Fox News’ Shannon Bream: Bible Love Stories

Shannon Bream is an accomplished journalist, attorney, hosted Fox News@Night for years and now is Host of Fox News Sunday. Add to that, she's a podcast host and an author. We were excited to notch out a little time with this very busy woman for this Amazing Greats episode.

We kick off our conversation by talking about her latest book "The Love Stories of the Bible Speak"... an awesome glimpse of the Biblical lessons on romance, friendships and faith that she shares in the book.

We'll jump back and find out about her own Christian Journey and when her youthful foundation of faith developed into a true relationship with Him.

With her rich journalistic overview, Shannon offers her take on a variety of current cultural issues, including youth and Christianity (the Jesus Revolution and Asbury University Revival) and the positive outlook and challenges facing Christians in todays world.

Bream was willing to spend some time sharing her personal health challenges as well and walks us through the ultimate miracle result.

Articulate, inspirational and definitely an AMAZING GREAT!

Take a listen.

Or watch it

SHANNON BREAM AT A GLANCE

Fox News Journalist • Attorney • Author • Christian

Topics

Faith • Marriage • Friendship • Bible • Prayer • Journalism • Chronic illness • Young Christians • The Love Stories of the Bible Speak

Her Faith Journey

Christian family → Personal commitment to Christ in middle school → Baptism → Career in law and journalism → Faith through suffering → Daily prayer and Scripture

This Episode Explores

• Shannon Bream’s Christian upbringing

• Making faith personally her own

• Marriage and selfless love

• Friendship and male loneliness

• Faith among young people

• The Love Stories of the Bible Speak

• Finding God through chronic illness

• Prayer and Scripture

• Faith in America

• Starting each day with God

Questions Answered

• Who is Shannon Bream?

• What is The Love Stories of the Bible Speak?

• How did Shannon Bream come to faith?

• What does Shannon Bream say about marriage?

• How can Christian couples grow together?

• Why are male friendships important?

• What does Shannon Bream say about young Christians?

• How did chronic illness affect her faith?

• What did God teach Shannon through suffering?

• What Bible verses are important to Shannon Bream?

• Why does she begin her day with Scripture and prayer?

Podcast Transcript: Shannon Bream on Love, Faith, Marriage & Finding God in the Valley

Amazing Greats with Ric Hansen

Introduction

Ric Hansen:Hi, Ric Hansen here on Amazing Greats. Thanks for being with us today. We’ve got a great show for you.

We’re talking with Shannon Bream, who is a national network journalist and attorney. She was a Miss USA and Miss America pageant finalist. She loves fly fishing, even if she doesn’t catch any fish.

In this episode, we talk about marriage, friendship, being young and Christian, what’s good about America, Shannon’s personal challenges, and her prayer life.

All here in one episode with Shannon Bream from Fox News.

It is my distinct pleasure to have as our guest Shannon Bream from Fox News. Our mutual friend Ron Hoon out in Phoenix, Arizona, has anchored Fox morning news there for years. He and I are lifelong friends, and he said, “You’ve got to talk to Shannon because she has an amazing story and she has a book out.”

So, good morning to you. I guess it’s your afternoon on the East Coast, but it’s still morning here in Seattle. Thank you, Shannon, for being here.

Shannon Bream:I love being with you, and what a great name for your show, Amazing Greats. I love when people do a play on words. I’ve got a podcast, Live in the Bream, which people think is sort of cheesy but funny. I love when you can spin a word or a phrase.

Ric Hansen:It kind of all fits because that’s what this podcast is all about—talking to people who have been successful in doing what they do, but importantly, how God has been a part of all of that as well.

We’re going to talk not only about the book, but hopefully take a few minutes to talk about you and your personal journey because testimonials are what we’re all about here.

For those who don’t know your story, let me hit the highlights. First of all, you’re an attorney and then a journalist. On top of that, you’re the chief legal correspondent of Fox News. You were at Fox News @ Night for years, and now you host Fox News Sunday. You have your podcast and your new book, The Love Stories of the Bible Speak.

We’ll speak about that first, and then we’ll jump into Shannon Bream’s own personal story.

Are you ready?

Shannon Bream:Sounds great.

The Love Stories of the Bible

Ric Hansen:Some would say that the 66 books of the Bible as a package are a love story—the whole thing is a love story.

But you’ve taken, I think, 12 love stories out of the Bible and focused on those. Can you give us an overview of what this book does and some of the stories that you focus on?

Shannon Bream:I think you’re exactly right. To me, I view the Bible as God’s love story to us—about how He’s pursuing us and is a forgiving, merciful, loving Father who has created a way for us to be in fellowship with Him. He wants that relationship with us.

I agree with you. I think the whole Bible is sort of His love story to us, but there are individual stories too.

Everything is included in the Bible for a reason.

We have a section on romance, which you would think of as love stories—the original Adam and Eve, Ruth and Boaz, and the Song of Solomon, which probably was the most intimidating part of the book.

But I also wanted to look at deep friendships.

You think about Jonathan and David. I love the stories about Daniel and his friends Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, Paul and the friendships he had in the New Testament, and how those friendships were so critical to building the early church.

All of those things are included, along with God’s command that we love our neighbor as ourselves.

And it’s not just the easy ones we get along with and agree with about everything. It includes the difficult people.

Sometimes we’re the difficult neighbor.

God has called us to be selfless—radically selfless—in the way that we love other people.

Ric Hansen:Somewhere along the line, I found that you said that, as far as you could tell, and having been through the Bible a few times, there are no exceptions. There are no exceptions to who you get to love and who you don’t get to love. Right?

Shannon Bream:It’s true.

It’s not just an idea that we go through life trying to spend our time surrounded by rainbows, unicorns, flowers and happiness.

Loving people doesn’t mean that we agree on everything.

We can sit down and have conversations. We can share truth and grace and mercy with each other.

What we’re called to do is treat others and love others as ourselves.

All of us come out of the womb as selfish beings. That’s our preset. That’s the way that we are.

We all have to fight that selfishness that’s inherent in us.

Think about what you want for yourself, and God is saying that’s how you’re supposed to treat everybody else.

Marriage: Selfishness vs. Selflessness

Ric Hansen:There are kind of two sections to the book. One is marriage, romance and intimate relationships, and the other is friendship.

You’ve been married for 28 years to one guy named Sheldon. I’ve done a little research on him too. What a great guy he is.

Give us some hints on how marriage works. How can we make our marriage work better?

Shannon Bream:I do think it goes back to this idea of selfish versus selfless.

Some people will say, “Oh, it’s 50-50,” but I really think both have to be giving 100%.

You learn along the way.

You hurt each other. You’re selfish. You say things and do things and make mistakes.

We got married at 25, and we grew up together in a lot of respects. We’ve had tough patches, like I think every marriage is going to have.

I think young people need to know that it’s okay. They’re coming. You work through those.

Most of them you can get through—not everything.

God gives us some outs when marriage is abusive, when there’s infidelity, and other things. But most of what we encounter in life is going to be the selfish desires that we have and trying to share one household with somebody in this pledge to stick together for life.

I think it’s when you start to be each other’s biggest cheerleader.

I don’t want anybody else to be Sheldon Bream’s bigger cheerleader than me. I’m always pushing for his success, his happiness and his spiritual growth.

We have to challenge each other for that.

The more you can admit, “I come to this marriage as a selfish person. Where can I work on myself? Where can I be a cheerleader for the other person and put them first, seeking their happiness and their wholeness and their spiritual growth?”—I think those things go a long way.

When you share faith, I don’t know how people do it without that, because both of us are very committed Christians.

We’ve grown in many respects together and individually in that.

I find it’s a great buffer to say, “God, we’re stuck on this issue. We’re stuck on this decision. We’re stuck on this problem. Let us pray and work through it.”

That’s been a huge help and a glue in our marriage when we’ve hit rocky patches.

When Spouses Don’t Share the Same Faith

Ric Hansen:What about marriages that don’t have that? The husband or wife is very steeped in their faith, but their spouse isn’t.

Is there some resolution there, or is it all about prayer?

Shannon Bream:Clearly, prayer—and God’s grace and mercy in walking through your situation.

It can be very difficult. I know people who have walked that path, and it’s tricky and hard.

God calls us as believers to be faithful where we are and with what we have.

One of the stories I have in the book is about King Xerxes and Queen Esther.

She was obviously of the Hebrew people, and God positioned her to save the Jewish people.

King Xerxes—we never see that they share any of those beliefs or faith or anything else.

But because of her faithful witness, her respect for him, and the kind of wife that she was, when it really counted, he respected her.

When she came to him and said, “I have to ask you for something very, very critical and important,” he was so enamored of her and her example as a wife that he said to her, “Up to half my kingdom, I will give you. Just ask.”

That’s so different from the way the book of Esther starts, when he has this Queen Vashti who doesn’t do exactly what he wants and he banishes her.

For whatever example Esther was in her faithfulness, her deference and her respect for her husband, they weren’t linked together in the same faith, but God was still able to use him and use that marriage.

Friendship and the Loneliness of Men

Ric Hansen:Let’s jump into the friendship side of this.

I’ve read that men, particularly, have a difficult time. There’s actually a friendship recession among men who are struggling with loneliness and have trouble connecting with other men in a spiritual and faithful way.

Can you speak to that?

Shannon Bream:It made me really sad when I started reading recent studies on this.

Men find it really difficult to be vulnerable and transparent.

I think they get so many mixed messages from society:

“Be tough.”

“No, don’t be so tough.”

“Be masculine.”

“Don’t be masculine.”

“Open up.”

“No, crying is weak.”

It’s tough.

COVID really hurt too because we all, for a year or two depending on where you lived, felt very isolated from some of those normal bonds and relationships—whether it was in the workplace, a men’s group, seeing guys at the gym or whatever.

A lot of those relationships got torn apart, and men were back to this place of having to be really intentional about relationships.

I talked to a high-profile CEO who told me that a bunch of them were supposed to go out with their wives, but something happened and the wives couldn’t go.

The guys said, “Okay, well, let’s just go to dinner anyway.”

They sat there for a couple of hours and realized how much they missed just talking to other men and sharing the burdens they had in their lives, whether personal or professional.

That dinner reminded him, “Gosh, we need to just spend time together as dudes and be vulnerable with each other.”

That’s how we form really close friendships that can help support each other.

Jonathan and David are a beautiful example of that.

Faith and Young People

Ric Hansen:We’re going through something at our church called Men Mentoring Men. It’s all about that.

When guys get together, usually they talk about sports teams or the weather or some surface stuff. It takes a bit of vulnerability to get below that level and into something deeper.

I love that part of it.

You’ve written other books, and this is your fourth, if I’m not mistaken. The other ones have been more female-oriented, but this one helps guys along as well, right?

Shannon Bream:Yes. The Love Stories of the Bible Speak is the third in the Bible series.

I’ve had men and couples stop me and tell me, “We’re working through this book together. We’re looking at our own relationship and having conversations.”

I love that.

I’ve always been really touched when people tell me they’re using one of these books. They all have study guides now, so people have done them as church groups, neighborhood book groups or whatever it was.

I had one guy stop me at church a few months ago, and he said his men’s group did my first book in this series, The Women of the Bible Speak.

He said they decided to do it to learn these stories that were really important in the context of their mothers, wives, daughters and sisters.

I said, “I’ve never had a guy tell me they did The Women of the Bible Speak as a Bible study,” but I loved it.

I’m hearing more from couples that they’re taking The Love Stories of the Bible Speak and the workbook study and doing it together.

Growing Up in a Christian Family

Ric Hansen:Let’s jump back and grab the history of Shannon Bream a little bit.

You were born into a Christian family, right? Tell us about those early days.

Shannon Bream:I was.

My parents were baby Christians. They were very young when they got married—early 20s. They had me on their second wedding anniversary, and their marriage didn’t last much longer.

My parents broke apart when I was very young.

I was very blessed that they both remarried wonderful people. I’ve always felt like I got the jackpot of four wonderful parents.

Both of those couples really grew in faith over time into much deeper walks.

When it was just my mom and me, and then when she married my stepfather, who’s a very strong believer, my mom had taken a job as a young teacher in a Christian school.

From there, we were immersed all the time—growing, being surrounded by Scripture, and having our church and school linked together.

There was Awana for the kids, youth group and all these things.

It was a whole community of faith for us.

It gave me a really good place to start some roots as a Christian.

Making Faith Personal

Ric Hansen:There was a moment, and I think everybody has a moment somewhere along the way, when it comes out of what your parents believe and you make it your faith.

You find trust in Jesus on your own.

That happened for you in middle school. Can you explain the exact details?

Shannon Bream:I knew the Scripture verses. I could quote them for you. I knew all about Jesus.

But there was a moment, like you said, when it couldn’t just be your parents’ faith, your grandparents’ faith or your community’s faith.

You have to make a decision.

For me, that was at summer camp one summer between seventh and eighth grade.

I really felt this pull: “This needs to be personalized. You need to decide.”

I understood the story of Jesus, God and the Holy Spirit, and I accepted what Christ did and His sacrifice on the cross as His covering for my sins—great and small, past and future.

Because of that, He makes a way for me to be in relationship with a totally holy, sinless God.

At that summer camp, all the things I sort of knew in my head came together as a personal commitment to Christ.

Ric Hansen:Did you get baptized at camp?

Shannon Bream:No, but when we came back, a bunch of us who had made commitments at camp did have a baptism ceremony at church.

Young People and Christianity

Ric Hansen:Let’s talk about youth, Christianity and young people.

There seems to be—and the statistics point to it again—a decline in young people coming to Jesus and finding faith.

Do you think that’s really happening? Why?

Shannon Bream:We’re getting a lot of data all the time. Pew Research is one of the groups that puts out a lot of this data, and there are others as well.

Young people are very skeptical of institutions, including organized religion.

Some will say, “I believe in a God,” or “I believe in something. I think there’s something out there besides me.”

But they’re very skeptical of church.

I think various church scandals and different denominations have really given some people a crisis of faith when it comes to making a personal decision or wanting to dig into it.

What is encouraging is that the young people who are embracing faith seem much more serious about it.

They seem much more interested in really digging in and not just showing up at church on Sunday.

For generations, I think that’s what people did. If you were good folks in town, you would see other people at church and go on Sunday, whether it meant something personal or not.

There are churches here in Washington, D.C., which a lot of people think is not the most spiritual place in the world.

But I’ll walk into them, especially a couple of churches that are mostly young people, and they are ablaze.

The music, the passion, the testimonies, the commitment—it’s amazing.

I think, “These young people are in a city that many people consider very secular and very godless, and they’re showing up like this at church.”

There is a fire there.

It’s a beautiful thing.

I think young people are more committed if they are interested in faith. They’re really fully embracing it.

There are those who have been burned in some way or turned off.

What they really need are relationships and people connecting with them day-to-day—not hitting them over the head, but building a relationship with them, just as Jesus did.

He said, “Listen, I do want you to turn from your sin, but I didn’t come to condemn you. I came to redeem you.”

I think that’s a message people of all ages need to hear.

The Jesus Revolution and Revival

Ric Hansen:Mark Batterson in Washington, D.C., is familiar to you?

Shannon Bream:Yes.

Ric Hansen:He’s one of those guys with one of the on-fire churches there.

Shannon Bream:National Community Church.

Ric Hansen:I’ve read his books. He’s fabulous.

Shannon Bream:Fantastic author.

Ric Hansen:Another thing that’s encouraging to me is Jesus Revolution, the movie that was at the box office and set all kinds of records in terms of its longevity and the amount of money it raised.

It was about a previous Jesus movement, but there was so much interest in it today.

Shannon Bream:It was so well done.

Lionsgate poured money into it. They wanted it to be a good production.

I know a lot of the people involved with it, and Greg Laurie and Kathy Laurie, whose story is at the center of the movie, had told us it was coming.

I thought, “Wow, that sounds amazing.”

When I saw it for the first time, my husband and I both wept.

It was so beautiful.

For people to see it done so well—with top-notch actors, production and everything else—it really got to the heart of people.

That generation was searching and looking.

I think it resonated with a lot of people because we’re always going to be searching.

Every generation is going to be looking, whether you want to find it in relationships, technology, career, advancement or whatever it is.

Those people in the ’60s and ’70s who were really searching, when they found Christ and connected there, how powerful it was.

We’re always just one bit of revival away from that.

That’s something I pray for all the time—that young people would be open to the fullness Christ can give you and how He can fill all those places where you’re empty, hurt or searching.

Asbury and Faith in America

Ric Hansen:There was also the Asbury University revival.

Shannon Bream:The timing was amazing.

Ric Hansen:You were seeing it in real time, in our time.

As a Christian, what would you say is the greatest positive aspect of faith in America today?

Shannon Bream:What I see is Christians encouraging each other.

They’re showing up in places like Ukraine. They’re working on trafficking issues. They’re showing up at the southern border here in the United States.

They’re trying to be the real hands and feet in very practical ways.

That meets the call to service Christ has given us—to serve the least of these, whoever is struggling or whoever is in need.

But it also gives us a chance to share faith and model what we’re about.

It isn’t just about a political position or “I’ve got to win this” or “I have to vote this way.”

When people see us actually serving and being humble—“the last shall be first”—I’m seeing that all over the globe.

I have people, because we cover everything around the world, tell me about things happening in different places. I know people personally who are doing that.

It’s a beautiful thing to see.

I do think there’s a sense within a lot of the evangelical and Christian community that they’re in some ways divorcing from politics.

Not that they don’t think it’s important or that it can’t be a tool to accomplish certain things, but it’s not the most important thing.

Sharing the gospel of Christ and serving people in ways that will bring them to Him is more important than a particular political party or issue.

I feel like I’m seeing more of that.

The Spiritual Challenge of Comfort

Ric Hansen:What about the challenge? What’s the biggest spiritual challenge in America today?

Shannon Bream:I think we have it so good.

Even though our economy is having a bit of a blip right now, compared to the rest of the world, America is a land of riches.

Even those who are struggling the most in our communities at least have a safety net, where there are portions of the world where people don’t get a set meal every day.

They don’t have what they need just to look out for their kids and get an education or the most basic fundamentals of reading or having an opportunity.

Here in America, I almost feel like there are waves of times when we’re so comfortable that we don’t see our need for something else.

We think if we get enough education, work hard enough, have enough, or become an influencer with enough likes and followers, somehow that’s enough.

Even those among us who don’t have the richest of the rich are so much better off than most of the rest of the world that it can be easy to be comfortable.

There are plenty of people in America who aren’t comfortable, of course. They’re struggling.

But for most of us, if you’re like I was growing up in a lower-middle-class area, I felt like, “I’ve got a roof over my head. I’ve got food on the table. I’ve got a path forward to try to have opportunity and education.”

American Christians don’t suffer anywhere near the same kind of persecution that places like China, North Korea and many other parts of the world suffer.

When I pray for those people, I remember that we’re told so often they’re praying for us as Christians in the Western world.

Our faith often isn’t pressed in nearly the same way as theirs.

It isn’t as tried. It isn’t as tested.

We may just be too comfortable sometimes.

Finding God in the Valley

Ric Hansen:I know you’re very busy, so I want to make sure we get to the important things.

I always love to hear from our guests when God has really shown up in their personal lives—when He was there and you knew it.

Is there a time like that you can share?

Shannon Bream:For me, it’s been the worst valleys.

A lot of people would say that.

I always like to think, “I can grow on the mountaintop when everything’s great up there.”

Not that you can’t, because you can.

But for me, the deepest, most personal connections with God are when I’ve struggled the most.

I’ve written and talked about the fact that I went through a chronic illness where I was in constant pain for two years.

It was a really difficult struggle, bouncing from doctor to doctor.

At one point, a doctor told me, “You’re very emotional.”

I was.

I thought, “Yeah, because I’m living in constant chronic pain.”

If you have done that or know somebody you love who has, it’s the only thing you can think about 24 hours a day.

It was very hard for me to sleep.

It was tough not having a diagnosis and being turned away by a doctor who didn’t want to help me.

I was sinking, and he threw me an anchor instead of a life preserver.

There was a mental-health issue that went along with it too.

I never felt like turning away from God.

I never thought, “How can You let me live like this? I don’t trust You anymore. I don’t believe in You. You’re not good.”

I clung to Him more than ever because I was in such a terrible place.

I got to a really dark place a couple of years into this where I was searching everywhere online for help—for somebody who shared my symptoms, just to find a name for what I had.

Eventually I found a place where people were talking about, “I can’t live like this anymore. I’m going to end my life.”

I remember thinking, “That actually sounds like kind of a relief.”

I didn’t know how much more I could go on like that.

Ric Hansen:Really?

Shannon Bream:But I knew enough in my soul and spirit that wasn’t the right way to handle it.

I remember confessing to my husband through tears that night:

“That actually sounds like I would love to go to sleep and not wake up. I would love to just wake up in the presence of the Lord and have this whole thing be over.”

He buckled down with me and started searching for a new doctor.

I finally found one who was able to diagnose what I had.

I have a genetic cornea condition that meant my corneas were tearing all the time.

If you’ve ever scraped the surface of your eye, I was doing that almost every day of my life.

It was never healing, and the wounds were getting deeper and deeper.

It was excruciating pain—10 out of 10, all the time—along with double vision and migraines.

It was a miserable way to live.

When I got to this doctor, he explained what was happening.

The first time he said, “I know what you have, and I’ve treated this before,” it was the first time I’d felt almost a positive emotion in a year.

I had no hope. I had nothing but clinging to the belief that the Lord had a purpose in this.

I had prayed, “If You’re not going to heal me, send me someone who can help.”

I believe that’s how I got to this doctor.

But before I left the office, he told me the name of the condition and said, “There’s no cure for this.”

I couldn’t get out of that office fast enough.

I don’t even really remember the drive. I remember getting to my car and just sobbing.

My husband was waiting for me to call him.

I had to get back to work, and I just completely fell apart.

“Lord, how can this be?”

I thought, “I prayed. If You’re not going to heal me, send me someone who can help.”

Then, in that moment, I felt distinctly in my spirit that God said to me:

“I will be with you.”

Not, “I’m going to heal you.”

Not, “I’m taking this away.”

Not, “You’re going to be fine.”

“I will be with you.”

I didn’t audibly hear the voice of God, but it was as though I heard Him saying it—not audibly, but definitely in my spirit.

It was enough for me to pull myself back together and find a way to keep going forward one more day at a time, one more night at a time.

I went back to the doctor, and he was able to help me manage it for years.

I finally got to the point where I had to have surgery.

I was really worried. I prayed about it for years because there was no guarantee it would work, and it’s exceptionally painful.

But in my case, it worked.

I’m now 95% of the time—and probably closer to 98% of the time—symptom-free with my eyes.

Vision Problems and Career

Ric Hansen:Oh my gosh, that’s so great.

And there were vision problems during all of this too? You had trouble with your sight?

Shannon Bream:Yes. I’ve always had trouble with my eyes. They were always kind of wonky since I was a kid.

I was the little kid with the big Coke-bottle glasses and all of that.

The interesting thing was when the surgeon said to me, “If we’re going to do the surgery, I can only tell you how bad it’s going to be going in.”

It was worse than he told me, but maybe that’s all I could have handled.

He said, “When I do this operation on your corneas, I can actually correct your vision.”

It was kind of a nice side blessing.

I don’t have to wear glasses or contacts now, although I feel like reading glasses are coming.

Ric Hansen:That happens to all of us.

Shannon Bream:Yes, they’re coming.

Ric Hansen:What period of time was this all happening in your career?

Shannon Bream:I was at Fox and covering the Supreme Court full time.

I was about 40.

I had been at Fox for a few years, but during that time I really didn’t tell any of my coworkers what was going on because I didn’t have a diagnosis.

The doctor who had told me I was “super emotional” made me question myself.

I thought, “Am I crazy?”

It gave me a crisis of confidence in a lot of ways.

Years later, when I finally got to the point where I had to have the surgery, I did tell some of my coworkers because I was going to be out for a couple of weeks.

That was really the first time I let them know what was going on.

I had that surgery right as I was starting Fox News @ Night. We launched that show in 2017.

Ric Hansen:It was also a silent thing for you, which is brutal.

Part of it was maybe career-wise—you didn’t want people to know that you were going through all of this.

Shannon Bream:A lot of people.

It made me so much more empathetic to look around and say, “We have no idea what people around us are suffering with.”

It could be a family problem, a financial problem, a physical problem or a mental-health issue.

We just don’t know.

Compassion is a good thing.

Scripture and Prayer

Ric Hansen:Do you have a life verse, a Scripture verse that you kind of call your own?

Shannon Bream:I keep a little booklet of verses that people have sent to me or that have been important to me.

I read it right before I go on the air on Sunday mornings. It’s the last thing I do before I start the show.

There are so many good ones about casting your cares on God and letting Him take care of your anxieties, coming to Him in thanksgiving with your requests, and that He’ll give you the peace that passes all understanding.

There’s a verse from when I was having a very big crisis in college.

They say, “Don’t just open your Bible and try to find something,” but I just did it on a whim anyway.

Psalm 34 is fantastic.

Psalm 34:4 says, “I sought the Lord, and He heard my cries and delivered me from my fears.”

That one has always been good for me.

The very first verse I remember memorizing was one my mom taught me in 2 Timothy:

“He’s not given us the spirit of fear, but of power and love and a sound mind.”

I feel like that works in a lot of situations too.

Starting the Day With God

Ric Hansen:Your prayer ritual every day prior to starting the day—that’s how you get rolling in the morning, I understand.

Shannon Bream:I’ve always sort of been that way, but it really solidified during COVID.

Every day when I headed to work—and for most of it, it was at home—I would open the computer and we all had this obsession with checking websites for how many cases were spiking and how many people were dying.

We were watching economies fall apart and people’s lives fall apart.

There was so much bad news all day, every day.

I would cry in the shower sometimes, and I would play Waymaker by Michael W. Smith on repeat.

That song will always make me think of COVID.

I realized, “I can’t even look at my phone. I can’t confront the world until I’ve been in Scripture.”

For me, I like to journal. I like to pray in the morning.

That’s putting on my armor and getting ready for whatever is going to come at me personally or professionally.

Final Moments

Ric Hansen:I can see that you’re passionate and emotional.

Unless you root yourself in some kind of preparation during the morning hours, it could be a rough day.

I’m going to have to let you go because Sammy is staying on track. She’s all over me. She said you’ve got half an hour.

Shannon Bream:Yes. We’re getting ready to interview former Vice President Mike Pence about his run for the 2024 White House.

That’s coming up, and we’ll air that on Sunday.

Ric Hansen:Perfect.

It’s so great to meet you. Such a wonderful, warm human.

And I’ve got to tell the humbling story.

At the K-LOVE Awards, you were on camera on the red carpet. They were talking about your tuxedo outfit and saying how gorgeous it was.

They asked who the designer was, and you said, “I got it on Amazon.”

Shannon Bream:I like a deal. I like a deal.

Part of my outfit was from Amazon. I don’t know who made it, but I’m happy to find a bargain wherever I can.

I love a good sale.

Ric Hansen:Thank you, Shannon Bream, so much for your time.

To our audience: you’ve got to get the book. Subscribe to the podcast.

Again, that’s called Living the Bream.

Shannon Bream:Live in the Bream.

Ric Hansen:Which is cheesy but wonderful.

Shannon Bream:Just the right amount of cheese. It’s such a Shannon.

Thank you.

God bless you.

Ric Hansen:God bless you too.

Well, thank you for listening to this rendition of Amazing Greats with our episode with Shannon Bream from Fox News.

Thank you for joining us, subscribing, hitting like and passing this along to your friends. That’s how we grow our podcast.

Thank you so much for being here.

God bless you from Amazing Greats.