I’ve been blessed with an artistic streak, drawing during my childhood and teen years. As life takes hold, we forget our gifts as we focus on other things. Raising children, working and running a household can veer you into many directions. Now, I find creativity is an outlet for me. Never did I realize the many forms art can take.
It wasn’t until I bought my own home after my second divorce. I put in so much time remodeling the place with my own hands. I molded it little by little, not realizing the molding process that was occurring inside of me. Where as I grew up feeling unloved and belittled, which I rebelled against, I still had much insecurity. So much so, that my relationships with men were somehow always abusive with much verbal degradation.
Alone now, with my daughter to raise, we worked together to make changes to our new home. Not having the finances to hire someone to remodel, once I decided on a project I would look for discounted products. I would research how to’s and think “That’s not rocket science”. Just plain old hard work. So, I laid my own wood flooring. I painted. I resurface walls. Oh, and the yard! 
I created. And each time, there was satisfaction and pride in my accomplishments. I was dating, and the relationships were “not up to par”, but each “bad” relationship was shorter than the last.
There was a time that I thought I was “supposed to work things out”… but what a male friend said to me one day was a revelation. He said, “Grace, little things like leaving your clothes on the floor, or not cleaning up after yourself… those things can be worked out. BUT A CHARACTER FLAW …” I hadn’t ever thought of it in that term… A CHARACTER FLAW.
What is the character of a man? Or a woman? Are they honest? Do they have integrity? What are a person’s intentions? These are now questions I ask myself when I meet someone. Man or woman. Pay attention to “red flags”. Surround yourself with people who are honorable. People that you can respect. Pray for yourself and others. Find a partner that will pray with you. Live your life with integrity. Work hard and everything else will fall into place.
