A letter from St. Peter

I decided to allow Peter, the fisherman who became one of Jesus' 12 disciples to guest here today. Here's Peter.

"All honor to God, the God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ; for it is his boundless mercy that has given us the privilege of being born again so that we are now members of God's own family.

Now we live in the hope of eternal lfie because Christ rose again from the dead. And God has reserved for his children the pricesless gift of eternal life, it is kept in heaven for you, pure and undefiled, beyond the reach of change and decay.
And God, in his mighty power, will make sure that you get there safely to receive it, because you are trusting him. It will be yours in that coming last day for all to see. So be truly glad! There is wonderful joy ahead, even though the going is rough for a while down here.

These trials are only to test your faith, to see whether or not it is strong and pure. It is being tested as fire tests gold and purifies it--and your faith is far more precious to God than mere gold; so if your faith remains strong after being tried in the test tube of fiery trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day of his return."

There is much more to encourage you in Peter's letter. I used 1 Peter 1:3-7 from the Living Bible Paraphrase. But the message is there in other translations as well.

Be encouraged!  God has set us free from the law of sin and death (Romans 8).