribulation. Things look pretty bad for us here in the valley of the shadow of death.

The idea of Jesus coming at any moment used to fill me with fear. I was worried that He would show up right after I had done some terrible thing or thought some terrible thought or had some terrible motive in my heart and that I would be lost. Those fears were completely unfounded.

Don't let the enemy make you think that something is wrong with you. You are not being singled out by God. You are not being punished. You are not being cursed.

Father counsels us to fill our minds with good input. It is not necessary for us to give place to worldly rumors, conspiracies, and predictions. We can choose to fill our minds with what is good and godly. We can scroll past negativity. We can unsubscribe from sources of ill feelings. We can cancel our appointments with serial purveyors of doom and gloom. The Kingdom, we are told in Romans 14:17, is “righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.”