Book © 1971 by Catherine Ponder, Review by Denice Moffat

“I now recognize, accept and follow the divine plan of my life as it is revealed to me, step by step. I rejoice in the divine plan, which is the sublime plan, and which includes health, wealth, happiness, and perfect self-expression for me now.” Catherine Ponder

This book contains a simple formula for invoking the power of prosperous thinking.

Catherine began searching for this formula in earnest when she was only a secretary, widowed, with a child to support—alone and living in one-room apartment. It took her three years to get out of that apartment.

As a child, her mother could not keep up with her giving away her lunch money, her lunches (after her mom caught on to what she was doing), her clothes and whatever else she could find. She once came home in the middle of winter wearing her coat but in bare feet. She had given away her shoes and socks as her mom warned her that she was not going to buy any more coats!

Catherine later determined that to overcome the war on poverty, you must overcome poverty in your mind. The keys to understanding the forces which generate prosperity include:

1. Giving prosperity a spiritual basis.
2. Overcoming mental blocks about prosperity.
3. Cleansing your mind for prosperity to happen.
4. Creating prosperity mentally first in writing, pictures and in words.
5. Tithing: The Secret to Permanent Prosperity and
   Finding prosperity through love and wisdom concepts:
6. 7. Understanding the Law of Restoration.

1. Giving prosperity a spiritual basis: The bible states that “All things are yours.” If that is the case, then by applying the mental and spiritual laws of prosperity and having money to share and to spare, you are not making God give you anything. It is already your divine heritage. Catherine says, “…As soon as people realize it is spiritually right, rather than spiritually wrong, for them to be prosperous, it is as thought the widows of heaven are opened to them!” Prosperity is a necessity for spiritual growth. We cannot give effectively of the gifts  God gave us if we are stuck in survival mode all the time. We have to fill our cups first before they can run over. God is our source and our only source of prosperity. Any lack of prosperity is a disruption of the channel of getting in tune with the Source.

2. Overcoming mental blocks about prosperity. The bible is a Prosperity Textbook. It is filled with abundance and miracles. The word, “gold” appears more than four hundred times in the Bible. Now, if God mentioned it that many times, don’t you think it’s what God wanted for all of us?

3. Cleanse your mind for prosperity to happen. Cleanse your mind and open it to accept your greatest good by making room for your good. Gold dust (mind power) does not flow easily into a cluttered, crowded situation. So, form a vacuum by cleaning your house, your environment, your mind and release to the Universe items that are no longer needed in your life—even giving up expensive and even new items if you have no more use for them.

4. Creating your prosperity mentally first in writing, pictures and in words.

A. Writing: Make a list of the good you desire to come into your life. Desire means “of the Father.” Deep-seated desires for greater good that remain with you through thick and thin are divine desires of the Father. Sit down at a certain time every day and write down on paper what your ideas of good are. Write down only what you truly desire (not what other people want for you.) Get clarity. If you drift along without any decision or definite purpose, you become the helpless victim of circumstances.

Your mind constantly produces what you choose. Choice produces results, so plan ahead, think ahead, and don’t get caught in victim consciousness. When you find your mind wandering, bring it back to center on those things which you desire. Written words go out into the ethers and work through people, circumstance, and events to open the way for your desired good to come to pass.

Cleanse your mind from prosperity by writing out these three lists:

1. What you want eliminated from your life first.
2. What you want to invite into your life.
3. What you are thankful for in your life. 

Now, ask yourself these questions of everything you have written on your lists:

1. Are these things legal?
2. Are they for the good of all concerned?
3. Am I emotionally prepared to accept them and the responsibility that comes with them?
4. What will I give to make room for them to come into my life?

Buddha taught that each man is free, that he is the maker of his own destiny through his choices, but that in making his choices he must be willing to accept the consequences.

B. Pictures: Wheel of Fortune Boards—Cut out pictures to invoke prosperity mentally. Paste these pictures in a “Wheel of Fortune” mural or in a folder that you can see often.

• Use green or gold for finances/job/career successes, yellow or white for increased spiritual understanding, blue for intellectual accomplishment, orange or bright yellow for health, energy and a more vital life, pink/rose/warm red for love, harmony, marriage, and happiness in relationships.
• Do not clutter the board unless you want cluttered results.
• Make several boards for various phases of your life.
• On your money board put money, not just the things you want or you may end up with indebtedness.
• Place a spiritual symbol on your board. This gives them protections and opens the way for something better as well.
• View them just before you go to sleep and several times each day if possible.

The picturing power of the mind is one of the oldest devices know to man for getting what he/she wants. The pictured good comes to pass as fast as the subconscious can accept it. This is where persistence pays off. If the good you have pictured has not come about, it may be because you have cluttered your mind with too many pictures, or that you have stipulated too much for the present. Clarify your desires and picture what you need most. This opens the way for it to come—often quickly.

When visualizing/picturing does not seem to work: Affirm that what was not healed from the past which holds you back from your greatest good concerning the situation is now resolved.

C. Words: Creating prosperity through the spoken word. Use one or more of the affirmations provided below. Pick the affirmations that make you happy. Say them out loud five minutes each day. Because of the power of words, whatever a person voices he begins to attract.

Affirming the Divine plan for each of us and our children will help us to recognize and come into alignment with if more fully. Catherine is convinced that there is a divine plan implanted in us prenatally. Allowing this plan to flow easily and effortlessly into our lives is the key. “What you fight to get, you must fight to keep.” Sometimes what we are fighting to keep is not in our Divine plan.  This concept works best when we do not try to control every aspect of their divine plan. Your children, through the all-knowing Mind within them, have their best timing within them. They choose exactly the right avenues through which their souls may have their best training in the great school of life. In the infinite scheme of things, all apparent inequalities are being adjusted through the people and events they draw to them. If their experiences are what they need for their soul’s development, you may be able to postpone the experience, but you cannot stop the experience from happening. In these instances affirm God’s Will in the matter, then release your children to the Father so that His Will, not yours, can become manifest.

If your good seems delayed, it may be a matter of divine timing. Maybe the new people or events are not yet connected to you yet. A loving Father sometimes withholds the next development until order is first established in the present situation. At these times it is wise to declare “divine completion” for the present situation and do what steps you can to do physically to complete the processes.

5. Tithing: The Secret to Permanent Prosperity. The word tithe means “tenth.” Many nations taught that ten was the magic number of increase. When you give consistently to God’s work, you open the way to receive consistently in your own. Tithing time is not enough. You must tithe dollars.  Withholding tithe brings lack.

Where you give is important. Give to where you receive spiritual help an inspiration if you wish to be prospered in return. It is inconsistent to do otherwise. Tithing is an act of faith that brings about circulation and dissolves congestion.

What do you start tithing if you have not already started? Tithe from all channels of income. If you can’t afford that, tithe from one channel of income. If you don’t feel guided to tithe “gross income,” then tithe “net” income to start. As you tithe, invoke “ten, the magic number of increase,” in some way. I say the affirmation as I’m writing out my checks: “As I give, I receive times ten.” I connect the writing of my name encircling the numbers in the box of the check and bringing it back to my name. Then I write a tiny “x 10” within the loop.

6.  Find Prosperity through Love and Wisdom Concepts: When one criticizes, condemns, finds fault, resists, and resents, it brings disharmony, a lack of love and unhappiness into lives which are not the qualities that magnetize prosperity. Affirm that God’s love and wisdom permeate every situation and that all is well and in harmony. Use wisdom to overcome the challenges.

A widow who led a troubled life, lonely, in debt, unhappy in her work and dissatisfied with life in general had many friends praying for her. They prayed for her freedom from all her problems, but she neutralized all their prayers by whining and moaning all the time on how harsh life was treating her. Her friends gave her love, but she was not applying wisdom. Attitudes must change before situations change.

7.  Prosperity through Divine Restoration: I liked this chapter. It gave me hope for all the time and money I feel I have lost due to ill health, financial difficulty and human relations problems. I now realize that energy is never wasted, but is in a Universal bank account under my name and has earned interest over all these years. It is my Divine heritage and my Divine retirement and can be manifest in me now!

God, as a living Father, has prepared unlimited, boundless good for each of us which is ever available. It cannot be taken from us. All the good that you have not recognized or claimed in the past has not been lost. It is still yours to claim. When good is not evident, it is usually our attitudes and emotions that have withheld our good or blocked the expression of our good. Your good awaits you. All you have to do is to reclaim it and call it forth. Your good wants you as much as you want it.

Conclusion: I really liked the book. I’d give it a 5-Star rating and keep it in my library until I die as well as recommend it to friends, clients and family.