The Greg Laurie Show - Overcoming Impossible Odds: A Conversation with Shannon Bream on Faith, Resilience, and Supreme Court Stories

0:00Want to keep God's word with you wherever you go? The Key James Bible Study KJV at by Salem Media makes it easy to read, study, share, and pray daily with the Timeless KJV translation. Enjoy features like offline access, audio Bible listening, smart search, and tools to highlight bookmark and take notes all designed to keep your Bible Studies simple and organized. Best of all, it's free to download in the Google Play Store, growing your faith every day. Search for Key James Bible Study KJV and download the app today. Life Audio Well, two weeks into the tenure of the new guy I got called in on a Friday afternoon, and the new guy told me he said, you are the worst person I've ever seen on TV. I don't know who thought this was a good idea, but you're never going to make it in this business. Read a daily spark of hope and direction, let the Daily Bible app from Salem Media be

1:00that spark. This free Android app delivers an uplifting verse each morning, plus reading plans, devotions, and trusted podcasts from leaders like Joyce Meyer and Rick Warren. Prefer to listen instead, the Daily Bible app reads verses, reading plans, and choppers allowed, handy for the headphones moment of your day. Choose from versions like ESV, NIV, KJV, and more, and bookmark favorites to revisit later. Share inspiring messages with loved ones right from the app. Feel God's presence in every notification. Search for Daily Bible app on Google Play and begin your day with hope, purpose, and peace. Hey everybody, I'm here with my friend Shannon Breene. If you watch Fox News, she's a familiar face to you. She has her own show on Sundays called Fox News Sunday. She's a chief legal correspondent to the Supreme Court on behalf of Fox News. She's a proud graduate of Liberty University. Shannon began her career as an attorney but felt drawn to journalism and now has a very

2:01successful career and also has a brand new book out that is called nothing is impossible with God. So Shannon, some of them might look at you and think, oh, Shannon, you know, she just has it all a successful career, a wonderful marriage, but yet you have had to deal with chronic pain in your life. And it was so painful. You described it as 10 out of 10 and you weren't able to get any help from doctors and finally you found a doctor that correctly diagnosed what your real condition was, but actually what your real condition is, right? You are right. And listen, it's one of those things I wouldn't have chosen. You probably have things like this in your life too. You would not wish them on your worst enemy, but I learned so much through it and grew so much spiritually. First of all, it made me a much more empathetic person. And I really got to such a point in my life where I had to completely rely on the Lord. That was literally the only thing I was clinging to was him because I went through this

3:04couple of years with this diagnosis, these, you know, terrible eye pain that went on and on and on, triggered migraines and double vision. And I was hiding it from everyone in my life, my family, everybody at work, my husband, living with me obviously was the only person who knew exactly what I was going through. But I got from doctor to doctor without luck and I was feeling very discouraged. I gave up on the medical profession for a while and just kept living in this enormous amount of pain. And I finally came to a place where I had been searching online, which I always tell people only half jokingly don't search your medical issues online because you're going to find that you don't have much time to live. You're going to find these scenarios, but what I did find was a discussion room or chat room or group where people were talking about the same symptoms and just the despair that they were in being turned away from emergency rooms and doctors who could not help them. And I thought, these are my people. I'm going to find some answers here. But what I found were, you know, in some cases, people who were so despondent, they wanted

4:04to end their lives. And at that point, nearly a couple years into this for me, it didn't sound crazy because I thought to myself, I don't know how much longer I can go on with this. God knows the enormous pain that I'm now in physically, emotionally, mentally. I couldn't sleep because of this pain. So I was, you know, exhausted and just exaggerates everything else you're struggling with. And I just had to have a heart to heart with Sheldon. My husband and say, like, this is how dark this has gotten for me. I don't know if I can continue. Because we sat on the bed and prayed and I thought so much of 2 Corinthians 12 or Paul had asked the Lord to take that form from him and it wasn't going anywhere. And the Lord said, you know, my grace is made perfect. My strength is made perfect in your weakness. And Paul says, therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weakness so that Christ power may rest on me. And I just clung to those verses and I prayed that night, Lord, if you're not going to heal me, then I have to accept that answer, but please send me to someone who can help me. That's fantastic doctor who finally diagnosed me started treatment with me and that first

5:09visit was really difficult to his office because I felt the first bits of hope in almost two years and having that conversation where he knew and could describe to me exactly what was happening with me. But he said, this is a genetic condition and you need to know there's no cure for it. And that felt like the ultimate gut punch. I left there in tears in my car sobbing to the Lord, how can this be? Thank you for bringing me to this person, but how can this be the news and feeling that he just said to me not audibly but unmistakably in my spirit, I will be with you. And that was so true. And it gave me the courage to keep going one doctor visited at a time when treatment at a time eventually to a surgery that's as close as you can get to a cure and it's been enormous blessing. And so when I see that doctor, I always tell him, you're my answer to prayer. He kind of laughs a little bit nervously sometimes, but I want him to know that's the truth. You know, Jesus said that there's a disciples, get them both. Let's go to the other side of the sea of Galilee.

6:11And of course, a great storm came and they began to panic, but he was on board with them. He didn't say, let's go to the middle of the sea of Galilee and drown. He said, let's go to the other side. He didn't promise them smooth sailing, but he promised them a safe arrival. But often we'll ask the Lord to take our problems away and sometimes he does quite frankly. He'll heal us immediately or remove that problem we're facing. But there are other times, he'll simply say, like you did with Shadrach Meshach and Abendigo, you know, he was with them and he walked with them through their fiery trial. And I'd rather be in a storm with Jesus than anywhere else without him. And that's not the only storm you've had to deal with because before you got married, Sheldon was diagnosed with, was that a brain tumor? Yes, yeah. And, you know, so young in your life, I used to think growing up as a Christian and it was a huge blessing that even though my parents were divorced, my mom became a young Christian when I was very young

7:11and just plugged us into church and a family that became, our church family was a family to us. So I had a lot of scripture and grounding and all of these things. But I used to think as a young Christian, you know, if you follow all the rules and you do everything exactly right, you're not going to have pain in your life. Like God will protect you and you're never going to walk through these storms. And it was just immaturity to not realize that there would be difficult things. And for Sheldon and I, we were engaged, we were 24 years old. He was this division one college athlete, you know, a really strong, healthy guy and just had this incessant ear ache and tenitis and ringing and trouble and balance. And you know, it was treated for months as an ear or sinus infection. It wasn't until one day when, you know, the medical team said, yeah, we got to rule out this one. It's a super long shop possibility, but you could have a brain tumor. Oh, my goodness. It was. And so it's shocking news to get as a young person who thinks that you're healthy and we're getting ready to get it. How were you when you heard that? Yeah, we were both 24 and planning our wedding. Yes.

8:12It was a really tough struggle for Sheldon, a really tough thing to walk through. But again, grew our faith so much and reminded us that, you know, the body of Christ is there for each other. We would get notes from churches and people we'd never heard of. And they'd say, we heard about your story. We put you on our prayer list and those things were such blessings through the really tough recovery. And he's great now. It was benign and had a wonderful surgeon. And, you know, we had complications like you often do with brain surgery, but we've been very blessed that he's worked through those and is a healthy guy. That's great to hear. So Sheldon, it's been said, if you see a turtle on a fence post, you know, you even get there by himself, right? Someone put him there and it seems to me that God has placed you where you are. And it hasn't been easy because when you started out your career in journalism, though you were trained as a lawyer, you didn't get the most encouraging news from one of your first employers. Did you? You're exactly right.

9:12And yeah, I was a lawyer for a few years. It was a fantastic career. I didn't feel like it was my passion. I didn't feel like it was what the Lord had for me for the next 40, 50 years of my life. But I'd always been super interested in journalism and digging for the news and telling a story. And so at the ripe old age of 29, I decided to do an internship at a local TV station, got my foot in the door there and listen, I worked, you know, whatever job they would tell me to do, making coffee and answering phones and just soaking it up and loving every minute of it. Got to the end of that internship and I said to them, I'm quitting my law firm. And the boss at the time said, you know, we haven't offered you a job, but I was stepping out on faith. Got that first job and I worked overnight, 2 to 11 a.m. And I did the same things. I wrote scripts for the morning show, answered the phones, you know, work the teleprompter, did all these things. And eventually one day that boss said to me, hey, if we have a short staff situation, we need somebody to run out on a story, we'll send you. So I was just starting to do reports here and there.

10:13I was saving my tape and trying to build this, you know, very beginning on air career. And I came in one day and my boss and his boss were gone. There was a complete management change and everybody told me, this is terrible. It's not good when new managers come in and I thought, well, you know, I'm making no money. I'm doing all these jobs and happy. I'm working overnight. I got a great attitude. Well, two weeks into the 10 year of the new guy I got called in on a Friday afternoon and HR was sitting there, the head of HR and I thought, I'm getting promoted. But it's Friday afternoon and the head of HR sitting there with your boss are probably not getting promoted. And the new guy told me he said, you are the worst person I've ever seen on TV. I don't know who thought this was a good idea, but you're never going to make it in this business. And it was super painful and embarrassing and a very, very humbling and I learned a lot through that process and it made me really say, okay, I'm going to be willing to look objectively and see all the work and the growth I need to do. I still think that for every show, you can improve things, it can be better.

11:16But that was a really tough time and I thought, did I hear the Lord wrong about this? Did I go down the wrong path? But, you know, we had covered in so much prayer with Sheldon and with other people that we trusted and I just had to trust the Lord for the next step. Did you ever call him back and say, hey, did you know that I have a weekly show on Fox News and I'm the chief legal correspondent for Fox to the Supreme Court? He didn't do anything like that. I did not. I did not. You know what? As much as I've heard at the time, I have so much perspective now. So it's easier with a wound is not so fresh to say. He did me a favor. I mean, it's so much to learn. He really kicked me out of the nest. And I don't think that I would be able to do these wonderful things and opportunities that Fox has provided me if I hadn't gotten fired from that job. I'm speaking of the wonderful things. I mean, you've sat in the Oval Office, you've interviewed presidents, you've met foreign leaders, you've interviewed and engaged with so many people. Like what have been some surprises like, because I know when I've interviewed people, not

12:19in any level near what you do, but some certain people you think would be an easy interview or actually much harder. And others are surprising. Some of the things they'll say, anything come to mind after all these years have been reviewing people. Yeah. You know, sometimes you probably find this too. People are much more comfortable when you're talking before the camera or the microphone is set up. You think, Oh, goodness. This is a wonderful story about their life or whatever it is or I'm getting all these great nuggets. And the minute the light turns on or the camera or the microphone is on, it's a totally different experience. You're really having to pull teeth. And when you're doing that live on television, it really requires you to tap dance quite a bit. So sometimes you find that out once the camera's rolling that people are very protective and there's a little bit of a shell that goes up with some people. But I've had the chance to do really interesting things as you mentioned, go around the world and interview all kinds of people. And I've had people walk out in the middle of a segment. Yeah. When they've gotten angry enough, so can you tell me who any of them were or is that something

13:21you could say? Well, there was a panel that I was doing one time. So there was a Republican and a Democrat and it got really heated. And they were consultants and advocates. They weren't lawmakers, although I've had lawmakers threaten to walk off the show live on TV. They didn't actually do it. So different than adventures along the way for sure. What's it like to sit in the Oval Office? Have you ever interviewed the president in the Oval Office? I haven't done it there, which I would like to. And I look forward to that. Hopefully we can do that this term with President Trump. Have you been in the Oval Office haven't you? Yes. It's amazing. To my impression of it when I walked in, they took our phones away so we couldn't film. So I mentally photographing everything in there because you know, such a big deal to stand in this place where so much history is made. But what struck me about it is this is a kind of a small room. Right. It's sort of an impractically shaped room. You know that the way that the president's desk old resolute sort of faces out and then

14:23they have the two couches facing each other. So you stand or maybe pull a chair up it, though, you know, it's not the most practical space. But boy, what a significant space it is. Right. And you think about how many enormous decisions and conversations have been had in that room. Every time that I get to go work at the White House or do an event over there or whatever it is, my assignment for the day kind of pinched myself because I'm like, I'm still this kid who grew up in Tallahassee, Florida. I was joking, you know, I wore hand me downs. I grew up with my mom was a single mom for most of my childhood and you know what that's like. I mean, it can be a struggle. And so when you look at that and think, how did I end up here? It really is just the hand of the Lord who opens every door for us. Yeah. But, you know, I also think that God allows us to go through what we go through for a reason and everything's preparation for something else. And like the Sama said, when I was in my mother's womb, you knew me. And so those experiences mold you into who you become. And though maybe sometimes we wouldn't wish some of the unhappy experiences of our lives

15:26on others, we know that there's a verse that says God cannot cause all things to work together for good to those that love him. And that word all means all things. So Shannon, you're the chief correspondent to the Supreme Court. Some recent decisions have been made that that won't you believe will have a significant impact on us as Americans. Well, you know what I think that as we're talking, we're waiting for a really big one right now, which is the tariffs case. The president has built so much of his economic policy, the second term on these tariffs that have brought in billions and billions of dollars to help bring down the deficit. But there's this argument about whether he went about them legally, whether they are permissible under this emergency powers act. And so sitting through those arguments a couple of months ago, it was fast-tracked. Another case was moved off the calendar so the court could hear this case. So I thought we would get it a little bit quicker than we have, but we are waiting as you

16:28and I are talking for that decision. And it will have such a ripple effect not only on the current economic situation and the White House will have other options that are much smaller, more nuanced tariffs that they can do if they're struck down. But gosh, it looks at the extent of executive power and this is a president who has done a lot of things through executive power, which they only last as long as your term if they're not codified into legislation. But I think right now we're all kinds of on pins and- Want to keep God's word with you wherever you go? The Key James Bible Study KJVF by Salem Media makes it easy to read, study, share and pray daily with the Timeless KJV translation. Enjoy features like offline access, audio Bible listening, smart search and tools to highlight the bookmark and take notes all designed to keep your Bible studies simple and organized. Best of all, it's free to download in the Google Play Store, growing your faith every day. Search for Key James Bible Study KJV and download the app today. Needles waiting for that decision, it's a good one.

17:28What is the most memorable day that you've had covering the Supreme Court? Gosh, a couple really big decisions and that I've been doing that 17, 18 years now. I think back in 2015, I believe it was if I'm getting the date right, the day that the court came down and said that with Justice Kennedy leading this decision, that same sex marriage would be legal in all 50 states. We'd seen some of the states percolating and there were those who were worried, let states decide it stayed by state. And yet the sweeping decision at the hand of Justice Kennedy, that day was a huge day. It was definitely one of those days that I would say also the day we got the Obamacare decision upholding Obamacare. It feels like you're kind of sitting in the middle of a history book, knowing that this is a moment that will change the country forever. Yeah, what was the other you said a couple? Yeah, I think that the Obamacare decision was a really big one as well. Obviously, the Dobbs decision that overturned Roe v. Wade, there's been that leak a few weeks before it actually came out, which made it such a fascinating, really dangerous story

18:30for the justices because, you know, no opinion is official until it's issued by the court. So even though there was this draft opinion, if one of the justices had been left, that had been somehow taken off the court in that interim and it changed the votes. And there were people who were very angry. We remember, you know, the guy who shut up to Justice Kavanaugh's house and admitted that he was planning doing harm to him. So I mean, those moments are really big moments in history that aren't just about the court, but really about the country more broadly. Now, you've written a new book, nothing is impossible with God. Who are some of the characters or stories you focus on in your book? And how did you choose what to talk about? You know, I've always had this kind of collection of these stories that I wanted to put into this book because to me, the theme of them is overcomers. And sometimes it's having to overcome outside opposition, somebody trying to stop you from something that the Lord has called you to. Sometimes it's yourself, whether you have self-doubt, you have your own failures, or you're

19:32rebellious. I mean, there are all kinds of things to overcome. And so this collection of stories starts out with Gideon. And I've always loved his story as an overcomer, the fact that, you know, when God came and called him to lead the Israelites to this big victory, he was like, wait a minute, I'm the least in my family from the least clan, from the least tribe, I'm not your guy. Much like Moses arguing with the Lord, but his story is such an amazing narrative of redemption of God. And again, God gets the glory in all of these stories when he helps these people overcome. And just as he can in our life, I love Joseph. I think he goes back to some of what you were saying early about that, you know, God can use things for good. Yes. And there's that verse in Joseph's story where at the end of all of these betrayals and wrongdoing to him that he stayed faithful to the Lord and he says, what you meant for evil, God meant for good. So I think being able to see that through those stories, I find them to be so hopeful. Absolutely. And do you, one of the things we talked about was Jonah.

20:32And we did a little podcast for you, not a little, a big podcast. We did your podcast as what I should say. And that's a fascinating story. Yes. What resonates with the story of Jonah in your life? Well, and I love it the way that you helped me break it down on my podcast too, because when we look at his story, you think about God telling him to go to Nineveh. And he's like, no, thank you. Not only does he say no or try to argue with God, he just takes off in a ship in the exact opposite direction that at that time period was probably the furthest he could have gone from Nineveh. And as we discussed, I thought as a kid, it was just he was afraid of the Ninevehites because they were terrible, violent, barbarous people. And I include some details on that in the book, nothing's impossible with God. But it wasn't just that he was afraid of them as you and I talked about. He was really rebelling, rebelling against, against God because while he thought the God of Israel, he deserves that mercy and that forgiveness and the grace that he had been given, he didn't want it to go to the people of Nineveh.

21:33He just thought they weren't worthy of it. And it raises all these questions about, are we gatekeeping at any point about the goodness of God because we think someone else doesn't deserve to hear the message that is just so humbling and full of grace. Yeah, I think that what I really like about your book and just your writing in General Shannon, is you have a great working knowledge of scripture that comes out in everything that you see and do. You make it understandable and accessible and I like how you also weave the stories of your own life. I end to it because you know, people relate to people and as we hear of the struggles and challenges that others are facing, we realize, hey, I'm not the only one. And you know, another person that reminds you a couple of people that I know you've interviewed them before is Mike Johnson, the speaker of the house. He's such a great guy. I think he's a great speaker, but I think he's a wonderful, a wonderful, very committed Christian. And when I talk to him and we talk about scripture, I feel like I'm, I said, don't

22:36want to, you know, you remind me of a pastor, you know, he has like a pastoral quality. He says, well, one of my main jobs is kind of counseling people, you know, because he has to get people who see things very differently to come together. And that's quite a skill that that he has to be able to do that. But then Marco Rubio also, and we've heard a lot about Marco lately and all that he is doing is secretary of state. I think he's a fantastic secretary of state. He recently gave a speech in a Germany that has a lot of people buzzing. I've always felt he would be a great candidate ultimately to run for the presidency. And I think he's showing that in speeches that he's giving. But what I love about him is that he has such a great knowledge of scripture as such an interesting story. His parents coming from Cuba and communism and just sort of the classic American success story.

23:37But both of those men, as you said, are very open about their faith and very knowledgeable about the Bible. And I've heard them in so many different situations over the years when secretary Rubio was on the presidential campaign trail years ago, I got to know that he was very sincere in his faith and the way that he talked about it wasn't just for audiences. And you know that's having interviewed and spoken with him that it's very much at the core of his life. I think when we saw him speak at Charlie Kirk's memorial, he gave what I thought was one of the clearest presentations in the gospel and some two to three, four, five, maybe many. Very true. For somebody who's not a pastor, I was like, wow, I mean, he made that about as distinct and as thorough as you could be in that time frame. And when it comes to speaker Mike Johnson, I knew him years ago as a congressman and before that as an attorney who did a lot of work on religious freedom and those kinds of things. And he's somebody who never sought the speakership. You remember how tumultuous that was with Republicans voting people in and out and browns

24:38and rounds of votes. And I think that he holds it very lightly because he knows it's of the Lord. He prays for wisdom every day and that he will get these things right and that he will be able to counsel people. And I think he's a good example of it's not about him. It's about whatever the Lord is calling him to do and the work that he's got to do. So when people threaten him and say, we're going to vote you out or this other. I really don't think it phases him. I think he says, you know, as long as the Lord wants me in this season, in this position, I'll be here when I'm not supposed to be. I won't be anymore. Well, I think I think they do a great job expressing their faith and the platform God has given him. And I think you do a great job expressing your faith as well and so thank you for all that you do. So one question I asked Secretary Rubio just because I didn't interview with him and I wanted to ask him something random. I said, so what's your favorite food that you like to eat in his, in his favorite food is chicken, parm and pizza.

25:39So what is Shenan Briems favorite food? It is definitely chocolate chip cookies. Okay. And some people will be upset about this. I really like it with walnuts. Some people do not want nuts in their cookies or their brownies, but I like a very hearty cookie with the nuts in it. I like a little sea salt with my sweets, a little sea salt on my cookie. And I consider myself an aficionado because I will eat a cookie anywhere on the planet. And I give it my own internal rating on a one to ten. So I've got my favorites out there. But if I was only stuck eating one thing, it would be cookies, chocolate chip cookies. Do you make your own or do you have a place to like to go and get them? When I have time, I love just the good old fashioned toll house cookie recipe that's on the bag. Yes. My problem is I much rather eat the batter than the cookie. So they don't really turn into cookies if I make them. But there's a place in Arlington, Virginia called live in the pie life. They are known for their pies, but they also make cookies. And I would say that their chocolate chip cookie with walnuts is the top of my list.

26:41So you're living the bream and living the pie life at the same time? Exactly. I am. That's part of living the bream is being able to eat those cookies again. And you named your dog biscuit. So there's a lot of food illustrations there. There are always food things happening. So what makes you laugh? You know what? I like very quirky kind of things. Sheldon, I have completely different senses of humor. He's very much like a slapstick, three stooges kind of guy. I kind of like things that have to percolate in your brain for a second. And then they lay into it and it's really ironic and you kind of get it and it's weird. I have a very weird sense of humor. I love things like Nacho Libre, one of my favorite movies, Napoleon Dynamite. I love that movie. Definitely. He's just kind of weird offbeat stuff is more of a sense of humor. You know, people either love or hate Napoleon Dynamite. They do. Because if you don't get it, you don't get it. But from the moment I started watching, I thought, this is a hilarious film. And you know, and I don't know why I liked that so much. I wonder whether they never made a sequel to that because it was really good.

27:43It was good. Well, okay. So you and I then have the same sense of weird offbeat humor. But then you know where I'm coming from. Well, I think that I know that I developed my sense of humor as a defense mechanism. And sometimes you'll find comedians come from very troubled childhoods because they'd learn to joke and make people laugh, you know, to deal with whatever it was they're going through. So my humor is completely warped. And when I use humor in the pulpit, I edit a lot of stuff out because I think he's true. I don't want people to think I'm a complete psycho. I think people might think because my humor tends to be a little sarcastic and at times biting. So I have to kind of pull up back and just let the nicer humor out, you know, and I learned that over time too. I very much was somebody who thought if I could make people laugh as I was growing up, it helps me to kind of ingratiate myself because I was never the coolest kid. I never had the best clothes. We never had, you know, a lot of money or those kinds of things and really it really did become a sense of humor kind of thing for me.

28:43And often, you know, self-deprecating, if I make fun of myself or this clothing or whatever, like I'm taking control of the laughing sort of thing. And it did become sort of a defense mechanism. I had to learn and I really started to learn this with friendships and things in college. Like you can let that down. You don't have to be the funny person all the time. You don't have to be sarcastic to protect yourself all the time that it was a little bit of a wall for me. Yeah. A couple questions that I'm done. Thank you for coming to my podcast. What if an older Shannon could speak to a younger Shannon? What advice would you give yourself? I would say if I'm talking back to myself in time into my 20s, my teens, those kinds of places, like 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. You're going to go through some really tough valleys, physically, professionally, personally, but it's all weaving together.

29:45Just like we talked about earlier, there's purpose and 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 don't have to achieve everything by the time you're 25, just rest in the fact that he's got a plan. That's really good advice in the scriptures as the lines of fallen in pleasant places. And I think you have to live a little bit of life to see that and then look back. We mentioned Joseph earlier, so it said to his brothers, you meant every evil, but God minute for good to save many people alive. Well, I don't know how he felt when he was sitting in that prison cell after being falsely accused of rape, but he was really faithful and could look back and retrospect. So you've accepted Christ into your life. Is that something you did when you were very young or did it happen later for you? Yeah, I was pretty young. Like I said, I was very blessed to grow up in a home that was a Christian home, that church

30:46was the center of our social life. And so I had a lot of good friends and extra parents and mentors and people who were also growing in their faith. And I went to Christian school, K through 12, and then you mentioned I went to Liberty University for college and so all of those things were such a blessing and planting roots in me. And as much as I was involved in church and youth group and all of those things, it was when I was at a summer camp, about 12, 13 years old, that I realized this has to be personal. I can't just be on the co-tails of what my mom believes or what I've memorized, even memorizing verses are knowing about Jesus. This has to be me saying, I accept what you did for me and your sacrifice on the cross, you're what covers my sins. And I give you my life and accept you as my savior. And so I really got that as a personal decision in those early teen years and made that commitment there. A lot of young people make deeper commitments to Christ at Christian camps, happens often. So why would you say a person should, if someone's watching this right now and they don't

31:49have this relationship with Christ, why would you say they should have one? Because everything else you chase or this world puts in front of you as the thing that will make you happy or give you peace, will never do that. He loves you beyond anything you can probably understand. And he made you and wants to be in relationship with you. He will not wipe out every storm and every struggle in your life, but he will be faithful to have his arms around you and walk you through it. Whether you lose someone you love or a job or a terrible diagnosis, you're never going to be alone in that and you can have eternal peace that passes any fame or fortune or home or boat or car or a word that you could ever get. You can keep chasing those things and you will always feel some round of emptiness. But if you want to know unconditional love and security, he's just waiting for you. He loves you so much and he just wants you to know that. Well said.

32:49Thanks so much for your time, Shannon. God bless you. Bless your new book and all that you do. Pastor Greg, thank you so much and for all that you do. Are you seeking a deeper connection with God, but just can't seem to find time to make prayer a priority, introducing mindful Christian prayers, whether starting your day or winding down at night. This show is your resource for spiritual renewal. Each episode features short guided prayers, scripture readings, and moments of silence to help you reflect and connect with the Lord no matter how busy your schedule might be. Now at lifeaudio.com or your favorite podcasting app to embrace the power of prayer and deepen your faith with mindful Christian prayers.