(Clearwisdom.net) I know a retired fellow practitioner in my area. During Fa-rectification period cultivation practice, he has taken the Fa as teacher and never stopped advancing diligently. A framed portrait of Master has respectfully hung on a living room wall in his home, since some time before July 20, 1999. No matter how harshly the evildoers harassed him or intimidated him amid the ruthless persecution over the years, he has steadfastly upheld his belief in Master and Dafa, openly and nobly displays Master's portrait.

When lawless persons harassed him, he would tell them calmly and somberly, "No one has the right to interfere with others' freedom of belief. In addition, Falun Dafa promotes the profound principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance, teaches people to value virtue and be good. Practitioners around the world have long been a testament to the practice's advantages for restoring morals and improving people's minds. You should cherish it! The evil Party that is now persecuting Dafa is bound for elimination. So, the most important thing for you to do now is to quit the evil Party. Only after doing this will you have a bright future."

With his courage to confront the persecutors, he has been able keep Teacher's portrait hanging on the wall of his living room for so many years, spotlessly. Through his efforts, many people with predestined relationships have come to understand the truth about the persecution and Dafa and started a new life.

His wife didn't begin practicing Falun Dafa until after July 20, 1999. She had once developed severe illness karma symptoms that worsened dramatically for a two-week period. Initially she had a severe sore throat that swelled. A few days later her entire throat was congested, and felt as if a large chunk of cotton filled it. She could not eat, and even breathing became difficult. For an entire day she could only drink very thin porridge. She understood from the Fa that if one is practicing cultivation during the Fa-rectification period one will encounter all kinds of tribulations. But it has already been two weeks - why wouldn't she get any better even though she had sent righteous thoughts? Is it because her karma was too massive that she was not worthy of being one of Master's disciples? Or does she belong to the next group? Is Master still looking after me? All kinds of doubts arose in her mind when her righteous thoughts were not strong.

One day, when it hurt so bad she could hardly bear it, she knelt before Master's portrait and pleaded sincerely in her heart, "Master, it has been so long. My symptoms are getting worse. Are you giving up on me?" She looked up at the portrait and saw Master slightly shaking his head. She couldn't believe what she had seen and imagined this to be the result of her tears that had blurred her vision. She wiped her tears and looked again; she saw Master's shoulders move. She was convinced what she had seen was real.

"My merciful Master knows everything." She pressed her hands together in the heshi gesture, and all her doubts vanished. She firmly declared before Master's image, "If it is the persecution by the old forces' evil elements trying to interfere with my doing the three things well, then I will use my strong righteous thoughts to completely eliminate them; if it is because the karma I owe from my previous lives, then I will repay this karma without complaining; I will steadfastly believe in Dafa during the Fa-rectification period, walk well and righteously the path that Master has arranged for me and fulfill my mission to offer sentient beings salvation."

As soon as her doubts had disappeared and righteous thoughts emerged, her "symptoms" immediately left her, as if they had not existed. As it says in Zhuan Falun,

"Once it transpires, one will be tested to see if one can overcome such bad thoughts on one's own. If one is determined, the karma can be eliminated."

She shared her understandings after this incident - that no matter what tests or tribulations one encounters and what doubts one may have, a practitioner's most powerful righteous thoughts must focus on believing one hundred percent in Master and the Fa. This is a practitioner's divine thought.