This is the Truth Network. Welcome to Hope for the Caregiver. This is Peter Rosenberger. This is the program for you as a family caregiver. Glad to be with you today.
Why do we need a show for caregivers?
Well, I'm glad you asked. Because more than 65 million Americans right now are serving as a family caregiver. It's a difficult job. How do you help them stay strong and healthy as they take care of someone who is not? And that's where this program enters into the conversation where I'm bringing you 40 years of experience as a family caregiver to help you stay strong and healthy as you take care of someone who is not because.
Healthy caregivers make better caregivers. I am thrilled to have Shannon Bream on the program today. She serves as the anchor of Fox News Sunday and is the network's chief legal correspondent, covering the Supreme Court in every major political cycle for gosh, two decades now, Shannon. I don't want to say how many years, but you've been doing this for a while. She's also a best-selling author whose books on faith.
Have resonated with millions. Her newest book is called Nothing is Impossible with God: 11 Heroes, One God, Endless Lessons in Overcoming. And I'm just thrilled to have her to talk about this book. But before I do that, Shannon, I got to ask you something that happened here with the oral arguments at the Supreme Court. You've been covering this for a while of all kinds of things, but this one was different because.
The president showed up, and I, you know, I look at your career, law school, everything else, all the things that lawyers go through. And to think that you're sitting there in a moment of history when The sitting U.S. president, I mean, that had to have been surreal. It was. And it's, Peter, thank you for having me back.
I mean, it's one of those moments where you think, I'm so grateful I get to do this job. This is crazy that I'm sitting here. First time ever a sitting president comes in. And yeah, I mean, listen, I say that the Supreme Court courtroom is kind of a great equalizer. Nobody gets special attention or special rules.
The president came in quietly a few minutes before they got started. It's the one place in Washington that always starts on time, straight up 10 o'clock Eastern. He took his seat. He had the Attorney General Pambondi with him at the time and Secretary Lutnick. And they sat in the audience.
They sat in that first row that's kind of reserved for members of the current administration. And he watched and quietly, very attentively, as this very important argument played out. It must have been just a fascinating moment because I think, again, of all the things that lawyers deal with arguing in front of the Supreme Court, just being in the Supreme Court, being there to witness it, and then to have that moment. And I don't know how this is going to play out. And we'll find out in June and you'll let us know.
But I envy you because just to be there to watch history. Is so exciting. And that seems to be a lot of what your life is comprised of. But it's not just that history that I wanted to talk with you today. I want to talk about the history you've delved into for this book.
And when I saw the title, Nothing is Impossible with God. The first thing I thought about is: okay, you're not going to write a book like that. Unless you're thinking about things that require a God that deals with the impossible.
So, what was the catalyst for this? You know, I love these particular men and women from the Bible because they're all heroes that had to face different things. It was this idea of overcoming. And I think all of us, you certainly know, I mean, what it's like to have things come into your life that you have to overcome that do feel impossible, these challenges. I've had that with my husband's health, with my health, and feeling like, gosh, there were moments when I thought, how do I move forward?
I can't get through another day, another night with this challenge that I'm facing. And I thought, everybody has something. I'm always convinced by that. I wouldn't have chosen this valley, but it is something that I came through it more empathetic. I came through it with a stronger faith.
And there are always going to be things that, by human standards and on paper, won't make sense, will seem too tough. And it's not that God will always answer the prayers the way we want Him to, and that He gives us the miracle we're praying for, but He does always make a way through. And I thought, gosh, somebody out there needs to hear that. And these stories are proof of it.
Somebody does need to hear that. I need to hear that on a regular basis. I was talking with Gracie last night. telling I was going to talk with you today and You know, she had her 98th surgery last year. Oh my goodness.
So it's been a, it's been a, this is a topic that is very close to us in our minds. I said, is there something you want me to ask, Shannon? And she said, ask her if a train left New York traveling at 60. I said, no, Gracie, there's no math. There's no math, please.
There's no math on this. No, but I think both of us wanted to know what. Changed in you as you started seeing these things, as you started mapping out these 11 heroes. And then, what do you cling to now that maybe you didn't cling to before quite as tightly, that you see differently now? Yeah, there are principles in every one of their stories because, of course, I want people to be encouraged.
That's the main point here. But I want them to be equipped too. And I think for every one of them, you see some sort of evolution of their faith that it grows stronger. They find the tools to deal with whatever's in front of them.
Some of them, it was external circumstances. I think about a story like Nehemiah or like Joseph. You have people actively working against you, but they prayed, they were prepared, they were faithful, and they trusted that God was working. Others, you know, it's your own internal stuff, your own rebellion, or your own self-doubt. I mean, yes, we're both raising our hands.
And we see those hands. Yes, I hear and see those hands. That can come to us through the stories of Moses or Jonah or so many others. Peter, his own failure and denying Christ at the moment that he needed him the absolute most to show up for him. Like we all have our own failures in life.
And so I was just encouraged that in all of these situations, God is always working, whether it's our mistake, our sin are getting off track or whether it's other people working against us. Like I said, we may not get the answer that we think is the best solution to the problem, but there will be a way through. And I was struck by, you know, Moses when he's led the Israelites out of slavery and this miraculous thing that has happened. And Pharaoh changes his mind after letting them go.
So they're now heading to the Red Sea. That's in front of them. There's nowhere to go. They turn around, and Pharaoh's army is now pursuing them. And the people are having a complete freak out.
Like, why did you lead us out here? Why, you know, we could have died back in Egypt. What do we do now? And Moses, who started out very shaky and arguing with God, don't ask me to do this. I don't want to do this.
I'm not the right guy for this job. We see how much he's matured because he stands there in Exodus 14 and gives kind of this mini sermon that I think we can apply to whatever we're facing, you know, in our lives in 2016. He says, Don't be afraid, stand firm, watch for God's deliverance, be still, which I always say is the hardest one for me, and he will fight for you.
So I think they're really practical things. And every time I dove into and studied another one of these stories, In a deeper way, I was reminded how God does work through all of these things, even when we are frightened, even when we are faithless. And that's his promise, he always shows up. You know, when you mentioned Peter, I was thinking about here we are at Easter time and The night that Jesus was betrayed, two people betrayed him. One, though, he said, go do what you're going to do.
The other one, he said, Satan has asked for permission to sift you. But I have prayed for you. And for some reason, that just got a hold of me to know that I have a Savior who is praying for me. Who's interceding for me when you hear those words to know that your Savior is praying for you, Shannon? And as you face these things, what does that do to you?
It's almost too much for my head and my heart feels like they're going to explode to think that the God of the universe is aware of my problems and of my issues, and that Jesus is there interceding for me when I sin, when I fail, when I'm in pain, when I'm desperate. I mean, to think that He has the time and the love for us, that He knows all of our situations intimately, and that He is doing that for us. I mean, what could be more encouraging than that? It's hard to imagine something that would give us more hope than that. And it's humbling too to feel like he loves us all equally.
Every person that he's created, past, present, and future, he wants to redeem you, he wants a relationship with you. There aren't a select few. It's for everyone. And so everyone can have that same joy and that same reassurance. I had a listener because again, I said I was going to talk with you, and one listener asked.
Ash Shannon. Is there a moment you've been a professing believer for a very long time? And you've been very open about the stuff that you and your husband have dealt with with his brain tumor and so forth. Is there a moment when you went from? Yes, I am a believer.
Yeah. I am all in on this. I mean, just. Planning a flag. This is not a casual relationship I have with God here.
Not that it ever was. I just didn't know if there was that defining moment. There was for me, and I've talked to so many of the others that we realized. Oh, wait a minute.
Okay, now I'm all in. Do you have such a moment on that that you look back and say, Okay, here we are. This is it. Yeah, I would say a couple different transitions in that. Growing up in a faith-filled home and a faith-filled school and church and those things, I was always hearing the word and I knew about these things and seeing my mom, who is probably the best example of hands and feet, like really modeling all this.
But it was at a middle school summer camp when I realized like, wait a minute. I have to make a personal decision. I can't just ride on my mom's coattails or my church or my school or anything else. Like I have to say, I accept and believe what Christ did for me this beautiful Easter weekend that you and I are talking, that I actually accept that and say, you're my savior. You are the one who gives me righteousness.
And I believe that and that you rose from the dead and the power is there in your redemptive sacrifice.
So that's probably when I made this personal, this personal commitment. But there have been times, I think in my deepest valleys where it has just become so real to me. You can memorize the verses. You can know these things. And, you know, when you walk through the hard stuff, it really comes to life.
I'd always known Peter's story about the thorn in his side and his flesh that, you know, he asked God to remove it. God said, no, but my power is made perfect in your weakness. And then Paul goes on to say, okay, well, I will boast all the more gladly about my weakness so that Christ's power may rest on me.
So there were moments when I was struggling with my own battle with chronic pain and trying to get a diagnosis and just living in a really dark place that those verses meant something different to me. Like God's presence is with me. He is walking me through this. If he's not going to heal me, I can trust that his power is made perfect in my weakness.
So I would say it was just another level in those steps of spiritual maturity that really stand out to me that it was kind of a defining moment. The audience for this program is almost entirely filled with family caregivers, people who are dealing with very hard things. And it's relentless. And some of it's not going to end in this lifetime, or at least not in the way we'd like to. We get that, we know that.
When they read this book, When they put this down after they've gone through it What are you hoping that they will walk away with and hang on to in that moment? I pray that they'll have encouragement. That, as you said, I mean, our journey doesn't always end the way on earth that we would want it to or resolve the way that we want it to. And we just walked through this with my stepdad, who's an amazing man, married to my mom for almost 50 years. This would have been their 50th anniversary this summer, and he passed away in January.
And my mom was very much in the caregiver mode the last several months of his life. And he'd been sick off and on and struggled with things. And it's so hard. Your audience knows it better. You know better than anyone to watch someone that you love really have to struggle and to deteriorate and have such incredible challenges, have to fight back so many times.
And there's the final time for some cases where there isn't going to be a fighting back and there's going to be a release to heaven, which we know is where my stepdad Jasper is. I called him dad growing up. He was in my life since I was three or four years old, you know, was just such a second dad to me in every possible way.
So I don't want to be Pollyanna about things. I mean, they're really difficult, painful struggles that people are engaged in, both the patient and the caregiver. That is a really tough thing. But just walking through this with my mom and seeing her deep faith and her trust has been such a model to me. And I hope that those same things will come through in this book, that God is with you in that dark valley, that you can trust Him, that He's going to show up, that He's always aware.
He knows the situation even better than we do. He knows our hearts. He knows what's coming. He knows the number of all of our days.
So you're never alone in this. I mean, one of the stories that I think probably be the most encouraging is Elijah's story is included in the book, because there's a time when he's really bold as a prophet for the Lord. He follows his instructions, but even he is afraid at times and he's alone at times. And he's on the run for his life at one point. And he's in the wilderness running out of food and water and feeling like, you know, God, where are you?
And what can you say to me now? I'm the only one still fighting for you. And God's saying to him, You're Not alone. He sends him what he needs physically, but he's also reassuring him spiritually. You're not alone.
There are others. I'm with you, but there are others in this fight too.
So I just pray that there'll be encouragement for folks. It just occurred to me that you were writing this book as your mom was carrying. For Jasper. How's she holding up? You know what?
She's really doing well. She is one of those, like I said, she's so good, like true hands and feet. She's going to be the first person if you have a crisis that shows up at your house. She's got a casserole. She's got a gift card.
She'll babysit. She'll dog sit. You know, she's just such a selfless person in that way.
So it was really natural for her to be a caregiver. And, you know, I was just, I've tried to spend as much time with her as I can in these last few months and my dad before he was gone. But I was with her a few days ago and just sat down with her and said, Okay, mom, I know things are going to quiet down. And you have these moments of being alone. How are you in those moments of grief?
I'm always praying, like, Lord, please be so, so present with her in these alone times and at night, in the times when she reaches over and he's not there. And she said, You know, the Lord is good. I knew that dad had reached a point he wasn't going to get better, but I knew where he was going. And I take great comfort in that. And she has friends and a church family that almost every day she sends me some miracle or God wink or some way that he is showing up in her life.
Life. And because she tries to walk so closely with him, she doesn't miss those things.
Some of us are so busy and running to and from, and it may be that we need to quiet and listen and see God's presence and where he is blessing us and showing up for us.
So she called me a couple of days ago because she's got such wonderful friends who've showed up in so many really practical ways and loving on her. But one of those friends was in an accident and broke her arm and chipped a tooth and almost got hit by a car. Like it was a crazy thing that happened. And I could see my mom's caregiver thing kicking back in. I could see how much she enjoys taking care of other people.
Even though it can be such an exhausting strain on you physically, spiritually, emotionally. I know that she feels a blessing in that role. And so, as terrible as this is for her friend who's struggling through this, I have no doubt my mom's already running errands for her. She's already been to the doctor with her. And so I think that she has kind of that gift of caregiving.
Well, I've maintained for a long time. I don't have personal experience with this, but I've maintained that the journey for caregivers. Don't really stop at the cemetery, that there was a residual thing that happens as they process what they went through, depending on how long it was and so forth. And so I always look at those caregivers. My mother's one of those.
And you watch them carefully and to realize also their hearts are so amazing to watch how they do these things and they serve. And that is beautiful. But as you wrote that book, Nothing is Impossible with God, and you're watching this. There had to be some tears on this page as you were writing this, and there had to be moments when you were just like, Lord, you know, this is tough. This is a tough place.
This is a hard season for sure. And, you know, like I said, my stepdad had rallied many times before and had come back from really difficult things from colon cancer and different surgeries and all of these things.
So you always have some hope like he's going to come back again. But his time in the hospital dragged on and on and on and things weren't healing and he wasn't recovering. And the worst thing was to watch him suffer and to feel like I know where he's going, but that doesn't mean that I don't ache for him and miss him. And watching him take that path and suffer, knowing that he was at peace with the Lord, that wasn't going to be the issue. But just knowing, watching my mom, you know, and watching her suffer in the caregiving role, and knowing that she was losing her partner of 50 plus years, those were all really difficult things, you know, when I was writing.
And I always feel like it's a gift that the Lord gives me when I'm working on these books because it's renewing my faith, it's reminding me of these stories and the truths in them that God is showing up.
So, in a way, it was a gift, but I was actually. You know, it was one of those times right around Christmas time that we had spent, you know, the last few months at the hospital as much as we could and with my dad. And he seemed to be having a bit of a rallying again. And so mom had said, please leave. You need to go home and just get some rest and take care of some things and then come back.
And so we left. And I was scheduled to record the audio for this book, Nothing's Impossible with God. And as I'm going in for the first day of recording, it takes about three days. You know, I get a message from my mom and she says, You need to come back. And I said, Okay.
So I say to my husband, I'm at the studio. Please get everything ready, pack a new bag for us, laundry, whatever we can do, because we've been home for one night. And I said, we're just gonna hop in the car and drive back. I think that's the quickest way for us to get back there. I walked in there with a really heavy heart recording this book, and I thought, I think I can get two or three hours done.
At least we get a few chapters done, then I can. Hang link up with my husband, and we'll get back to my mom as soon as he's able to pick me up from the studio.
So, you know, there's something in my voice, I think, too, in this recording because it was just such a fresh thing. And he only made it another day past that.
So, my mom prefers to listen to the audio version of the book, and she's like, I feel like I can almost hear it in your voice.
So, this book will always be really marked by my stepdad and his influence on my life, and just that journey that we took with him there at the end. You know, and again, we're here at Easter time and we think about what that death has been conquered and that. you know, Jasper is is Beyond whatever this world can hurt him with ever again. And we grieve and we mourn and our big tears fill our eyes, but we're not mourning with clenched fists. We're not mourning.
Out of with rage, we're mourning in acceptance, but also with great faith. And so we mourn with your mom and with your whole family on this, but we rejoice that he is free from this, and we really do. And I want to be sensitive to your time. I need to let you go. We had a little bit of technical difficulty getting this.
Which, usually, I would say, just blame that on me. If there's a technical difficulty, it's usually me. We did offer to change the title of the book to Nothing is Impossible with God. 12 heroes now, not just. We didn't get connected, so you're the hero number 12.
I don't know about all that, but. I want to ask you one last question before I let you go. What is the question? That people don't ask you when they interview you, but you wish they would. Hmm.
You know, somebody asked me recently about whether I have any regrets, and I didn't have a good answer for that because it took me by surprise.
So I've had a little time to think on that question. And there's so many things in life, all the big choices, my husband, and all of those things. I wouldn't change any of that stuff. But music, like you, is a big part of my life and it has been for a long time. And when I was a kid, I only wanted to read music.
I didn't want to try to figure out how to play by ear or how to accompany or play by chords. And I, as much as I love music and it has such a big place in my heart, I wish that I'd been a little bit different about my music study. And I don't know what you think, like about your music journey. Like maybe I could have practiced harder here or done something differently there. I'm taking lessons now.
I mean, there's a gospel, I'm learning how to play gospel music, not country gospel. I lived in Nashville for 35 years. I don't want to do that anymore. I'm learning how to play real gospel music and pushing myself to learn these chords and so forth. That are very non-Presbyterian.
You can get, I get thrown out of some churches for the kind of chords I play now. I love it. It probably sounds fantastic. But I love to arrange the hymns this way and throw these in and give it because I want people to hang on to the text. And by the way, that's one last question.
One more question. I do a whole series on hymns that every caregiver ought to know. What is the hymn that every time you hear it, it just you have to stop or that just grabs you? Is there a particular hymn that does that for you or a series of hymns? I would probably say blessed assurance.
It's one of those ones when I can't sleep. I will sing to myself, not out loud if my husband is sitting there snoring and sleeping away, but just such beautiful lyrics and such I'm with you. I mean, I listen, I love praise and worship as well at so many, you know, so many services you go to, and that's the primary thing. But man, when somebody busts out the hymns, I get so excited because they are so rich lyrically. And my 55-year-old brain can remember like all seven verses of, you know, I surrender or just as I am.
I have a hard time remembering the praise and worship songs I learned like three weeks ago, but there's something about those hymns that's just tucked in there. And they're such gifts, but blessed assurance is definitely one of them. You know, the lady that wrote that music, and it's in 9-8, by the way, which is a weird hymn. It is a weird, yeah. And she wrote that music and.
She went to her friend, Fanny Crosby, and she said, I've got a tune. Would you, do you have a lyric? And in 15 minutes, they had that song. Wow. 15 minutes.
And Fanny Crosby. Divine intervention for sure on that one. What a song. And when Gracie had one of her surgeries, I named the actual operation Operation Aggressive Assurance. And because I wanted to assure her, we're going to deal with this.
And I talked to all of her doctors. How do we deal with this with Gracie? And I said, aggressive assurance, aggressive assurance. And I was telling this to Johnny Erickson Tata, and she started singing aggressive assurance, Jesus. Jesus is God.
But that is the gospel: we have that aggressive assurance from him, that blessed assurance. And so that's a great hymn.
So now when I play that, I've already done that one on my series that I'm doing. I may bring it out. I said, this is Shannon's favorite hymn. And I'm going to borrow from you the aggressive assurance. I love it.
Aggressive assurance. And this is what he provides to us. This is what he provides to your mother through this, what he's done to you, what he did for Sheldon. This is what he does. And I'm grateful to be able to have this time to sit down and talk with you about this.
The book is titled Nothing is Impossible with God: 11 Heroes, One God, Endless Lessons and Overcoming. It's available wherever books are sold. I think it's on the New York Times bestseller list now. Yes. And congratulations on this.
And please know that you are always welcome to come on. And when we do it on their other program, we were trying to set up earlier on the thing. I could do the keyboard with you. I don't think I could do it on Zoom. It won't play.
So we could have dropped the needle and play hymns. But I love it. We'll have a hymn scene. But thank you, Shannon Breen, very much for being a part of the program today. And we look forward to each time you're on.
Well, Peter, thank you. God bless you guys. I appreciate your time so much. Gracie, when you envisioned doing a prosthetic limb outreach, did you ever think? The inmates would help you do that.
Not in a million years. What does it do? When you go to the facility run by Core Civic and you see the faces of these inmates that are working on prosthetic limbs that you have helped collect from all over the country that you put out the plea for. And they're disassembling. You see all these legs, like what you have, your own prosthetic legs.
And arms, too. And arms. When you see all this, what does that do to you? Makes me cry. because I see the smiles on their faces and I know I know what it is to be locked someplace where you can't get out without somebody else allowing you to get out.
Being in the hospital so much and so long. When I go in there, and I always get the same thing every time that these men are so glad that they get to be doing, as one man said, something good finally with my hands. Did you know before you became an amputee that Parts of prosthetic limbs could be recycled? No, I had no idea. I thought we were still in the.
1800s and 1700s. I mean, you know, I thought of peg leg, I thought of wooden legs. I never thought of. Titanium and carbon legs and flex feet and C legs and all that. I never thought about that.
I had no idea.
Now that you've had an experience with it, what do you think of the faith-based programs that Core Civic offers? I think they're just absolutely... Awesome. And I think every Prison out there should have faith-based programs like this because. The Return rate.
of the men that are involved in this particular faith-based program. and the other ones like it, but I know about this one. Are just an amazingly low rate compared to those who don't have them. And I think that that says so much. That test so much.
about Just that doesn't have anything to do with me. It just has something to do with God using somebody broken. to help other broken people be whole. If people want to donate a used prosthetic limb, whether from a loved one who passed away, Yeah. You know, somebody who outgrew them, you've donated some of your own.
What's the best place for them to do? How do they do that? Where do they find it? Please go to stanningwithhope.com/slash recycle, and that's all it takes. It'll give you all the information on there.
What's that website again? DanningwithHope.com/slash. Slash recycle. Thanks, Chris. Take my hand.
Lean on me. We will stay.
