Recently my son brought home a book from a book fair at school. It is called “Pete the Cat: I Love My White Shoes.” The book came with a link to download an audio version of the book. Jackpot! There was background music, sing-a-long songs, and a radio voice that made the book come to life. Luckily, I could even download the audio version on my phone. So, of course, this is my son’s new favorite book and we have to listen to it over and over while I do nothing more than flip the pages. That’s what I call a win-win.
While my son loves the book for the songs and entertainment, I have to admit that I am a big fan myself. The lesson in this book is fantastic and is actually summed up very well. The last page reads like this: The moral of Pete’s story is: No matter what you step in, keep walking along and singing your song. Wow, I could not have said it better myself.
People expect Christians to have perfect lives. We are expected to always be happy and care free. As we all know, that is not the case.
We struggle. We have trials and failures. We mess up. We hurt. We cry. Sometimes, we want to run away and hide. (I think I just wrote a hit country song).
Because the world tells us we should be perfect, we try to act like it. We mask our pain, hide our failures, and pretend like we have everything under control. When we step in something, instead of walking along and singing our song we try to cover up the fact that we ever stepped in something in the first place. We clean our shoes, get new shoes, or even try to go barefoot. Anything to keep people from knowing that we are flawed.
In “Pete the Cat,” no matter what Pete steps in, he keeps singing about his shoes. The trick is that instead of ending the song, he changes it to better fit the situation. He adds what he has stepped in to the song, because that is now a part of his story. That is part of his testimony.
So the next time you hit a bump in the road, if you are struggling with finances, relationships, sin, or anything else that you are tempted to hide, add it to your story. What better way is there to show how great God is than to show what He has brought you through? Isn’t that what a testimony is all about?
The moral of this post is: No matter what problems you have, keep telling your story and giving God the glory.