The Hope of the Christmas Story: An Interview with Shannon Bream

Hey there, thanks for listening to the Greg Laurie part just a ministry supported by harvest partners on Greg Laurie encouraging you if you want to find out more about harvest ministries. To learn more about how to become a harvest partner, just go to harvest.org Channon is the anchor of Fox News at night. She's the chief legal correspondent to the Supreme Court. She's a graduate of Liberty University and Florida State University. She earned a degree in law.

She started out as an attorney, but then she felt directed to pursue journalism and will talk about that just a little bit, but she is also the author about two books finding the bright side in the women of the Bible speak so were really glad to have her.

Let's give a warm harvest welcome to Shannon bring so Shannon and I color coordinated here so we got the blue going Jenna so great to have you think you for being with us. You know you wrote a book about the which you've experienced in life and how you got to where you are it and it's I think it's a little bit of a surprising story because people look at you you're successful you're you're so effective as a communicator. You do such a great job in the most important thing I left out Shannon is a bright light for Jesus Christ out there that's what we appreciate. But it wasn't an easy road getting to where you are right now. Was it tell us about anything on this and we all have things that we struggle with and so it's good to be honest about God and I shared with the women this weekend that my very first time I got in TV after I left law and move ever to television a very unglamorous you a.m. to 11 AM shift and he hired me to write copy and may copy and answer the phone. Zach, I think so. I notched my way when I could go into some things on air and my boss there really encouraged me to take a chance on me and he came in one day and he and his boss were both gone. Their offices cleaned out suite a new guy and all the experienced season reporters there suggest the worst thing in the world and the new people currently hire everybody they want their own people and I thought why not making any money and working as overnight shift like nobody cares that I'm here so couple weeks and the new guy I got called in on Friday afternoon and I went to the office and head of HR was sitting there and I thought I'm getting promoted which is if they have HR sitting there, not getting promoted got fired from that first TV job in fire Shannon bream.

He kicked the nest which ended up being a good thing for me, but he said you're the worst person I've ever seen on TV and you will never make it to her.

He said I hope you're a better lawyer than your reporter. Yeah it was. It was humbling to say the least. That's a good point because sometimes we think is the worst case scenario can actually be an opportunity for the Lord to redirect us in the did redirect you and you ended up at foxy so you interview a lot of really interesting people you interview presidents and presidential candidates Senators Congressman newsmakers and just regular people who may be of experienced a big event in their life. Can you look back and think of an interview that did not go the way you expected it to go years ago. Honest. You would never know their name, but years ago when I was a local reporter. I actually interviewed a man. It turned out that she was a Holocaust survivor is a very young boy. There was a mistake on his birth certificate, which meant that his parents were able to get him out of Germany and so he lost his entire family and his amazing story of how he came to the United States eventually was sponsored and came here at such an enormous appreciation and love for this country and he sang God bless America and was tearing up through it and I thought oh my goodness is such a good reminder to me of what people have suffered what they went through in that time on an end to be so grateful for the freedoms that we have here so he was beautiful and unexpected. This older man. I stumbled onto so they're just people that you meet along the way like some stormed off hello yes I'm actually a couple of these times that we were having a very heated debate sometimes happens on cable TV. What I hear he rips his Mike off and walks off the plane. Why did the I was you made your point leaves and I can hear my producer is when most talented guys in the business and he's yelling at someone to go in that room and kick the guy's chair now that he's out of it. So it's swirling around as if he left in such a hurry that the seat is spreading around. Always great TV but at this time I would like me. I'm not sure he's ever coming back that day well I read an interesting quote from Lori King some years ago you said if I could interview anyone across time. I would interview Jesus Christ and then he said that I would oust him are you virgin born and he said the answer to that would change history for me and I think of all the people you've interviewed there might be people you would still like to interview. But if you go across time in interview anyone who would you interview what would you ask them you say Jesus because of course we all have questions about suffering and how it works and what it means but I think I would might want to talk to Paul you know he talks about his thorn in the side and what that was me all debated what it was but she went through so much. I think of his conversion from being prosecuted and persecuted Christians to becoming like the most devout follower of Christ and defender of Christ suffered so many things I think he would be fascinating to talk to to you doesn't did you know when you're sitting around writing those letters that they would be our Bible today that we would pour over every word you know speaking about thorn in the flesh know we don't know what the start of the flesh was many commentators think it was some kind of physical affliction possibly incurred during one of the stony's are other things, he was beaten shipwrecked of all these things on top of the ball but you had your own thorn in the flesh, so to speak with your with your eyes tell us about the situation that started several years ago where I woke up suddenly in the middle of the night with one of my eyes. Just hearing in an searing pain and it was such an odd occurrence. I thought, I'm not sure how would've hurt myself while sleeping again a few weeks later than it started happening with both eyes and went to my doctor and he said well you're getting older and your eyes are going to be dry and I thought more than dry, but she finally said, I can't help you. I went to another specialist spent months there with him and this became situation where every night I would wake up in excruciating pain, and I started setting alarm clocks. I would sleep. Maybe one or two hours and try to put drops and get ahead of whatever was in the second specialist and went back to him a couple of times and I was several months into narrow I couldn't sleep and I was in pain all the time. I had double vision in migraines and I went and kind of on the last my last legs and he said you know he strike me as very emotional and I thought, oh, I am very emotional and I just left his office because I needed a lifeline.

He felt like he threw me an anchor on any sort of gave up and spiraled for a couple of years and tasted very dark place. If you've lived with chronic pain, emotional or physical. You know how debilitating that is. And when you can't II really given a pipe started going online to try to find out symptoms or try to figure out what this was and I always say people don't do that because you have like three minutes to live.

If you Google yourself so well.

I actually just to such a dark peace with that and reading these message boards and hearing from other people.

Finally found people had the same symptoms but saying that they were considering ending their life, and I thought that really sounds like it could be peaceful like it would be such a relief to years into this and I confess that to my husband and send checks and this really dark bad place and he said were gonna keep fighting were going keep going. Let's start looking for another doctor to that given up on numbers of your husband's shoulder. You hear his use of the even about okay we euros consultant is amazing. So he said let's keep going. So I went back to looking for. Dr. found this great cornea specialist that was nearly impossible to get into, and I called the next day, trying not to be emotional and I said I know it's hard to get into do have a cancellation list. Can I get on the list and they said we put you on hold for a minute the woman came back on and she said I just had someone cancel for tomorrow and I haven't filled it yet.

Would you take it, and I pray Lord if you're not getting heal because he doesn't always do that is give me someone help me through this Dr. turned out to be that person.

And she was able to diagnose me very quickly, which was the best possible news, but the end of that first appointment.

He said to me, there's something you you need to know is that there is no cure for this. And so that was a very difficult journey but he's been amazing and help me through. It had surgeries and things in my eyes that had been an enormous help and I I do tell them all the time.

Your answer to prayer. Sort of embarrassed, awkward chuckles, but I'm working on that screen you've written this book of the women of the Bible speak in you.

You've written about some of the interesting women and I was thinking since when the Christmas season.

You know what what women of the Bible story jump out at you. I mean, obviously you think of mother America mother Mary the mother of Jesus, and of course Elizabeth and others like tell us a little bit about what you think about these women what they were experiencing like to think about Mary for a moment to choose a young lady. We don't know how old very young and the angel Gabriel appears to hurt so we know it's a big deal when Gabriel shows up right. Not just any age really heavy with Angel shows up, tells her she's going to be the fulfillment of Bible prophecy pubic Mary Mary ever set around the fog going to be the fulfillment of Isaiah. I'll be that version that will bring forth a son or coming. Put yourself in the shoes of Marion and what do you think that was like to hear about what can we learn from Mary today and if you just think of seeing Gabriel and me know what overwhelming thing will be to have an angel shall us to be such a young woman, someone say to me the other day hurt her youth may have actually been in her favor and help her because she was still believing and trusting and and clearly a devout young woman who knew the prophecies and knew what was happening but you know we talked about this, we can it's Ray that she runs to her cousin Elizabeth way past childbearing age.

She's now pregnant with John the Baptist and Oracle together to share this amazing thing that God gave them disconnection, but the first person recognize the Messiah was an unborn baby. When John the Baptist John in the womb. They have this type friendship and that God gives this woman his way past having a baby and a teenager who didn't think she was having a baby disconnection so that they can support each other through that. But Mary was faithful, and we see that all through her life even said the cross where she is bear never abandons her son and has to see the most painful thing a parent can imagine that even after his resurrection and ascension, we see her with the disciples in the upper room, praying, she's not abandon the church when I'm sure all their lives were under threat. At that point she was faithful beginning to end.

She said let it be according to your bid server so she was obedient to the: the amazing place a color-coded be so much thank you so much for taking a little time to be with those big indoor ladies and letting me interview you for a few moments.

Any closing thought you would have maybe just someone on this Christmas season because, surprisingly, a lot of people are really depressed this time year. I just read something from the Surgeon General that they said that there's a huge spike of depression that covert is only made this worse. But the people dealing with loss, people dealing with pain, what would you say to a person like her so much hope in the Christmas story trees and it guessing is things but but Christ leaving everything to humble himself and take on our scan our body to come here and sacrifice changes everything.

No matter our circumstances, he knows every detail of your life. Whatever you're struggling with. And if you are one of those people who suffering loss into the holiday season. It's not super joyful, it's hard, and emotional for you on keys in all of that he sees that he can redeem every choice, good and bad that we've made and he is for you is for you because it looks like Jennifer coming. Everybody thinks you're listening to this podcast to learn more about harvest ministries follow the show and consider supporting it. Just go to harvest.org and find out how to know God personally go to harvest.org and click on know God