Valentine Promises , livre ebook

My Dearest,

There’s no doubt . . . I’ve found a priceless masterpiece in YOU. Having you in my life proves that two are better than one. Thanks for being there for me and believing in me. Your love refreshes me and challenges me to become a better person. Thanks for all you say and do to light up my life. Know how much I appreciate and cherish the gift of you. Thanks for the memories. May our love grow with each day and year we share together.
All My Love ,


{ D ATE }

2009 LeAnn Weiss
Published by Revell a division of Baker Publishing Group P.O. Box 6287, Grand Rapids, MI 49516-6287 www.revellbooks.com
Revell edition published 2014
ISBN 978-1-4412-2609-9
Previously published by Regal Books
Ebook edition originally created 2011
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means-for example, electronic, photocopy, recording-without the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file at the Library of Congress, Washington, DC.
All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version ®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved.
Other version used: The Living Bible, copyright © 1971. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, IL 60189. All rights reserved.
D EDICATED TO MY H USBAND , R ICK R UPARD:

Thanks for adding WOW to my life!!! I waited for you for a LONG time, but you were definitely worth the wait! Your love has already surpassed my dreams. It’s fun having you to brainstorm and collaborate with. I’m so thankful that God joined us together for this adventure in life. You focus me and complete me! When we encounter challenges and disappointments, May we always remember our Source. Every day may we look to God alone to be the Strength of our lives. May we always remember that because He first loved us, we can love each other, and others, extravagantly.
The greatest happiness of life is the conviction that we are love, loved for ourselves, or rather in spite of ourselves. —V CTOR H UGO
Love is always a choice. That’s what makes it meaningful. —G ARY C HAPMAN

To be loved is a treasure; to love is priceless. —G LORIA G AITHER
God is the artist . . . you are a work of art in progress, a divine poem being written on the pages of time. —C ANDY P AULL
Introduction
Alarmed by Love
Heads-up for Love
Streetcar to Love
A Promise Worth Keeping
Longings for a Pure Heart
Surprise Gifts of the Heart
My Unexpected Journey to Love
Surprised by Love . . . Twice
Hope for the Romantically Challenged
An Empty Nest Filled with Love
A Premature Proposal
A Picture of Love
The Long Journey Home
A Valentine Blessing in Disguise
Finding the Love of a Lifetime
acknowledgments
Introduction
E VEN BEFORE I WAS RECRUITED to contribute to the first Hugs book in 1996, and I became nationally labeled as the “Hugs Lady,” I’ve always been a romantic at heart and had a fascination with true love stories. For years, Delilah has been one of my favorite radio programs; I’ve spent many late nights listening to her love songs, dedications and stories (www.delilah.com). And I’m a sucker for love story plots. Some of my favorite romantic movies include An Affair to Remember , The Sound of Music , Sleepless in Seattle , Message in a Bottle , You’ve Got Mail and Enchanted . Love and romance are definitely ingrained in me.
Valentine’s Day is widely considered one of the most romantic days of the year. According to the diamond industry, more than 10 percent of all marriage proposals happen on February 14. In fact, Valentine’s Day now ranks as the top day both for marriage proposals and weddings in the U.S. That day is also observed in Canada, Mexico, the United Kingdom, France, Belgium and Australia. People all over the world set aside a day to celebrate romance and love.
But when you love someone, any day can be Valentine’s Day!
When doing research for this book, I was surprised to find so many different versions of how Valentine’s Day originated. One legend suggests that the Roman feast of Lupercalia was Christianized to memorialize St. Valentine in A.D . 270. 1 Pope Gelasius honored another St. Valentine on February 14, in A.D . 496. One popular belief is that St. Valentine was a clergyman executed in ancient Rome for secretly marrying couples against the wishes of Emperor Claudius II, who believed that marriage weakened his soldiers. Or maybe the day was selected because of Chaucer’s observation that birds chose mates around February 14.
While I didn’t find any consensus on how the day originated, I did discover that a poem written by Charles, Duke of Orleans, to his wife, while he was imprisoned in the Tower of London in 1415, is believed to be the oldest known valentine still in existence today. It’s part of the manuscript collection of the British Library in London.
Did you know that in the U.S., the first handmade Valentine cards may have been exchanged as early as the 1700s? Esther Howland of Massachusetts is attributed with selling our country’s first mass-produced valentine cards in the 1840s. Her elaborate commercial cards featured ribbons, real lace and colorful pictures.
The card thing stuck. Today approximately 65 percent of households exchange valentine cards—more than 180 million cards, not including children’s packaged cards, are sold in the U.S. annually. 2
The custom of giving flowers for Valentine’s Day may tie back to the time the daughter of King Henry IV of France held a party to honor the saint and gave a bouquet of flowers to every lady present. Today, more than 214 million roses are given, making February 14 the florist industry’s number-one fresh-cut flower holiday. It’s also a big day for the chocolate industry. Statistics from the National Retail Federation show that the average American consumer spends about $116 on Valentine gifts, totaling more than $14 billion in spending each year in this country alone.
Yet Valentine’s Day, for all its attention, is only one day a year. Love and romance don’t have to wait for February 14 to roll around. We can—and should—express our love to each other every day. So I also did a little research on love. Did you know that if you Google the word “love,” you can cruise through 2,360,000,000 entries?! I also discovered that Ripley’s “Believe-It-or-Not” contends that the world’s longest love letter was written by French artist Marcel de Leclure in a simple letter that expressed the French equivalent of “I love you” a record 1,875,000 times. 3
One person I admire who also had a gift for writing letters was President Ronald Reagan. I loved his 1960 valentine note to his wife, Nancy. On his letterhead, he handwrote:

Darling Mommie Poo:
Feb. 14 may be the date they observe and call Valentine’s day
but that is for people of only ordinary luck.
I happen to have a “Valentine’s Life” which started on March
4, 1952 and will continue as long as I have you . . . 4
He personalized his love note with hand-drawn hearts and arrows at the top left and bottom right corners of his letterhead.
I think President Reagan’s message hit upon something important. Yes, all of the gifts on Valentine’s Day are a nice bonus; but a gift alone doesn’t make any of us really feel loved if it’s not backed by action. It’s the consistent little daily acts of love that really make life sweet. Don’t we all dream of experiencing a Valentine’s life where we are loved, respected, cherished, encouraged, praised, honored, appreciated and lavished with acts of kindness on a regular basis?
Real love isn’t about a day; it’s about a lifestyle. It is priceless and can’t be bought with money. It’s only possible through selfless, humble, committed, unconditional, patient love. But I’m convinced the type of love we truly desire directly conflicts with today’s pop culture “love” driven by shallow feelings, self-centeredness and instant gratification. No wonder our divorce rate is so high when our culture endorses bailing out of any relationship the first moment we’re not feeling “happy” anymore. True love can never grow and thrive with a “me first” attitude.
My parents and three sets of grandparents were all great models of selfless love. My dad loved my first mom, JoAnn, until she died in a car accident at age 34. And he’s loved my second mom, Sandy, for almost 36 years. My dad’s parents celebrated 58 years together before my Grandpa Arthur Weiss died. I’ll never forget their fiftieth wedding celebration in St. Louis, or my Grandpa and Grandma Allen’s forty-fifth anniversary party. Sandy’s dad, George “Papa” Martens was married 38 years before his first wife died. Then he married Mom Marge and enjoyed another 33 years together before dying at age 94. Although they all faced major life trials as couples, with God’s help they honored their wedding vows until death. Most important, they all taught me about the importance of a relationship with the Author and Creator of Love.
In 1986, as a young college student, my pastor revolutionized my legalistic religious paradigm when he challenged me to look at the Bible as God’s timeless love letter instead of irrelevant and outdated Bible stories. The NIV translation I normally use contains 541 verses on the topic of heart , with 505 verses mentioning love , and 12 more verses on loving . I discovered that this Book had a lot to say about love and life today . Studying what God says about love changed my life as I started writing love letters back to God. The Bible makes an outrageous claim that God is Love. Love isn’t just one of God’s good character qualities—it’s who He is.
Writing this book about love and romance was especially significant to me in this s