'God Goes With Us as Believers': Shannon Bream on 'Love Stories of the Bible'

WASHINGTON – As a respected Washington journalist, Shannon Bream is on the rise. In addition to recently becoming the host of Fox News Sunday, she's also making a name for herself as a bestselling author. 

In a recent interview with CBN News Shannon explained how her faith informs her job.  

"For me, it is the number one thing in my life, so I hope that it's imbued in everything that I do," she said. "Reading, praying, journaling, I really enjoy as well, so that sets me up for the day. And if I'm in a hurry, if I oversleep, if I hit that snooze too many times and I miss that in the morning, I know it's going to be a more challenging day. But God goes with us as believers and walks us through those things. So, for me to spend that time with Him in the morning and lay that foundation is how I do everything else."

Shannon started at Fox News in 2007. Since then, she's held many positions at the network, most recently being promoted to host of the highly esteemed Fox News Sunday role. 

"It is an amazing show because it's one of these Sunday shows that puts down the marker for political discussions and it has such a long history and tradition," she said. "When I joined, there was already this excellent team of researchers and bookers and producers in place; so it's been a real privilege to walk into that and say okay, what new can we add, or additional twists, or how can we reach more viewers?" 

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Of the wide range of issues she covers, Shannon says the war in Ukraine has been especially challenging. 

"I think that Vladimir Putin, when he went in, thought, a few days I'll take what I want, Kyiv will fall and I'll take what I want of Ukraine, never seeing the resilience, and the grit and determination, underestimating that in the Ukrainian people," she explained. "We've had journalists there repeatedly from day one. We lost two of our colleagues and Ben Hall survived but suffered devastating injuries. He's been such an incredible inspiration to us and reminding us why it's important journalists stay on stories like that and stay there to talk about the people."

As Fox News' chief legal correspondent, Shannon also closely watches the U.S. Supreme Court. One issue that continues to come before the justices is religious liberty. 

"I think everybody who's in tune with that issue remembers a few years ago when a baker out of Colorado, Jack Phillips, had his case before the Supreme Court for a cake that he didn't want to do, a custom cake for a same-sex wedding, although he said he was happy to serve LGBTQ couples and let them choose from what was in his store," recalled Shannon. "It got to this question of what do Christian business owners, what is their obligation in the stream of commerce with people with differing viewpoints? And the Supreme Court really didn't resolve all of the underlying issues in that case so they're back at it now."

Two important religious liberty cases are before the Supreme Court this term, including one about a Pennsylvania postman being forced to work on Sundays and another involving a Colorado web designer. 

When Shannon's not on the air, you can find her writing. Her books include, Finding the Bright Side, Women of the Bible Speak, Mothers and Daughters of the Bible Speak, and her newest, Love Stories of the Bible Speak.  

"I found that in writing the last two books we focused on women a lot. But there are always men in the stories too, and some of these we thought were really beautiful stories about romance and what God says about marriage and all of these things He designed and maybe Christians are uncomfortable talking about – the sex, the romance, the dating," said Shannon. "But obviously God designed all of those relationships for us and we thought, there's so many beautiful ones from Adam and Eve to Song of Solomon that some people are hesitant to try to dig into that and actually figure out what that means to our marriages and our lives now."

Shannon has been married to her husband, Sheldon, for 27 years. 

"Our favorite saying that we say all the time is we are not perfect but we're perfect for each other," she said. "We've made this lifelong commitment and if you're married for more than five minutes I say, you're going to have a dust-up of some kind. But I think when you've made your vows before God and your family and have the support of your community, your Christian community, your church community, that will get you through a lot of rough waters."

Shannon admits they've had their ups and downs like everyone else. Sheldon was diagnosed with a brain tumor shortly after they got engaged and Shannon has long dealt with a painful eye disease. Through it all though, they've been there for each other. 

"He's my best friend which I think is an added bonus to being in marriage," she said. "We really try hard to model what God has set out for us – Sheldon to love sacrificially, as Christ loved the Church, me to respect him and really to be each other's number one cheerleaders."

In the book, Shannon writes about the greatest love of all, God's love for all of us, and yes, loving your neighbor. 

"When Christ was discussing so many times in the New Testament about what are the greatest commandments – yes, we're to love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and spirit. But also, to love your neighbor as yourself and there aren't exceptions to that. We don't get to pick and choose."

So what's next for Shannon? She says possibly another book, but one of a different kind.   

"I'm working on a fiction book," she revealed. "It's something I've never tried before. I really enjoy great fiction. I admire so many of those who are out there like Karen Kingsbury, those who are no longer here like Jane Austen. I'm a big fan of Fannie Flagg, and so not that I can measure up to what they do, but I would aspire maybe to. I think there are ways you can share messages and encourage people through fictional stories as well, so maybe one day I'll get that done."