Hello and welcome to Pastor Rick's Daily Hope, the Bible teaching ministry of Rick Warren.

We're pausing our current series to bring you a special message from Pastor Rick,

one that will help you reflect on God's goodness and grow a heart of gratitude.

And now Rick brings you the final part of a moving message called

Being Thankful, even in Bad Times. John 14 says this. Jesus said, I'm going there, he's

talking about heaven. I'm going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you,

I will come back and take you to be with me

that you also may be where I am.

What an incredible promise.

Whenever I read that,

circle the phrase, prepare a place for you. Whenever I read that,

I'm going to prepare a place for you. The Bible says God wanted a family, and the Bible calls

the church the bride of Christ. He's preparing a place for his bride, those who put their faith in

him. And I always think about how nearly 39 years ago

as a young man,

and I fell madly in love with a woman named K. Lewis,

and I was head over heels in love with this woman.

And we got engaged,

and I lived in L.A. County, and she lived up in Fresno,

and I knew I needed to prepare a place for my bride, where we would live together. And I didn't have a whole lot of money, but I found the coolest little condo I could find.

And of course, being in the 1970s, that meant it had lime green shag carpet and burnt

orange fixtures.

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