Praise not perfection

Ann Voskamp in her blog a little ways back posted about this and it really caught my heart. I often think on something before me and if I am sure I won't succeed to the level I would want I just don't even try. Blah I don't even want to set myself up for the failure. But if I can learn to try and to praise God along the way and not worry about the end result, just praise and move forward I know that God could work in and through me in an incredibly beautiful way. God I surrender to your Grace.
In parenting I see myself having an idea in my mind of what I want the days to look like, what I want the kids to know and believe and see. The days go by and I find that I cannot accomplish on my own what I would like to. I see my deep sinful fleshly nature that thinks that somehow I can earn my way if I just work hard enough or am smart enough. That's a lie straight from the pits.
The truth is that nothing in my life has any beauty aside from the hand of my Father. It's His work, His grace and mercy extended out to us as we go through our days it's His Spirit who woes our spirit to see our deep need for His grace and our inability of any good thing apart from His hand guiding and His heart filling and His Spirit directing. Apart from Jesus we can do nothing... BUT the glorious beautiful thing is that God CAN DO ANYTHING!!! If we open our tightly gripped dirty hands out to Him, and allow Him to lead and fill us with overwhelming grace and love, we can't help but become more like Him and begin to be able to be and do more than ever possible on our own. He longs to run along side of us, in the fields of lovely flowers, and also through the raging dark waters, He wants it all, He will take every part of us and go through anything we go through JUST to be with us and for us to be His and He ours.
If I keep trying to make myself presentable or worthy of being in His presence I'll never be able to partake in the love gift of GRACE. I know Jesus wants me to see the beautiful me, the me that is true and lovable and precious... and I'm praying and asking for the strength to believe the wonderful amazing things God says about me in His Word and through the beautiful gifts all around me that come straight from the hand of God.
I love Jesus, I love Him for what He does, for His heart for me, but more than that I want to love Him just for WHO He is, because I love Him for Him.
Oh Jesus give me that grace that surpasses all my understanding, Help it guard my heart and allow me to be an open broken vessel that runs with love for You.
You are my abba father and I praise you and thank you for all that you are, for your love and your grace. You are beautiful to me!

This picture is all 6 of my kids tonight around daddy as he reads our bible story (the ragamuffin family). This I am thankful for: