⁶  You now rejoice in this hope, even if it’s necessary for you to be distressed for a short time by various trials.  ⁷  This is necessary so that your faith may be found genuine. (Your faith is more valuable than gold, which will be destroyed even though it is itself tested by fire.) Your genuine faith will result in praise, glory, and honor for you when Jesus Christ is revealed.  ⁸  Although you’ve never seen him, you love him. Even though you don’t see him now, you trust him and so rejoice with a glorious joy that is too much for words.  ⁹  You are receiving the goal of your faith: your salvation. 

1 Peter 1:6-9

Peter speaks to a truth that is often evident in our lives. We have a tendency to assume we can be self-sufficient creatures until we realize we can’t. It’s often once we hit dark valley times in our lives that we find ourselves seeking out our God. It is often in the dark valleys that our faith deepens from something superficial into something real. As you think about the dark valleys you have experienced in your life, how did they impact your relationship with God, both in the short-term and in the long-term? Are there ways God moved through them to lead you towards faith – towards life?

Memory Verse – 
Even though I walk through the darkest valley,
I fear no evil;
for you are with me;