Growing up as a young girl in Tallahassee, Florida, Fox News’ Shannon Bream enjoyed arguing and debating – so much so, in fact, that her parents suggested she’d be well suited for a career in law.
“I grew up in a very strict household, where secular music was forbidden,” she recalled.“If we didn’t sing it at church, it was pretty much off-limits.”
That structured childhood revolved around the Christian faith and a predictable atmosphere at home. “[My mother] taught me that my Heavenly Father’s acceptance was the only thing I really needed in life.”
It was at Liberty University where Shannon met Sheldon, her now husband of 30 years. Sheldon was diagnosed with a brain tumor shortly after their engagement. Concerned he would be a burden, he offered to break things off. Shannon refused.
“I’m not walking away,” she told him. “I am walking with you.”
The tumor proved to be benign, but required multiple surgeries and resulted in facial paralysis. It was a long recovery and a journey that only brought them closer.
“He’s my rock, my strength, my protector, my calm in the storm,” Shannon Bream has said of Sheldon. “He’s who I stack my heroes up against”.
Greg Laurie recently asked Shannon what advice she would give her younger self. She replied:
If I’m talking back to myself in time, into my 20s, my teens, those kinds of places, [I would say] ‘Don’t be in such a hurry. The Lord has got everything figured out. You don’t have to figure everything out.
‘You can trust him. He’s a good father. He’s a good God, and you’re going through some really tough valleys physically, professionally, personally, but it’s all weaving together. There’s purpose to all of it. I think our God is too good to put us or allow us to walk through pain without purpose. So just hang in there.’
You may not know it from catching her as host of Fox News Sunday, but Bream has also navigated her own health challenges, including a chronic disease. Shannon suffers from an incurable genetic disorder that causes chronic eye pain. It’s called “Map-Dot-Fingerprint Corneal Dystrophy” – a condition that leads to cornea abrasions.
Dealing with great pain, Shannon said she has prayed for healing and relief.
“What He did give me is a promise as I was sobbing in my car one day, hearing Him say to me, not audibly, but unmistakably in my spirit, ‘I’ll be with you. I will be with you,’” she said. “And that’s been enough.”
Before pursuing television news, Bream graduated from Florida State University College of Law and then worked for several years at a firm in Tampa dealing with corporate cases involving race discrimination and sexual harassment. She finally decided to try and connect her love of the law with her love of the news, took some journalism classes, and landed an internship at a Florida news station.
“It took a lot of people telling me ‘no,’ and ‘there’s no way you can do this,’ and ‘you can’t do this and be a lawyer,’” Bream reflected.
Shannon Bream was hired by Fox News in 2007 to cover the Supreme Court. Other assignments and opportunities within the network soon followed.
In addition to her television responsibilities, Bream is a bestselling author of numerous books including her latest, “Nothing Is Impossible with God: Eleven Heroes. One God. Endless Lessons in Overcoming.” Other titles have included, “The Women of the Bible Speak,” and “The Mothers and Daughters of the Bible Speak.”
Shannon Bream credits her mother with not only introducing her to her Christian faith, but also instilling in her a confidence that has sustained her. “She told me how valuable I was, how nothing could separate me from God’s love, and that God had someone just as amazing out there waiting for me. There was heavy emphasis on the ‘waiting’ part, since I wouldn’t be allowed to date until I’d secured a Ph.D.”
Bream recently told CBN that she doesn’t start her day reading news or plunging into politics. “I have to start my day in the Word, in prayer.” She strives to not only let her faith provide perspective amidst the pain – but also help guide her through political turmoil on the job.
“We’re not called to carry out anyone’s political or news agenda,” she said. “As believers, we’re called to carry out Christ’s agenda, which is to reach people.”
“If you demonize one way or the other, you’re not having conversations that would bring them to God’s grace and love. And really, that has to be more important than any other fight that we want to win during our day.”
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