Everyone will fall and hurt themselves from time to time. If possible, you will get back up and continue on your journey. You may not be able to get back up without help, but hopefully someone will come along soon and help you back on your feet. You may feel the results of that fall for a long time, but you can only get back up once from one fall. You cannot get back up five times if you’ve only fallen once.
This same principle applies to when a Christian sins. When you sin, there may be long-lasting feelings of hurt, resentment and shame. However, when you repent, confess your sin to God and ask for His forgiveness, He will forgive you the first time you ask. Once God forgives you of that sin, then you do not need to ask His forgiveness for five or ten more times. Yes, you will feel the guilt and shame for some time, but God’s forgiveness is immediate, so you don’t need to confess it or ask for His forgiveness anymore. With God, when you’ve been forgiven, it’s over with. As Jesus told the woman taken in adultery, “Go and sin no more” (John 8:11).
Now, you may need to ask someone else to forgive you, so do it without delay.
You will also need to get over it yourself, and not allow that FORGIVEN sin to linger on in your heart and mind. The devil wants that sin – that’s already been forgiven – to keep you down, discouraged and disheartened for a long time. He wants you to feel the pain, the shame, and think about it after it’s already been forgiven. If you confessed and asked God for forgiveness of sin yesterday, then He forgave you yesterday. Don’t allow the forgiven sin of yesterday to hold you down today!