Falling Down. Getting up.

You Can!
     ... be a success story, no matter how far below the surface of overcoming you find yourself.

How I feel about myself is directly related to how successful I am to become.

 Many times we have to fix how we feel about ourselves before we can go forward.  You must have faith in yourself before you can expect anyone else to.  Often we wait for the cheers, for the encouraging word to come from others before we take a step forward.  We have fallen and we can't get up.  In order for success to come, we must change our thinking.  People follow after those who are confident.  If you want encouragement, people on your team, cheerleaders, you need to have some measure of confidence in yourself.  There is nothing worse than trying to give encouragement to someone who absolutely will not accept it.  You must be in a place to accept encouragement when it comes, or you will shrug it off as not applying to your impossible situation. What is keeping you from being assured that you are still worthy of being lifted out of the place you have fallen?  Do you feel you are not worthy of success?  No one is worthy of anything compared to Calvary.  No one is deserving of blessing. It is by His mercy that we can achieve anything.  Are you afraid of failing before you even begin?  Is there a bit of pride holding you back?  In order to succeed you need failure.  I would say that failure is the best starting line. What are you allowing to hold you back from being all that God intends for you?  Is it your past? If you are unable or unwilling to exercise faith in yourself because of the past, then it has not truly passed. Whatever you are holding on to from yesterday's failure is the same thing that is keeping you from moving forward into today's success.  Let go of yesterday and step up to the starting line for your dream, for your successful future.

Easier said than done you say?  How do I even begin?

I am no philosophical guru, but, for me a few necessary steps need to be taken. I do these things while in prayer because that is when my mind is focused and I am at my most honest state of humility.
1.  Acknowledge the failure of the past. Pray through it... allow the tears of regret to flow and wash
     you clean. Become washed in the blood of the Lamb.
2.  Look honestly at the facts of how your situation affected you, how it stopped you.
3.  Examine what you could have done differently. Apologize to yourself for your fault. Apologize to
    others, if they were affected. Take on the garment of sincere humility.
4.  Forgive yourself.
5.   Let GO!  You cannot ever move forward until you do this. Don't let it define you!!!!!
6.  Now take a step forward into your dream, into your calling.  This must be an active move on your
     part.  Do something that will propel you into that new beginning.  If at first you don't succeed... try
     try again! I assure you that God will be with you every step of the way and you will find strength
     you never thought you could have. I have been in the pit.

Each step forward that you take is one step further from the failures of yesterday.  You cannot afford to let a failure be your defining moment.  Once you have forgiven yourself and followed these steps, do not revisit the past.  You will never forget it of course, but you never have to go back to that level of low.  Don't allow yourself to ever be brought back to that pit from which you dug yourself out of.
Let the lessons learned be a point of motivation to propel you in a positive direction.

We cannot afford to allow the feelings of inferiority to be a gauge of how deserving we are to fulfill Gods calling for our life.  He knows you, yet still He called you! He knows your past, present, and future and still He calls.  Answer the call.  He is still wanting to use you for His intended purpose, even in your ashes, even in your failure.  Don't let it consume you. It is because of God's mercies that we are not consumed.  We ALL have fallen and come short of the Glory of God.  Some of our situations are more prevalent than others and less easily overcome. However, the pits are all just as dark and consuming.  Whatever pit you find yourself in, His mercies are there, waiting for you to grab hold of and allow yourself to be pulled into a blessed future.  You must succeed.  There really is no other choice. He is calling. Pull yourself up.