The Fight for Righteousness

Been sitting for almost an hour thinking about my OB appointment today. The midwife wanted me back in for a blood pressure check. If it's high then that's another issue that needs to be dealt with in this pregnancy. So, not only will I have 2 chiroptactic appointments, a non stress test, and prenatal visits to go to, I'll need to add blood pressure monitoring to the list every week. Add to that being home for almost 6 weeks only going out for hospital visits and doctor's visit and my 1 week outing to church...I was so discouraged last night that I told Hubby since I'll be full term on Thursday I just want labor to start and get the baby out, even if it's a c-section, so that I don't have to go through any more of this. You ever just feel so spiritually beat up? That's how I feel right now. I just want to give up my spirit and be discouraged about the situation. Afterall, what do I have to be joyful and thankful for?. A few weeks ago I spoke of works righteousness and pleasing God on my own strength and I wondered what living by grace through faith practically looks like. He is showing me NOW what that looks like. It's like when Jesus was out in the wilderness for 40 days and then being tempted by Satan. Jesus was just spiritually beat up and at that moment of being at a spiritual low, Satan offered Him something that seemed better than his current situation. That's temptation. Yet, Jesus believed and trusted in God's Word and resisted Satan and what he had to offer. Jesus by God's grace through faith trusted God's Word and by God's grace through faith resisted Satan. In the end, after the fight, angels came down to Jesus and ministered to Him. God was there and was with Him the whole time. We DON'T have the strength on our own to fight for righteousness and God will bring you to the depths of spiritual weakness to reveal just how weak we are. Yet, you do not give up the fight for righteousness just because you have no strength left. It's at that point that you fight for righteousness all the more because it isn't your strength that you're leaning on, it's God's grace through faith that's getting you through! This is why we remember the gospel and all that God has done for us. The gospel gives us HOPE! God saved us from eternal death! In Jesus we see how BIG God's love for us is. In Jesus, we see how BIG God's faithfulness for us is. In Jesus, we see how BIG God's power is and how it is used for our good and God's glory. Therefore, God, who is BIG to save us from eternal death is BIG to pick us up out of that spiritual weakness we are in. That is our HOPE when we are weak and when we continue to fight for righteousness in that time of spiritual weakness and even in times of spiritual strength we can trust that God's grace is getting us through and that is faith. God, thank you for protecting this little one until now. God, thank you for all the medical staff who is concerned for my well being that they want to take care of me and the baby. God, thank you that there are alternatives to child birth so that our physical lives can be preserved. God, thank you for all the faithful angels you've sent through the church body who have shown your love for us by all the help we've received. God, thank you for HOPE in you through Jesus!