(Minghui.org) A lady I know began practicing Falun Dafa in 1996. While illegally imprisoned in a forced labor camp in 2000, she turned away from Dafa. When she was released six months later, fellow practitioners visited her and tried to talk to her about Falun Dafa and the persecution, but she refused to listen.
In 2002, I went to see her. As soon as I started talking, she started berating me and got really ugly. I got angry and left. In fact I was so angry I decided that I wouldn't contact her again.
After several months I had a dream. In the dream I saw a practitioner near the lady's home. The practitioner told the lady that she had practiced well and had great mighty virtue. The practitioner cleared away the barriers in the lady's mind by talking to her about the persecution. I woke up very happy, thinking that some practitioner would go help the lady who had stopped practicing.
Several months passed, but nobody went to talk to her. I gradually realized that the practitioner in the dream was me, so I went to see her and try to talk to her again. This time her demeanor was completely different. She did not yell at me. She just kept silent. I kept talking about the persecution and Falun Dafa.
After several weeks, I went to the lady's home a third time. This time she again behaved differently. As I talked, she asked question after question. I answered her based on the principles of the Fa. She gradually came back to a righteous understanding of the Fa. She has now begun practicing Dafa again.
Another lady started practicing Falun Dafa in 1996. However, she had deviated from the Fa and stopped practicing for three years. During those three years I thought several times about going to talk to her and helping her, but I just didn't make myself do it. I was afraid that contacting her might bring me trouble, because her relatives were deeply poisoned by the CCP's lies. I had a dream in which I went to explain the truth to her many times, and each time she accepted what I said and came back to cultivate Dafa. I knew that Master was giving me hints and that as long as I went to talk to her, she would come back. I felt really sad, especially when I realized that I was so reluctant to contact her simply because I didn't want to bring myself trouble. Out of my selfishness I had no consideration for a former fellow practitioner's situation nor the futures of the massive group of sentient beings she represents. Whenever I thought about this, I felt ashamed.
I recently invited her to my home for a chat. While I cooked, I talked to her. Fifteen minutes after I started talking about the persecution, with a sudden "bang," there was an explosion in the kitchen. A ball of fire flew at me, terrifying my family. My hair was burned an inch or so from my forehead to the back of my head. My arms were red and hurt. At the time I was wearing a white vest. The fireball singed the vest yellow and the whole kitchen smelled charred. My daughter hurried over and helped me smooth out my burnt hair. She urged me to take a shower and to change clothes. This “accident” interrupted my explaining the facts. I came to realize immediately that it was evil interference trying to stop me. I told the former practitioner, “Do you see? I want to save you, but the evil keeps interfering. Today the evil used this approach. My family has been leaving the lighter on the cook top for many years and there was never a problem. Why did it explode today?”
At the moment I had very strong righteous thoughts, and my first thought was, “Nothing should interfere with my helping this former practitioner.” I continued talking as though nothing had happened and said, “All the earthquakes and phenomena today are not accidental. Without Master's protection, the consequences could be devastating.” I let her read a Minghui article titled, “The Situation of Those Lives Who Turned against Dafa.” After she finished, I continued explaining the truth to her. She asked me many questions.
I answered her based on the Fa and broke through her barriers. I told her what would happen to those who went astray from Dafa at the conclusion of Fa-rectification. I repeatedly told her not to be afraid and to begin cultivating in Dafa again. She said that she wasn't afraid. “Then what's stopping you?” I asked. She said, “I'm the kind who, as you said, was arranged to play a negative role.” I told her that those were the old forces' arrangements and that when we came down from heaven, we promised each other we'd wake one another up if we became lost in the human world. She said, “Yes, you're trying to wake me up!” I knew that her mind had cleared. I said, “I've been very selfish, and for three years I was afraid to talk to you.” She said, “It wasn't because you were afraid, it was because it wasn't time yet. Now it's time.”
I asked her to take the copy of Master's Fa lecture home to read. She said she didn't dare to for fear her husband would find it. I told her that, in my many dreams, I went to wake her up, and each time I was able to wake her up. She got very excited. At the end she said that she understood the truth, but she still had some doubts, and she wanted to think about it. By that time we had talked for almost three hours and it was already very late. She stood up and was about to leave. I realized that the reason she still had some doubts was because there were still some evil elements lingering in her field. As long as we sent righteous thoughts to help her eliminate the evil, she would completely understand the truth.
Through this experience I came to understand that it's sometimes very easy to wake up a former fellow practitioner who went astray. As long as we answer their questions based on the Fa, they'll come back to cultivate in Dafa. However, if we dwell on how far they've gone astray, it may be very difficult to bring them back.
We might also not want to talk to them because we're afraid. Our ordinary notions are preventing us from waking up these past fellow practitioners and it may destroy them, as well as their huge celestial bodies and lives. If that happened, we would also be guilty. How difficult it is to wait for thousands of years! If we were the ones lost in this world and no one bothered to wake us up, how would we feel?
I asked this fellow practitioner once whether any other practitioners had contacted her during those three years. She said that nobody had tried to talk to her. I felt very sad. There are so many former fellow practitioners who are still astray! I hope that if fellow practitioners can contact former practitioners, they will help bring them back. This is also a mission Master bestowed has on us.
Views expressed in this article represent the author's own opinions or understandings. All content published on this website are copyrighted by Minghui.org. Minghui will produce compilations of its online content regularly and on special occasions.
