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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Five promises were seemingly all those apostles, staring into the sky, had to go on. Five promises that were more than enough.
Paul knew that, without the resurrection, the Christian life was a “Smells Like Teen Spirit” video.
You are the baptized, for in Christ we are all wet. The demographic dividers are washed away.
He declared you what you might not always feel you are, but what you were from the moment he knew you, before you were you, when he foreknew you.
Sometimes, we get prayer dementia. We can’t remember what we were going to pray for, we can’t put the words together, and, frustrated, there is nothing we can do but sigh and groan.
A “good death” and “good life” are not accomplished through personal striving but are grasped by faith in the promises of God.
It would serve us well to embrace the beauty of our diversity within the unity of the body of Christ.
Do our petitions move God?
This feast is the Gospel, “the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes.”
In this article Amy Mantravadi give a short but helpful summary of the differences in Lutheran and Reformed thought regarding assurance.
An Anglo-Saxon poem gives fresh insight to the cross
How the pumpkin patch has a lot to teach us about the love and work of Christ