Chapter 1

Introduction

You’ll have heard the story of a taxi driver asking a priest riding in his cab. “Supposing when you die, it turns out you were wrong about the existence of God and Heaven?”

The priest responds, “Supposing you die without believing in Him, then find out you’re wrong? I’ll have lived a happy life in the expectation of going to Heaven. And if I’m wrong, it won’t matter—my life will still have had meaning. But if you’rewrong, it will matter—and it’ll be too late.”

I’ve used that argument many times when my faith has been put under pressure. But reading Dr. Norman Vincent Peale’s The Power of Positive Thinking made me realize just believing in God isn’t enough.

We’re here on earth to fulfill our potential. That parable about the talents is so potent—how interesting that the coins of the day should be called ‘talents’! Each of us has unique talents, given to us by God who expects us to use them for His glory.

Dr. Peale’s book made me understand the importance of setting good goals and going for them. He gives numerous methods for doing this, and for removing obstacles that come our way, using the power God gave us.

In addition to perfect charity with our neighbors, we only need faith ‘the size of a mustard seed’ to make good things happen in our lives.

I wrote this little book to show what happened when I put Dr. Peale’s principles into practice. I hope they inspire you to get a copy of hisbook. You’ll be amazed at how your life changes for the better.

Hilary C.T. Walker

Owings, Maryland, April 2011“It isn’t our position but our disposition which makes us happy.”

—Author Unknown

2: The Shuttle That Shouldn’t Have

We were flying back from a long vacation and due to land at Dulles airport just before the last shuttle left for our hotel.

Normally we’d have driven home. But the trip had been long and exhausting, so we’d booked a room at a hotel near Dulles so we could recuperate before driving the two and half hours down to our home in Richmond, Virginia, the following morning.

Our flight originated in Vancouver with a layover in Denver before taking the final plane to Washington, DC. Then came a delay. Nothing bad—we still had plenty of time to reach Dulles before that last shuttle left at midnight for our motel. It gave us time to browse round the airport bookstore, and off we went.

None of the latest and greatest so-called ‘best-sellers’ grabbed my attention, so I wandered round the rest of the store. For some reason, one small book looked up at me and said, “Buy me.” I picked it up and it seemed pretty interesting, but I hadn’t given up on finding a work of fiction. The little book was a sort of ‘how-to’ volume which I don’t usually buy.

Do you ever see something you like and walk away because it’s not essential? Then later you’re still thinking about it, and know it’s the right thing. That’s what the little book did to me.

I walked back and picked up that pocket-sized paperback. The title was The Power of Positive Thinkingby Dr. Norman Vincent Peale. I knew nothing about the author, but I liked the layout of the book, its optimistic viewpoint, and the author’s friendly writing style. I bought it.

While I was sitting and reading my new purchase at the departure gate, with my husband, eleven-year-old son, and my mother-in-law, the announcement bellowed that our plane was further delayed.

My husband began to worry we wouldn’t make it back in time to catch the last shuttle. There would certainly be no taxis at that hour, and that shuttle was our only chance of reaching the hotel.

By then I had read enough of my optimistic book to turn to him and say, “Don’t worry. It doesn’t matter when we land—the shuttle will still be waiting for us.”

“Don’t be ridiculous! Of course it won’t!”

“Oh, but it will. I’m reading this fantastic book, and it says all I have to do is believe we’ll be okay and it’ll happen.”

My husband rolled his eyes at me—not for the first time in our long marriage—and that was the end of the discussion.

I’d been reading Four: Try Prayer Power, which made total sense to me. Among other things, it advocates using only positive thoughts when praying, as they are the ones that get results.

Underlined is also the importance of being willing to accept God’s will—He may be about to give us something better than what we’re asking for. We mustn’t forget to give thanks constantly for what we have, not keep asking for what we don’t have.