My heart has been so encouraged by my guest, Tess Scott. I love, love, love how she embraces her imperfections. Tess is the founder of Listen Sister, a ministry with a focus on encouraging women through what she calls, the freakshow of life. Using her message of encouragement Tess has written a book titled, Listen Sister! Finding Hope in the Freakshow of Life.
I am always in awe of women who have the ability to make peace with their imperfections. They’re able to fold all of their failures and embarrassing moments into the storyline of their life. In her book, that’s exactly what Tess does. She shares real stories that are simple, everyday life experiences, good and bad, embarrassing, empowering and she reveals the beauty in the ordinary. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll cringe and you’ll leave with your heart having experienced a deeper revelation of God’s goodness.
What an interesting life Tess has lived and we touched on a little bit of each phase. Tess says she’s the black sheep turned Jesus girl. She has 8 children ….all boys….8 boys…..I even tell her I wouldn’t want to clean that bathroom! She’s been married 4 times, two of which were to the same man. God reunites her with her husband (in her fourth marriage), and all seems like it’s back on track and then she’s diagnosed with breast cancer. So instead of a romantic new marriage they begin going to the cancer hospital, visits, radiation, mastectomy. It might be hard to imagine but her complicated life story is full of God’s extravagant grace, and mercy.
I hoping that all who have the opportunity to read her book, listen to her wherever she speaks or follow her on social media will adapt her attitude about life’s challenges and maybe borrow her courage if they need to in order to heal and move past their regrets and shame.
The courage it takes to share the embarrassing aspects of your life is one thing but to share the things that were your fault….I don’t know about you but that would be a hard one for me. To expose my shame and regret to strangers feels like I’m opening myself up to personal attacks. Maybe it’s my background, where perfection was drilled into my being as the only acceptable result …and trust me I get it, perfection is completely unrealistic …God has brought me through, given me healing but I’d be lying if I didn’t admit that sometimes it’s challenged and I have to address those thought patterns with God. So my point being, who wants to purposefully invite ridicule? But that’s not how Tess sees it.
The only place where we’re safe to expose ourselves in that manner with regard to shame and regrets, to be laid bare and vulnerable is with Christ. Once we settle our failures and shortcomings with Him no one else’s opinion has any power over us. When we’ve transferred the pain and struggle of failure to God, laying that burden down, submitting it to His authority it no longer has the same affect on us….it doesn’t hold any power over us anymore. God will never use it against us no matter how many times me return with an apology for the same thing. He’ll never reject you. He’ll never leave you.
The only place that we can find the power and authority to take away our sin and to embrace a forgiveness that allows us to lift our heads under the weight of our decisions and to experience restoration is at the foot of the cross.
Don’t hesitate to lay your imperfections at the feet of Jesus. His blood on the cross is still as fresh for us today as it was over 2000 years ago. While we’re still alive we have an opportunity to seek God’s heart and find out what it means to walk in the freedom of who He is and what He’s done. It’s an incredible place to do life from.
Listen in as Tess shares her wit, failures and the beauty of who Christ is in the freakshow of life!
Live Loved and Thrive!
Connect with Tess:
Listen Sister Encouragement for Women
www.listensister.ca
Top 10 Signs your Life is a Freakshow! I know you suspect it’s true – Find out for sure with this beautiful and FREE frameable PDF here: https://tessscott.com/freakshow/
https://linktr.ee/ListenSisterEncouragement
Social Media Links:
My website: Listen Sister! Finding Hope in the Freak Show of Life (tessscott.com)
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/listensistertessscott
Instagram: Listen Sister Encouragement (@listensister_encouragement) • Instagram photos and videos
Linked In Tess Scott | LinkedIn
Purchase Links:
Listen, Sister!: Finding Hope in the Freakshow of Life by Tess Scott, Paperback | Barnes & Noble® (https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/listen-sister-tess-scott/1140051727?ean=9781631957390)
USA – Listen, Sister!: Finding Hope in the Freakshow of Life: Scott, Tess: 9781631957390: Amazon (https://www.amazon.com/Listen-Sister-Finding-Hope-Freakshow/dp/1631957392/ref=sr_1_1?crid=7JF3CFP4D52O&keywords=Tess+Scott&qid=1668983379&sprefix=tess+sco%2Caps%2C463&sr=8-1)
Canada – Listen, Sister!: Finding Hope in the Freakshow of Life: Scott, Tess: 9781631957390: Books – Amazon.ca
Listen, Sister!: Finding Hope In The Freakshow Of Life, Book by Tess Scott (Paperback) | www.chapters.indigo.ca
Listen, Sister! : Finding Hope in the Freakshow of Life (Paperback) – Walmart.com
Bio: Tess Scott, former black sheep turned “Jesus Girl” is mom of 8 boys and spunky “Grami with a heart above the i” to a whole slew of adorable grandkids. Using both humor and vulnerability, Tess shares her life as a speaker, an author and an encourager of women. Her first book, “Listen,Sister! Finding Hope in the Freakshow of Life officially launched in June, 2022. You can usually find Tess knee deep in some sort of shenanigans in Sarnia Ontario to the ongoing embarrassment of her family.
Transcript: https://www.happyscribe.com/transcriptions/3df333f8d10543c192a275766f95ecfe/edit_v2
