Gotta Clear my head

I have to get this rant out in hopes that it stops driving me up a wall today. I have been on my job for about 4 years now and I am seeing my window of opportunity to move up constantly closed in my face and it is not because of my performance. In my four years of being here, I have worked my way into becoming the go to person for anything my site needs. Other sites in our network view me as the source of knowledge in my department and someone they all feel comfortable coming to when they want to talk about ideas or problems they are facing.

I have worked on extra credentials to help my resume look better to managers and recruiters when positions open up for me to move up as well. I am a certified lean six sigma black belt, certified in project management, and have taken multiple courses in process improvement to help me really fine tune my skills. With all of this work, it still isn't enough for me to move up to the next level. I am constantly being pushed to the back of the line and asked to train people who make 3 times as much as I do on how to do their job.

The people who are out ahead of me are out in those positions because they are friends with someone in the position to make the decision. At this point, I believe I am blacklisted. I had someone tell me they would love to interview me and when they got the opportunity to do it, all they said was "I already have everything I need to make my decision." And they chose their friend over me. I am spinning wheels at this point. I want to leave, but I have not been able to find anything close to what I make, so that would hurt my family more than it would help me get out of this situation.

I am focusing on learning more, not for the company but for myself. I love learning and I know it is not anything that is going to help me here. People here already have their moves predetermined and they do not include me. They just need me here to give the next person a back to stand on as they are pulled up.