Peace in the Valley by Vance Havner

The thrill of a new bird song ... the serene benediction of a quiet sundown ... an hour of reflection by a woodland stream. These are the elements of refreshing spiritual retreat to which this book joyously summons. With characteristic charm and challenge, Vance Havner here extols in fifty inspirational readings the unchanging wonders of God in nature – the kind of pastoral tranquility which sharply contrasts with the turbulent tempo of everyday life. “We have labored to enter into rest, but we cannot rest,” these devotional messages briskly remind. “If we do not know rest within, we will never find it without.” It is such essential inner peace which richly permeates these pages, as the reader is transported through varied experiences drawn from nature’s perfect revelation of the Almighty ... the radiant promise throughout his creation of “a coming springtime beyond the present storm.” Havner says of this book: “It has been said that the business of a preacher is ‘to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable.’ If I afflict the comfortable in my preaching, I hope these little essays will balance the ministry by comforting the afflicted.”

Vance Havner (1901-1986) was a unique servant of God whose spoken ministry spanned over seventy years and whose written ministry extended to almost forty books. Michael Catt, Pastor of Sherwood Baptist Church in Albany, Georgia, says of him: "There was no one like Vance Havner. His preaching style was unique, powerful, and pointed. He was a master at turning a phrase, using humor to set up a point, and then driving the point home like a sharp, two-edged sword. Every Christian should read Vance Havner… If you love A. W. Tozer, you'll love Vance Havner. He was one of God's gifts to the church in the 20th century. His ministry and his preaching needs to be heard in the 21st century."