Everyone has a story. Most life stories are ordinary with blips of excitement and sorrow along the way, some are exciting and full of adventure and, sadly, others are filled with tragedy and heartache. However, our yesterdays are not what define us… It’s how we use those experiences and lessons learned to build character and then speak truth into the stories of those around us. We each have control over how our story ends.
In many ways, Sailor Scott was your typical child: She won spelling bees, made the cheerleading squad and competed with Bible quizzing. But, behind closed doors, there were some thorns of sorrow pressing into her life and beneath the surface was an introspective heart that spent late nights trying to make the puzzle pieces fit. Her parents messy divorce uprooted her security and a subsequent season of abuse planted seeds of shame and confusion. But her survivalist spirit fought to keep a smile and push forward.
When she was 14, she met a boy who rocked her world and they became fast friends. For the first time, Sailor felt she had a safe place where she could explore her true self and begin to investigate some of those puzzle pieces that had never found their home. The next couple years of picnics and bike rides wove ties that would be tested sooner than they expected.
“At the time, finding myself a pregnant teenager was a worst case scenario but, as the coming years unfolded, Dan and I learned that this was a divine beginning. Two wandering kids were swept off a potentially dangerous path and given some weights of responsibility which would, in time, prove to be a necessary anchor.”
By 21, Sailor and Dan had three children and a grown up life. Sailor stayed home with their tiny treasures, rocking and feeding and teaching ABCs, while Dan worked to provide for their shoebox life. All along the way, they stayed in church, dutifully serving in music ministries, taking their turn in the nursery, and attending Sunday Schools and home groups. But in 2005, their little snow globe was turned upside down and shaken.
Sailor explains. “For reasons I may never wrap my mind around, God permitted great tragedy to intersect the lives of one of our daughters, and every ounce of the protective mother in me wanted to wrap my girls in my arms and run away. I never thought that I would need to pull them away from God, but that is how I felt at the time. ”
Sailor struggled with feelings of anger and betrayal; bitterness and loneliness, and as the following weeks strung into months, healing demanded that she peel away some of the layers of her own heartbreaking childhood.
As a solace through this season, she began to journal and write, and within a year, the handwritten paragraphs began to turn into songs. The couple had been playing music together since the early days, so it came naturally to pen lyrics and write melodies and allow the music to be a therapy of sorts. But God had more in mind. Over the coming years, doors began to open for them to share their music and their hearts with others, so they ministered in the local church as well as in youth rallies, conferences and camps.
In the Fall of 2008, Sailor and Dan headed to Nashville to record with GRAMMY award winning producer, John Mark Painter (Ben Folds, dcTalk, Fleming & John). The result is Hearts That Bleed, a project filled with energetic, relevant music that resonates with the rhythm and the heart of this generation. With sounds akin to Plumb, Natalie Merchant and Garbage, Sailor addresses struggle and heartbreak; her message always pointing back to God’s story of redemption written into each life.
Sailor also took her journals, reworked them a bit and published a book with the same title as the album.
“As we began introducing our music to audiences, I consistently had people waiting for me after the show asking about the lyrics and the promise of hope set forth. There was clearly a hunger for honesty and the underlying theme was that these hurting people we’re all walking their journey alone.”
And so the book was birthed. As an avid writer and blogger, it was the obvious way to offer the personal stories behind the songs and the context and credibility for the message she was delivering from the stage. It has now become a hand outstretched toward those who want more.
Most times we don’t have control over the circumstances life sends our way, but we can determine how the story ends. The easiest thing for Sailor Scott to do would have been to move forward, living her life and pushing her experiences and heartache to the side, but she embraced the importance of turning the page and using what she’s learned to help others redeem their past. She is committed to using her story to impact lives, because…
hurting people should never walk alone.