I grew up very poor. I didn’t know that I was poor because I was surrounded with people just like me. I didn’t feel deprived, we had lots of food and lots of people around us. I lived with my extended family and to me it was pretty cool. Believe me, we were economically challenged. At a very early age I was aware of a Higher Power. I talked to It all the time and I sensed when It spoke back to me because It always brought with It a calming presence. I’d feel this assurance to the degree that I would move on the guidance without wavering.

In the midst of poverty, I managed to manifest a lot of material things even as a little girl. I didn’t know about Unity, Science of Mind or (Unity minister and one of the world’s leading prosperity writers) Catherine Ponder then, I just felt that there was so much more than what we could see with our physical eyes.

As a girl I visualized. I flooded my mind with images of what I wanted to see in my closet. I had two sisters and two brothers. Five dollars seemed like a lot of money to us then. Yet, I manifested every color gym shoe and a sweater to match. How did it happen? People gave me money, people gave me the opportunity to earn money and God gave me a few “divine ideas” that I acted on.

I didn’t know about Madame CJ Walker then but when I read her biography, I learned that when no one would give her a job, she hired herself! She made millions finding a need and filling the need. So with the state of America and its economy, I think we all need to think about hiring ourselves. Wayne Dyer says, “See yourself surrounded by the conditions you desire.” I know it’s not easy to see yourself debt-free when you don’t even know how you are going to pay your phone bill. Yet, until you can see it you won’t experience it.

What I know about manifesting is:

1. The Source of every possible need is already within you.

2. You can’t afford the luxury of a negative thought. Negative thoughts and people will keep you stuck in lack, limitation and debt forever.

3. Unforgiveness will not only block your prosperity but it also causes diseases.

4. You only give unto yourself, so give. Give of what you have now. You can’t afford not to give. Give of your talents and treasure.

5. It’s important that you be peace-filled and joy-filled. How you feel determines how quickly your blessings flow to you.

If you don’t have a job, your job is to wake up and connect with the Source. Be grateful. Write a gratitude list. Write a daily forgiveness list and begin to clean up your place. Get rid of things you aren’t using. If you haven’t worn a certain size in three years, give it away. Trust the process. What you give, you receive multiplied. It’s a universal law. Do it and see how it works for you. Find somewhere to give of yourself.

When I was unemployed, I volunteered to help two different people and literally miracles happened in both cases. One lady had a small business and I was led to help her do whatever she needed to do in her office. She was reluctant at first and then she said OK. Within days of me being there, giving of myself in peace and love, her business picked up and at the end of two weeks I had a real bona fide check. The other lady was overwhelmed with papers all over her office and she needed help organizing. I assisted her in getting order and she paid me very well, plus she bought an item that I was trying to sell for $1,000. So within one day I went from nothing to $1,200.

You can’t outline how Spirit will route your blessings to you. Keep reminding yourself that you are having a relationship with the Universe. That’s big. So you have absolutely no idea how anything is going to happen. Your only work is to focus on the Most High and be still so that you can be divinely led.

The world events are indicators that only the Higher Power can straighten out the manifestations of greed, hatred and ignorance at its most gross level. In the midst of all the challenges that exist in the world today we can still prove that Source is a present Presence and It really does respond. We are being called to “utilize” the spiritual principles that we have been talking about for decades.

Personally, I am not accepting anything but good in my life. I am breaking the mold of insufficiency. The challenge for me and for most people is keeping our minds on God as the Source of every good thing. Each day we must awake and remember that God is lavish abundance, the rich substance of the universe.

Charles Fillmore in his book Prosperity says, “The spiritual substance from which comes all visible wealth is never depleted. It is right with you all the time and responds to your faith in it and your demands on it. It is not affected by our ignorant talk of hard times, though we are affected because our thoughts and words govern our demonstration.”

The unfailing resource is always ready to give. It has no choice in the matter; it must give, for that is its nature. Pour your living words of faith into the omnipresent substance and you will be prospered though all the banks in the world close their doors. Turn the great energy of your thinking toward “plenty” ideas and you will have plenty regardless of what others about you are saying or doing.