We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Shanika Grant. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Shanika below.

Shanika, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Risk taking is something we’re really interested in and we’d love to hear the story of a risk you’ve taken.

I would definitely say I took the risk to go fully into trusting God, and being obedient to where and what He was leading me to do in this specific area. I know for sure if I would not have taken this risk to go all in there will still be so many people out there that were voided in this area of what I provide, even if they haven’t realized yet that what I wrote is needed for them. Writing this journal workbook for me was intimidating. I had so many thoughts going on in my mind such as, “there are already so many journals out there so what is gonna make mine any different? People will not understand what I’m trying to say in this journal. What if I don’t sell any copies or what if no one buys this journal what will be the point of it? Will what I’m writing make sense to others? Will I have a bunch of grammatical errors that take away from what I want this book to convey? What’s the first step in writing this journal?”

All these types of questions came to mind, and the fear of not knowing was trying to grip me. What I’ve learned is that as I take the risk, it continues to prove well for me. It can be very risky when you are navigating into a space of doing something that is very unfamiliar or uncomfortable to you. Although this may be the case, what I’ve been able to realize is that the alternative to taking a risk is to stay stagnant and that’s not what God called me or purposed me for.

When I came up with the word for this journal, it came to me in 2021, then I didn’t know what it would be used for, but I stayed with it and I asked God questions about it and as always He answered me. This took me on the journey of writing this book, trusting Him to lead me on how to set it up, what words should I intentionally use, how to make sure that in each page that I incorporated the uniqueness of Shanika.

When I got the first copy of the book, I knew that all the hard work, sweat, tears and the risk was worth it. If I was the only person to hold that book in my hands, the risk was still worth it to see what came to fruition when I decided to lay down the fear, take on the risk and leave it in God’s hand to do what only He can do. The bonus is to see so many people purchase this book, and provide testimonial after testimonial of how it is aiding them in changing their mindset and their language.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

Now that I know my identity in Christ, I always make sure to let it be known that my identity is that I am God’s daughter before anything else. I am grateful to steward the blessings He has given me as a wife to an amazing man and a mom to 2 incredible girls. I am thankful to be born into and married into such beautiful families. I also hold roles as a licensed therapist and owner to Journey to Freedom Counseling Services, entrepreneur, coach, podcastHER, and NOW author of Journaling with Faithfirmations!

I’m always reminded of an earlier age where people always felt comfortable with opening up about themselves and sharing things about their lives with me. I would often laugh and question why are these strangers always trying to talk to me?! As I’ve matured and learned over time is that I held something special within that others recognized in me that made them feel open and not judged when they talked to me. God gifted me with this and I pray that I never use it in the wrong way or to bring myself glory.

In my private practice where I’m a licensed counselor I specialize in helping women to manage and reduce depression, anxiety, stress, navigating life transitions, the superwoman persona, and grief.
I have also been working with some individuals as a coach as well, but making sure that these clients understand the difference in counseling and coaching.

Now God has me in a new season of reaching people through this new space of Faithfirmations. The journal, Journaling with Faithfirmations, is just a start of what God wants to do through Faithfirmations.

I believe that through all these opportunities that God is allowing me to navigate through that He’s allowing me to help others to see what trusting and obeying Him can bring forth for you in your life. I know that by my obedience I am helping to open the door for so many others that may see themselves in me that it will give them the push they need to take the risk to obey God in a specific instruction that they aren’t sure how to navigate. The truth is all you have to do is say yes and He will walk with you in each step.

I am most proud of me being and becoming the version of me that God had already predestined me to be, and through this my husband and daughters and those connected to me will be able to reap the benefits of me doing what I’ve been called to do in each new season and will show them that all they have to do is show up and abundance and overflow is their portion too!

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

One lesson that I had to unlearn was rejection won’t always be apart of my story

I think this is a lesson that I had to keep practicing and changing my language around. For the longest time while growing up I felt like when it came to me I believed that was an afterthought. I would notice it in school and sometimes in social settings. It wasn’t in the family members that were close to me like my mom, dad, grandmother, aunts or uncles it was distant relatives, cousins, and people I called friend, but the term wasn’t reciprocated to me.

As I was writing this journal all the thoughts and experiences I previously had started rolling in. I would think “oh family members wouldn’t support it. I wouldn’t get any good feedback as I posted on social media. People will say congratulations but wouldn’t really mean it, they won’t really support me.”

I remember sharing with a few ladies that I’m in connection with that I was writing a book and that I hadn’t told too many people. My excuse then was I did not want to make it seem like I was bragging, but that I am learning that I’m not bragging on myself, but that I am bragging on God. As soon as those words left my lips God convicted me and asked me what’s the real reason? I sat with it for a second, nervous to respond and then I finally said it’s because of the feelings of rejection. Once I said it, it felt like so much of that weight dissipated from me and I heard God so clearly say to me “this time will be different, try again”.. and because I wanted to be obedient I did that very thing that I was afraid to do, I started sending it out to different text threads, posting on social media, and trusting God, and immediately people from my text thread started putting in their orders or either asking for the link to order. It wasn’t about the purchases or the support on social media, but the idea that I did not feel rejected in that moment and even now because I decided to reveal what was on my heart to God. I’m learning a new way to believe God! Within these Faithfirmations, I want it to be a constant reminder to myself and others to continue to practice the changed mindset and language that rejection is not our story any longer.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

OK! Transparent moment… over a span of about 10 years I tried a few different business ideas. My first one being called Help Granted Concierge which I started in 2014 after being laid off and not knowing what else to do, this business was dedicated to helping new moms, college students, and/or the elderly as it related to picking up their groceries, running errands for them, etc. It did not take off the way that I thought it would. I had one customer over a six month period, and decided to close the business.

My next business venture was called Reign Fresh. The idea here was to take scriptures from the Bible and couple them with modern-day language. For example, I would say my Daddy’s rich and then I would go to the Bible verse to couple with the understanding that God supplies all my needs. Had about 5 to 10 purchases over a 6 month timeframe for this business and ended up closing this business as well.

What I didn’t understand then and what I’m understanding now is that God was just pruning me, and helping me to learn more about myself, business, and depending on Him fully.

I am now the owner of Journey to Freedom Counseling Services, and I have been in business for over a year and six months now, and I’ve been able to open another business, yes you guessed it, Faithfirmations!

One of the biggest things that I’ve learned in this process throughout these businesses is to constantly seek God for strategy, invite Him into my day, ask Him questions such as how I should market, what’s my priority for this day, who I should reach out to for help, leaning into my support system, and to keep trying even when it gets hard.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.faithfirmationsllc.com
• Instagram: @faithfirmations and @therealshanikag and @journeytofreedomcs
• Facebook: @faithfirmations
• Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/journeytofreedomcs
• Youtube: @faithfirmations and @therealshanikag
• Other: https://linktr.ee/faithfirmations https://linktr.ee/shanikag https://linktr.ee/JourneytoFreedomCS

Image Credits
Whitney Storey: Our Storey Your Story Photography