"CAN'T NEVER DID NOTHING."
When I was in high school, I worked as a janitor. I was the summer help, and I was teamed up with the regular janitor named Jim. Jim was a rough character. When I first met him he reminded me of Charles Manson. He was a former Marine who had been through some very difficult times in his life. He would often ask me to do things that I just didn't feel I was ready to do. I would say, "Jim, I can't do that." Jim would look at me with his wild, crazy eyes and say, "'Can't' never did nothing." The grammar was so bad that at first it took me a second to figure out what he was saying. Then I gradually got it: "'Can't' never did nothing." As long as I keep telling my self "I can't... I won't." I realized that I needed to let God determine what I can and cannot do. But from my point of view I would at least try and look to God to help me.
St. Paul said to the young man Timothy: "Meditate on these things; give yourself entirely to them, that your progress may be evident to all" (1 Timothy 4.15). I love that word "progress." Because of His forgiveness, because He is always guiding our lives, there is no reason why we shouldn't expect to make progress. But we will never make any progress if we don't expect it.
Don't ever discount what God can do through you in this life. You have His word. You have His love. You have His grace. Why not reach higher? Why not improve? Why not make progress in everything you do?