by declaring this idea, you will begin stirring up the riches of the universe, attracting them to you and expressing them through you.
Success Adores the Prosperous Attitude
Another of the shocking truths about prosperity is that thoughts of your mind have made you what you are, and thoughts of your mind will make you whatever you become from this day forward. The more you realize this, the more you will come to know that people, places, conditions and events cannot keep your God-given prosperity and success from you, once you decide to deliberately employ prosperous thinking as your ally for success. Indeed, you will discover that the things, people and events that have previously worked against you will either begin to work for and with you, or they will fade out of your life, and new people and events will appear to help you succeed. That is the power of prosperous thinking.
Some authorities believe that one prosperous thought is more powerful than a thousand failure thoughts; and that two prosperous attitudes steadily held and expressed are more powerful than ten thousand failure attitudes! Success adores the prosperous attitude, of that you can be sure. A loving Father seems to adore the prosperous attitude, too. Surely others adore it and are attracted to it and work for it. More about these things in the next chapter.
Meanwhile, remind yourself often that God is the Source of all your supply and then make spiritual contact with Him, His rich substance and rich ideas that await your appropriation: I am the rich child of a loving Father. I now accept and claim His rich good for me in every phase of my life. My own God-given success in the form of rich ideas and rich results now appears!
Remind yourself often of these shocking truths about prosperity: That it is shockingly right instead of shockingly wrong to be prosperous. That God created a rich universe for you and wants you to enjoy it. That prosperity can come quickly through your deliberate use of prosperous thinking, which leads to the expression of rich ideas, rich actions and rich results. Thus, dare to ask a friendly, interested, rich, loving Father for guidance often. And with Moses, remember the Lord, God, for He it is that giveth thee power to get wealth.
Now launch forth happily and expectantly into the dynamic laws of prosperity–the spiritual and mental laws which can and will transform your life. Solomon realized the need for exploring them when he explained, “Poverty and shame shall be to him that refuseth instruction.”(Prov. 13:18) You can, from this page forward, begin freeing yourself of limitation, lack and failure. As you accept and use the simple but powerful ideas given in this chapter and in the pages to come, you will find yourself on the royal road to success. Furthermore, you will find it a pleasant experience that produces satisfying results. That is the power of prosperous thinking and that is the shockingly nice truth about it.
Chapter Two
The Basic Law of Prosperity
I learned the basic law of prosperity the hard way. I have been earning the right to tell you about it for a long time. Fifteen years ago, life looked hopeless for me. Widowed and with an infant son, I had no training for any type of work and, therefore, no means of income. My family during that period was not able to offer much financial assistance. If you could have seen me then, you would doubtless have said, “Prosperous thinking or no prosperous thinking, there goes a hopeless case.” It was during this miserable period that I learned about the power of our thinking as an instrument for success or failure. It soon became plain to me that my previous failures were due largely to my previous failure thinking; but that same power of thought, when rightly directed, could be the key to healthy, happy, successful living.
What a realization it was on the day I read the words of Solomon, As a man thinketh within himself, so is he (Prov. 23:7) And later the words of Job: Thou shalt decree a thing and it shall be established unto thee and light shall shine upon thy way. (Job 22:28) From the philosopher, James Allen, I learned: Through his thoughts, man holds the key to every situation and contains within himself that transforming and regenerative agency by which he may make himself what he wills. I then excitedly surmised that my potential wealth, health and happiness were actually within me, waiting to be radiated outward into my world as healthy, wealthy, happy thoughts, feelings, expectations and decrees, which in turn would attract like results into my life.
As soon as I grasped this simple but all-powerful success secret and began applying it, the tide changed and my ships began to come in!
The way soon opened for me to literally work my way through business school. I thereafter became secretary to Joe Tally, a young lawyer who became mayor of our town, a candidate for Congress, and who later expanded the Tally law firm to include several attorneys and secretaries who served a number of prosperous clients. More recently Mr. Tally has served as President of Kiwanis International. At the height of my work with this attorney, I felt led to go into the ministry so that I might help others to realize and apply the spiritual and mental keys to healthy, happy, prosperous living that had meant so much to me. Upon thinking back, I now realize that consciously and unconsciously I invoked the basic prosperity law of radiation and attraction every step of the way. Recently, on meeting old friends whom I had not seen for many years, they exclaimed in astonishment, “Catherine, what has happened to you? You seem so different from the very serious, unsure, unhappy person we once knew. You now seem so happy and radiant, even victorious. Tell us your secret–how did you get that way?” I then explained to them the basic law of life that is discussed in this chapter and throughout this book. It is because of my own personal use of this basic law that I feel so strongly about it, and emphatically believe that it can work for you in even greater ways than it has for me! A number of people who have attended my prosperity lectures have used it with astounding success.
The Law of Laws
Truly the laws that govern prosperity are just as sure and work as the laws that govern mathematics, music, physics, and the other sciences. The Bible describes that basic law of prosperity when it speaks of sowing and reaping, or giving and receiving. The scientists describe it as action and reaction. By some it has been termed the law of supply and demand. Emerson described it as the law of compensation, whereby like attracts like. He declared that the law of compensation is the “law of laws!”
You Cannot Get Something for Nothing
I agree with Emerson that it is time the law of compensation was emphasized as life’s basic law. I like to think of this basic law of prosperity as radiation and attraction: that what you radiate outward in your thoughts, feelings, mental pictures and words, you attract into your life and affairs. But you cannot get something for nothing.
The reason why there is still poverty in this universe of lavish abundance is that many people still do not understand this basic law of life; they do not yet realize that they must radiate in order to attract, and that what they do radiate they constantly attract. Most people today still have to learn that they cannot get something for nothing, but must give before receiving or must sow before reaping. When they do not give or sow in terms of prosperity, they make no contact with God’s lavish abundance, and so there is no channel formed through which the rich, unlimited substance of the universe can pour forth its riches to them.
The truth of this was recently brought to my attention when I had contact with some people in a poverty-stricken area. I soon discovered that these people only wanted a “hand-out.” They were not interested in invoking the basic law of prosperity by giving or sowing first. Instead, they were trying to get something for nothing, which simply cannot be done. Thus they continued to live in poverty.
You Can Always Give Something
Perhaps you are thinking, “What could such a person give when he seems so in lack?” There is always something a person can
