There are no impossibilities if you believe, ‘I can’

How many times does God put a dream in your heart? But before long you begin doubting yourself. You may start looking at what you don’t have, what you can’t do, what you should have done, giving yourself all the reasons why you cannot achieve it. And, after a short while, you could talk yourself out of your aspirations.

“What I most need,” Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, “is somebody to make me do what I can.” To do what you can makes all the difference in the world.

Yet, some people have developed only a small percentage of their success possibilities. Their greatest abilities and talents still lie within them. Most of us have a vast amount of dormant power slumbering, which could do wonders if we would only awaken it. Now, a way to bring this latent ability out is for us to try in every possible way to make the dreams of our heart a reality.

As a child of God, you have a calling and a divine responsibility to fulfill. You have so much to offer. So do not just sit back and settle for second best or only good enough. Instead, get your hopes up, defy the odds, and dare to take that first move forward. You must stretch to your full God-given potential and reach out in faith to an abundant future, believing that ‘I can.’

A few years ago, I was visiting a friend at her home and started a conversation with a carpenter who was remodeling her kitchen. Casually, he turned to me and solemnly said, “My wife and I would love to have a home of our own… just like this.”

Nonchalantly, I asked, “Well, why don’t you?” Leaning against the doorway, the carpenter spent the next 30 minutes telling me why he ‘couldn’t’ own his own home. He reminded me about the high cost of living, raising children, all the bad breaks he encountered in the past and the problems he had with his business. Then, he confided to me that he lacked confidence in himself because long ago he was told by others that he would never amount to anything.

With compassion, I said that he shouldn’t let harmful words someone spoke over him hurt his future. “Fight those negative voices that tell you, ‘You’ll never succeed,’ and ‘You don’t have what it takes.’ Other people do not determine your worth. Whatever bad someone has said about you, does not reduce your value and great potential. So shake that off, and don’t drag the hurts of yesterday over into this day. Instead, start fresh and new,” I encouraged.

I saw a tear in his eye, as I uttered, “Now, visualize yourself as you long to be, take a step in faith and start believing you can achieve your dreams.”

Recently, I received a note from this carpenter and with it was an invitation to attend a house warming party at their new home. He wrote, “Miracles began to happen when I changed my ‘can’t do’ mind-set, to I can!”

Tap into your creativity and talents, and determinedly choose to get rid of thoughts of lack or self-deprivation. Forget the disappointments of the past and forgive those who have hurt you, looking ahead to a future filled with innumerable blessings. There is no limit to what you can do. Therefore, stop focusing at what you don’t have and start believing what you do possess. Most people fail, not through lack of personal qualities, but from lack of confidence, persistence and a dauntless will.

Thus, believe with all your heart that you can achieve your dreams. It does not matter how far away this realization may seem, if you visualize them as vividly as possible, hold tenaciously to them and work hard to attain them, they will gradually become actualized.

Once, I heard that the mighty eagle’s wings expand in response to the eagle’s desire to fly and soar into the heavens. Our desires, aspirations and yearnings for something higher and grander, if backed by an unshakable faith and purpose, will call out our wings, developing our latent power, so that we will rise above our circumstances to the full measure of our possibilities. Accordingly, let us picture ourselves a little higher up, a bit further on, and our success will follow our faith and vision.

I like the poem that a reader emailed me by Walter D. Wintle called: The Man Who Thinks He Can.

“If you think you are beaten, you are;

If you think you dare not, you don’t.

If you’d like to win, but think you can’t It’s almost a cinch you won’t. If you think you’ll lose, you’ve lost, For out in the world we find Success being with a fellow’s will; It’s all in the state of mind. If you think you’re outclassed, you are: You’ve got to think high to rise. You’ve got to be sure of yourself before You can ever win a prize. Life’s battles don’t always go To the stronger or faster man, But sooner or later the man who wins Is the one who thinks he can.” So think, “I Can!” My prayer is that as you read this column today, you will be inspired to never give up on your future. No matter what has happened, do not quit. There is more in front of you. Don’t stop. Keep going. God is there for you. For, “…you are more than a conqueror through Him who loves you.” (Romans 8:37). And if God is for you, nothing can stand against you.

You aren’t finished yet! Before long, as you continue to persist, more of God’s blessings will flow to you. A long-awaited dream will suddenly come to pass. Situations will soon turn in your favor. You’ll be victorious, happy, and healthy; surrounded by those who love you. And day by day, you will live the extraordinary life that God has destined to be yours. Email Catherine GalassoVigorito at cgv@ anewyouworldwide.com. To order a copy of her latest book, “The Open Window, 8 Weeks to Creating an Extraordinary Life,” visit www. anewyouworldwide.com or bookstores nationwide.