This is an excerpt from the third chapter of By Water and the Word: God’s Gift of Baptism for You by Brian Thomas (1517 Publishing, 2026), pgs 52-60.
Even when the bitter places sink down deep into our bones, the Restorer never relinquishes his grip on you.
To Live Well is therefore not a general advice book, but a message suffused with the gospel.

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The Psalm now is this: as Christ suffered and then was exalted, so we are also in him.
Devoid of the gospel of Jesus’s death and resurrection, sufferers are left to frantically run the halls of self-salvation, turning this way and that but never getting anywhere.
The great lie of addiction is that suffering must be fled, must be numbed, must be drowned out by any means necessary.
God is a judge, but unlike you, God is just!
Despite the mathematical incongruity, the church confesses that Christ is one hundred percent human and one hundred percent divine.
Luther’s famous treatise contains great consolation for Christians struggling with grace, suffering, and hope.
Wisdom lurks in the outer places. Rich gratitude sprouts from the impoverished and forgotten.
By the end of this prayer of wrestling, David finally has the strength to claim victory over his lying enemies.
This article is part of Stephen Paulson’s series on the Psalms.
This is the second article in a special three-part Advent series on how Jesus is our prophet, priest, and king.
The Lord has an answer to your tears, your trouble, your weariness, your enemies, your grief, your shame, your sin.
Jesus loved us and gave himself up to save us. He would not abandon you to your hurt or cast you away because of the hurt you caused others.