As we stand on the brink of a new year, we may find all sorts of challenges lying before us: relational, economic, vocational, physical, emotional, and spiritual. It is because we live in a broken world that the text we will examine in this study is relevant. Twenty seventeen was a year of hardship for many, and no doubt we will all face some hardships in 2018. Peter’s first epistle has much to say to the hard realities of life.