Well...I did my best, that's what counts right??
Doing hard things is not about doing your best but actually doing all you can do. because a lot of times "I did my best" is an excuse for keeping your expectations low when really you can do more than your "best" Like if you plan to share Christ with someone and at the last moment you back out with the excuse "well...um I did the best I could" when in that situation there is a lot more you could have done. But you have to raise the bar and have expectations of yourself and not be willing to lower them because of your feelings in a moment. Because you never know what God has planned for those moment's. You could have a great opportunity ahead of you but if you back out in the middle of it then you could miss out on a lot of great things that God could have planned for you.
Also as I found out, one small step of growth can set of a chain reaction that will lead to bigger challenges, bigger opportunity's, and to even more growth. If you never step out of your comfort zone, you will find years that have gone by that had great challenges that you could have taken. Why wait to grow and mature?? Why let a moment of feeling afraid take away what you can do with your life??
You have to be able to trust that God has a plan for your life, the good and the bad and he knows what is best for you. Even though it might be hard to see why you have to deal with some things in that time. For me, I went from being a scared, shy boy hiding behind a keyboard to playing guitar on two different worship teams, one is for a college group and I am just going into 9th grade!!! Talk about one small step setting off a chain reaction, and I have no idea how God is going to use the passion for worship music and talents He has given me yet....but I am sure excited to find out.
