Thick and thin

I was inwardly chuckling during the church service this morning. Each week between praise songs, one of the members of the band offers a brief message--tells a small story or quotes Scripture, etc. Today, the band member was talking about being asked to reflect upon her life and as she did, she made the comment, "God is with you through thick and thin." Now, I know what she meant, but I had to laugh.
I had been having a little "discussion" with God. I got on the scales yesterday...something I don't do too often because if I haven't lost enough weight, I get discouraged. And I was discouraged. It had been two weeks since I got on the scales and I had only lost one pound. Never mind that I lost nine pounds the first week. Of course, that was a lot of weight--probably mostly water--and there had to be a "correction." But that wasn't mattering to me. I was discouraged, and as I was sitting there at church, there was a part of me that was wanting to eat something extravagant and totally not on my diet to assuage my disappointment.
Then, here came that little message, "God is with you, through thick and thin." I'm sure everyone else was thinking about how God is with them through good times and bad. But that wasn't the message God had for me this morning. This was His way of telling me that He's still here with me. Yes, I'm still "thick," but I could feel Him laughing with me as I "got" the special message He had for me. Yes, I am going to be "thin" one day because God is going to be with me every step of the way. He's here with me now when I'm thick, and He'll be here with me when I'm thin.
What joy and peace that brings, to know that God is beside me, encouraging me by using my corny sense of humor to make the point. As I found myself smiling at the joke, I felt reminded that if I had known on January 1 that three weeks later, I would be 10 pounds lighter, I would have been elated. Instead, I was feeling sorry for myself because I had only lost a pound since I had last gotten on the scale. The "thick and thin" line put things back in focus.
I have lost 10 pounds! It doesn't matter how much came off at a time, what matters is that I am losing weight and I am enjoying the overwhelming peace that comes from constantly praying for His presence and strength.
What more can I want?