Providence, let me love You like my chosen betrothed. Flood my arms with anticipation, so the pimples tickle the lace of my best ball gloves. I sweep my fan and search for You above the crowds.
With a quickened pulse, I slip away to greet You in the privacy of my hostess’s garden. Let me come to You uncaring of my appearance, unworried about my reputation. Let no concern shadow my heart about my unworthiness of this match. Pray let me not fall victim to my doubts or be persecuted by my memories, the false promises of my past.
I run to You now in the midst of the spring shower with muslin and sarcenet gathered in my palms. My lifted skirts expose my ankles to the soft kisses of raindrops. I twirl in circles trampling my foolish pride with the tender soles of my slippers. Joy fills my lungs for at last I know it is You who loves me, just as I am.
Let me embrace You like my true betrothed and seek You in the hidden places. The labors of my hands, the burdens upon my shoulders disappear in Your presence. The lightness of Your yoke frees me to sing as Your fragrance, the myrrh and frankincense, anoints the cuff of my sleeve. I smell safety and sense whispers of encouragement. My heart pounds at the softness of Your touch, the shield of protection You gird about me. Though it is I who strayed, I weep at the openness of Your arms, Your forgiveness.
Let me love You in fearless reverence. When the Ton scoff at Your humble beginnings and call You a tradesman’s son, make me not shun You or deny my feelings. I should know now that Your riches provide honor and inheritance for all my generations. Grow my heart to be as generous and as loving. Aid me to be light in this world and a proper helpmate for your ministry.
A wave of shyness grips me. I want to turn, but Your patience draws me. I lower my fan once more and glance at your beauty. There can be no falling away or breaking with You. I shall cling to your promises, your comfort. My lamp is trimmed and full of oil, and I await You, no longer a foolish virgin, but a hopeful bride seeking her Prince of Peace.
As you have your time of devotion this week, study these verses. Your true betrothed has sent an invitation.
Mathew 11:28-29
Mathew 25:1-13
Psalm 68:19
Song of Solomon 2:6
1 Corinthians 15:9
By the time the Regency time period came around, sending letters to your special valentine was a firmly established tradition in England.
Handmade Valentine from 1816. Photo by Nancy Rosin, www.victoriantreasury.com
While a few manufactured valentines were finding their way into shops, mass-produced, pre-printed valentines similar to what we see today (minus the cartoon characters) didn’t really make an appearance until the mid-1800s. Therefore, when our handsome heroes gave valentines to our heroines, they had to make them.
You can check out an article about antique valentines here. You can learn more about the particular valentine pictured at left here.
I am a fan of the handmade valentine. I’m a fan of the handmade anything, really. The personal time and thought mean a lot to me.
My oldest daughter is in preschool this year which means she’s going to have her first Valentine’s party. Since I’m making a deliberate attempt to make me and my family healthier this year, the last thing I want to do is send candy to 24 preschoolers and have the leftovers sitting around the house. I am also on a mission to clean out and organize my house so the second to last thing I want to do is send her to school with little pieces of meaningless, useless paper to go home and clutter up everyone else’s houses.
So we made valentines. I got on the handy, dandy internet and started looking for non-candy, non-pointless valentines and I found these.
My daughter holding her pencil valentines
See? They have a point. <enter big cheesy grin here>
I love these valentines! They are cheap, practical, and really easy for my daughter to put together herself. While the kids might not be excited about pink and purple pencils, I know there are some moms that will be happy to get something besides candy and cartoon characters.
As a bonus, because I had to get this post ready, these valentines are actually done early! I won’t have to stay up on the thirteenth taping construction paper flags to valentine themed pencils. My husband is so proud.
If you’re looking for some creative valentine ideas, check out Family Fun’s website. They have a lot of ideas with and without candy. There are even ideas for teacher gifts and things like that.
What about you? Do you make your valentines or buy them? What’s the most creative valentine you’ve ever seen?
Naomi here, and we’re talking about weddings today. More particularly, wedding hotspots. In today’s society, destination weddings seem to be growing in popularity. A person can’t just get married in a church anymore. Oh no. We have to fly to Hawaii, trade vows on a Jamaican beach at sunset, or visit the Florida keys in order to have the perfect wedding. Does anyone get married in a plain old church anymore?
In Regency England, church weddings were all the rage. They had to be. It was illegal to get married anywhere else (unless you were super rich and bought your way out of the church deal, but we’ll get to that in a moment).
According to the Hardwicke’s Marriage Act of 1753, if a couple wanted to marry, they needed:
a license
banns read in church services for three consecutive weeks
parental consent if under the age of 21
Then the marriage itself had to:
be performed in the morning hours between 8:00 and 12:00
be held in a public chapel or church (Church of England church, Jewish synagogue or Quaker meeting)
be conducted by authorized clergy
be recorded in the marriage register with the signatures of both parties, the witnesses, and the minister.
As you can well see, the British Government was gracious to all those poor people wanting to get married two hundred years ago. And the sad thing is, England has so much lovely scenery. You know those beautiful White Cliffs of Dover? Do you want to get married there at sunset? Regular folk likely couldn’t have, though there were two ways around the tedious list of marriage regulations.
For a modest sum, you could purchase a license from the local clergy, which enabled the marrying couple to skip the banns.
For an exorbitant sum, you could purchase a special license from no less than the Archbishop of Canterbury, which enabled the marrying couple to skip the banns, get married outside a church, and marry after noon.
However, there was a more dramatic way to circumvent the Marriage Act of 1753: Elope. The Hardwicke Marriage Act was only law in England. Scotland didn’t adhere to such strict marriage regulations, and towns along the Scottish/English border became a popular place to elope, (especially if the bride or groom was under 21 and didn’t have parental consent). Today people fly to Vegas; in Regency England they rode four days (or more) from London to Gretna Green, Scotland. Or Coldstream Bridge, Lamberton, Mordington, or Paxton Toll.
Blacksmith's shop in Gretna Green
For those wealthy, law abiding citizens not wishing to circumvent the Marriage Act or do something so extreme as to marry out of doors, the place to get married was St. George’s, Hanover Square. Interestingly enough, St. George’s is not located on Hanover Square itself, but a block or two away. It was located in the fashionable place for the ton to live when in London: Mayfair.
The church held about 1,000 weddings per year in Regency times, which comes out to three weddings per day. And remember the majority of these weddings had to take place between 8:00 am and noon. Can you imagine getting married there? Maybe, if you were lucky, you would have had the church for a whole hour before getting get kicked out so the next bride in line could have her turn. Which makes me equate St. George’s to a modern day Las Vegas wedding chapel. The record for marriages at St. George’s was set in 1816, with 1,063 weddings, including nine on Christmas Day.
Where everyone wanted to get married
So there you have it, Wedding Hotspots in Regency England, and the reason why those places were so hot: The Hardwicke Marriage Act.
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A mother of two young boys, Naomi Rawlings spends her days picking up, cleaning, playing and, of course, writing. Her husband pastors a small church in Michigan’s rugged Upper Peninsula, where her family shares its ten wooded acres with black bears, wolves, coyotes, deer and bald eagles. Naomi and her family live only three miles from Lake Superior, where the scenery is beautiful and they average 200 inches of snow per winter. Naomi writes bold, dramatic stories containing passionate words and powerful journeys. Her debut novel, Sanctuary for a Lady releases in April of 2012.
Hello, Jessica here! It’s February, and when I started thinking about Valentine’s Day during the Regency, I thought of a poem that many a Regency gentleman would have had in a volume on his bookshelves. It’s an epithalamion – or “marriage poem” – written by John Donne to celebrate a marriage that took place on Valentine’s Day. (If you want to read the whole thing, you can find it here.)
In the poem, Donne riffs on the legend that Valentine’s Day is the day when the birds choose their mates. He says, humorously, “Hail Bishop Valentine, whose day this is, all the air is thy diocese,” and goes on from there to make comparison between the marriages of the birds and the marriage of the human couple in whose honor his poem is written.
As I perused the poem in preparation for this blog entry, I admit that my first reaction was to geek out on all the cool literary and historical stuff in it – the use of avian and celestial imagery, the conceit that the whole poem is a speech to St. Valentine himself, the echoes of Chaucer’s “Parliament of Fowls” – but as I read further, my thoughts took a more devotional turn.
Even though the Regency was a time when the ideas spawned by the Enlightenment were changing the culture and a time when industrial progress was starting to creep over the landscape in the form of railroads and factories, it was still a time when the young minds of the landed gentry were saturated with ancient philosophy and poetry, thanks to the classical education so many of them received. The old idea of the natural world as a created, ordered system still held sway over the English imagination.
Thus, the idea of finding your spouse on the same day that the birds found their mates appealed not just because it was romantic, but because, in some mystical sense, it was right. Mankind was seen as a part of the natural order and it was fitting to let your own life reflect the order of the cosmos.
Of course, even if getting married on Valentine’s Day was a good thing, no educated Regency gentleman would have said that it was necessary. But what most would have said is that there was an order to the cosmos and that humans were a part of it.
Romance and the Cosmos
Romance might be a small part of the cosmic order, but if it is a part of it, what does that mean? Well, it means what we’ve always known that it means: it means that romance is not something meant to stand alone. It’s a part of a bigger picture – it’s supposed to lead to and be a part of marriage. A wedding is the crowning glory of a romance. And then, over time, things shift, and romance becomes the warm affection of a faithful marriage. Romance is the gate a couple opens in order to walk down the path to their home – the home that was created when the two became one – and romance is the light and warmth that still adorn that home, months and years and decades after the wedding itself.
More than that, a good marriage becomes a window for us to understand the relationship between Christ and His church. Maybe the marriage of the birds was just a legend that provoked some beautiful poetry once upon a time, but the poetic relationship between human marriage and the wedding of the Lamb is a true reflection of eternity onto the skin of the natural universe. All good and true love is not only a gift from God: it’s also an arrow that directs our gaze back to the greatest Lover of all.
Welcome to Regency Reflections: The Inspirational Regency Reader’s Companion. Whether you are a long time fan or just discovering this wonderful time period, we hope to be a valuable resource for you. Here you will be able to reach out to your favorite authors, learn more about the history of the Regency, and connect with other readers.
Engraving of Vauxhall Garden, 1810
On Mondays you can sit back with a cup of tea and learn a little tidbit of history. Ever wondered why the period is called the Regency? Maybe you would like to find out a little bit more about how people went visiting or what dances they did. You never know what you might learn!
Wednesdays are when we like to share a little bit of ourselves with you. You’ll learn about what’s going on in our lives and be able to share in the conversation yourself. We’ll also interview your favorite authors whenever they have new books coming out so you’ll always know when Regency titles are going to be hitting the shelves near you.
Fridays we want to take you on a journey of faith. We’ll post short devotionals or lessons God has been teaching us. Strengthen your faith by walking with us.
Periodically, we’ll also be telling you about some of our favorite other Regency related media, such as websites, movies, or classic regency novels that have inspired us to write.
Take a moment and look around. You can vote in polls about currently available books or troll around the links section and visit your favorite author’s cyber home. Move on over to our home site, www.inspirationalregency.com, and look up the answer to some historical question you’ve always had.
We are excited to start this project and are so glad you’ve decided to join us! If you want to know more about who we are and who will be sharing with you over the next month, go to the blog editors page. You’ll find the link under the Regency church picture above.
Is there something you would like to see us cover? Maybe you have a burning question for one of our authors? Just want to tell us how excited you are about the blog? Leave us a comment below. We’d love to hear from you.
If you plan to attend Culture, Cocktails, and Culinary Creations at Buns and Roses 2020 with Tracey Livesay, Priscilla Oliveras, and me, please hop between us, pick your drink, and make it with us during the live virtual session. My drink pulls on my Caribbean heritage and my need for things to be perfectly sweet–not too sugary, not bland, but perfect. Below are my recipe and a little history tidbit.
One of the greatest contributions to the modern world is Trinidad’s Bitters.
Angostura bitters are an aromatic staple that can often be found in your local grocery store. In 1824, Dr. Johann Siegert opened a business to sell bitters as a medicinal tincture, but the surprising tasty concoction found its way into beverages. The secret bitters formula is more closely guarded than Coke-Cola’s. The Angostura Company produces batches in unmarked bags of ingredients. The production schedule is irregular and only happens when the stock in the Port of Spain warehouse is low.
Sour Bitter Smash is a drink that speaks to the fun one can have when sweet fruity flavors blend with perfect hints of bitters.
Sour Bitter Smash
1 cup soursop (guanabana) juice* or pineapple juice
1/2 cup strawberry lemonade
4 dashes of angostura bitters
1 1/2 teaspoons blue curaçao liqueur
Ice cubes
Non-alcoholic
6 tablespoons of good seltzer water
Alcoholic
6 tablespoons of good gin
Garnish: Edible flower or burnt lemon rind.
Choose the your version of my smash, load all ingredients in a cocktail shaker. Fill with ice. Cover and shake well. Strain and pour into two fancy glasses. Garnish and enjoy.
Sour Bitter Smash – a Drink that salutes the Islands
Regency Reflections, the blog for Christian Regency (Inspirational Regency) is launching February 2012. Please come back for a visit, a mild cup of tea, or spirited negus.
It’s four ingredients. Yes, four and these gems are so good. I love to cook, so you’ll often find me in the kitchen. I like elegant great tasting easy to create recipes. So this is one of my personal favorites.
Ingredients: 1 cup of peanut butter, the crunchy type with peanuts 1 egg white (You need to cut the cholesterol somewhere.) 1 cup of sugar (I use raw cane sugar, sounds healthier, but you may eat so many that this doesn’t help)
1/2 of Christmas Candy or Chocolate chopped to be peanut size.
Directions: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking tray with parchment or a silicone mat. They will stick to your tray if you don’t, not good eats, a big mess. No one has time for all that cleaning. Combine all the ingredients together mixing until you have a smooth dough-like consistency. Take a scoop of it and form a small ball. Flatten it out onto the tray. Get fancy and make crisscrosses with a fork’s tines. Place the cookies at least an inch apart.
When your tray is full and your oven is ready, pop these into the oven for about 7 minutes. Be careful not to overbake and adjust your timing based on your oven. The cookies should be a light golden brown. You want these to be chewy. When you take them from the oven, let them cool on the tray for about 2 minutes, then transfer the cookies to a wire cooling rack. I usually just pick up the parchment and set it on the rack to cool completely.
Your patience will be reward with chewy yummy goodness.
My Favorite Christmas Novel: Frederica is quite the hostess and loves to make sure her guest has the right treats. Find out more about her in The Butterfly Bride:
The rapture is said to be Tuesday. Are you ready to meet your Maker?
More importantly, are you ready to give an account for every moment you have not fully lived up to your calling? The internet is buzzing with theories and because of recent events—assassinations, and global unrest—some belie the end is near. But for those of us grounded in Christian faith, we know the truth. According to Matthew 24:36, we are told:
“But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.”(NIV)
History is littered with hoaxes, false predictions of the end times that have left people swindled, embarrassed, and disappointed when life simply continued.
In 1843 and 1844, a Baptist preacher named William Miller predicted that Jesus would return between March 21, 1843, and March 21, 1844. When this did not happen, he revised the date to October 22, 1844, resulting in what became known as the “Great Disappointment.”
In 1988, former NASA engineer Edgar C. Whisenant published 88 Reasons Why the Rapture Will Be in 1988, predicting the rapture between September 11 and September 13, 1988. When his prediction failed, he revised it multiple times, first to October 3, 1988, and later to 1989, 1993, and 1994. Even engineers can be wrong.
In 1992, a South Korean religious movement led by Lee Jang Rim, called the Dami Mission, predicted the rapture on October 28; when it did not occur, Lee was convicted of defrauding his followers out of millions of dollars.
In 1997, Pastor Ed Dobson, a nationally known speaker and author, published The End: Why Jesus Could Return by A.D. 2000, arguing that the increasingly chaotic world was a sign that Jesus would return soon. While he correctly noted that the world was becoming more hectic, his prediction did not come to pass.
One of the more tragic predictions came from the Heaven’s Gate cult, which believed the appearance of Comet Hale-Bopp in 1997 was a sign that Earth was about to end, and that they had to hitch a ride on a spaceship hidden within the comet. Following this belief, 39 cult members committed mass suicide, a devastating reminder of the dangers of such predictions.
Televangelist Jerry Falwell Sr. speculated that the Antichrist would appear sometime between 1999 and 2009. While controversial and widely criticized, this prediction, too, failed to materialize.
In 2011, Christian radio broadcaster Harold Camping declared that the rapture would occur on May 21. When that failed, he revised the date to October 21, 2011, having predicted again in 1994. Again his followers, felt betrayed.
Televangelist John Hagee, co-authoring with Mark Blitz the book Four Blood Moons: Something Is About to Change, claimed that a series of four consecutive lunar eclipses from April 2014 to September 27–28, 2015, signaled the end times. The blood moons came and went, with no apocalypse in sight.
Finally, some voices in the Christian community warned that the year 2020 would signal the end, citing technological collapse, disease, or other cataclysms. While 2020 was undeniably a difficult year, the world continued, proving once again that apocalyptic predictions are best approached with skepticism.
And of course the most recently spread rumor on TikTok and repeated on other social media is another announcement for the rapture. As far as I can tell, this one is being reported to have originated by South African Pastor Joshua Mhlakela. Mhlakela has predicted that the rapture would happen on September 23 and 24, 2025, claiming the revelation came to him in a dream. Well that dream has spread like wildfire.
These examples remind us that no matter how convincing the prediction may seem, life continues—and those who place too much faith in a date are often left disappointed.
So I return to the core question: are we living in a way that truly honors our calling? For me, the answer is clear. I want to live a life worthy of the gifts God has given me—the talent to write, to speak, and to walk upright. These are not abstract abilities; they are distinct blessings that shape how I move through the world. The gift of health allows me to scale mountains, jog a mile, and experience life with vitality. The gift of speech gives me the ability to share ideas, offer wisdom, and brighten someone’s day—whether here on this podcast, in a keynote, or at a workshop. And the gift I cherish the most, the gift of writing, allows me to breathe life into characters, to refine ideas, and to share stories that resonate across time and space. Writing is where my soul finds joy.
Yet, when I reflect honestly, I know my work is far from complete. I want to reach more people, encourage those from every station and place, and see my characters come alive on television and streaming platforms. I want history told in its full context—the good, the bad, and the ugly—so that everyone can know the truth, and even see themselves in these stories. My mission is not finished until these stories are fully shared.
So yes, if the rapture truly comes tomorrow, I am not yet ready to give full account. I still have mountains to climb, stories to tell, and people to touch. And if life continues, as it often does, I remain committed to swinging for the fences, pen in hand, heart open, and ready to share.
To my listeners: thank you for allowing me to come into your homes, to share stories and perspectives, to celebrate the joys of writing, speaking, and imagining. Keep listening, keep sharing, and join our crew on this ongoing journey.
Books for those wanting to know more about the end times and how to deal with it:
Ordinary by Michael Hortondoes not specifically address the rapture but offers a critique of the evangelical tendency to seek extraordinary spiritual experiences. Horton emphasizes the value of ordinary Christian practices as the means through which God works in the world. More faithful living in the present, rather than fixating on speculative end-times—is what we need.
Fictional Works include:
Left Behind by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. JenkinsA bestselling novel series that dramatizes a pre-tribulation rapture scenario, exploring the lives of those left behind during the end times.
Pat Simmons’ The Intercessors series is a Christian fiction collection that intertwines spiritual warfare, redemption, and the power of prayer, following characters who confront life’s challenges through faith and intercession. Start with Day Not Promised.
Check my website for the latest on Fire Sword, and Sea, pre-order and get those collector cards—because the adventure is just beginning, and there’s so much more to explore.
You can find my notes on Substack or on my website, VanessaRiley.com under the podcast link in the About tab.
I’m encouraging you to live boldly, to tell your stories, and never stop reaching for the calling you’ve been given.
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Thank you for listening.
Hopefully, you’ll come again. This is Vanessa Riley.
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit vanessariley.substack.com/subscribe
