(Minghui.org) I used to be a very jealous person. My in-laws didn’t spend a lot of money on our wedding but did on their younger son’s. Later my in-laws built a much nicer house than ours for my brother-in-law. Out of jealousy, I often complained about my in-laws being partial to their younger son, who was more ill-tempered than my husband, the older son who was easygoing. Due to many other conflicts, I eventually stopped talking to my in-laws.
I told myself that it was always somebody else’s fault that something didn’t go my way, and I could never put myself in anyone else's shoes. The teachings of Falun Dafa taught me that everything happens for a reason and that I was also at fault in many ways. Falun Dafa melted the block of hatred in my heart. I stopped being jealous and started to smile and knew how to live. My husband and I became practitioners at the same time, and seeing the changes in me, my in-laws started reading Falun Dafa books. It was the spring of 1999, the happiest time in my life.
I was incarcerated for my belief after the persecution began in July 1999. When I was released in 2004, my husband was still working on our small farm. The company that took most of our land offered each household a job, and my husband let his brother have it. I wasn’t happy about that, since we weren’t doing well financially because of the persecution and thought his family should have given my husband the job. Later I realized that it wasn’t mine to fight for because I was a practitioner and I finally let it go.
We were being compensated 390,000 yuan (US$61,000) for the land. My in-laws wanted to divide it four ways: for them, for us, for my brother-in-law, and for my sister-in-law. I had to agree to the arrangement. Gender discrimination is prevalent in rural areas and daughters, especially married ones, don’t get to split properties with their families. But I knew that my sister-in-law wasn’t doing well financially and that we needed to take care of her, so I agreed to my in-law’s plan. Many families in the village fought tooth and nail over the compensation for their land. When they saw what we did and were happy about it, they did the same.
My brother- and sister-in-law each borrowed 100,000 yuan more from my in-laws and added it to their share of the land compensation to buy big houses. My husband and I bought a small house. I didn’t want to borrow money and then worry about paying it back, because I knew that, as a practitioner, I have to repay my debts.
My sister-in-law later became a practitioner. She liked to be around me and rented an apartment next to mine. Eventually the house next to mine went on sale and she bought it. Her husband, instead of calling me his in-law, called me “Sister.” My ill-tempered brother-in-law now respects me.
Once in a family meeting my father-in-law announced, “From now on this family must obey the older brother (my husband) and his wife, especially his wife.” I told everyone that we must first thank Falun Dafa for turning us into a happy family. Many people in the village were amazed that our once-combative family was so happy. They knew that it was because we believed in Falun Dafa and were grateful for the keepsakes and truth clarification gifts I gave them.
Wherever I went, I wanted to let people know about Falun Dafa. The first job I got was bottling cooking oil. The little workplace was a wreck, so I cleaned everything, including the machines, tables, and chairs. I put Falun Dafa calendars on the table and posters on the wall and decorated the place nicely. Everyone in the company enjoyed the new decor.
I wasn’t familiar with operating the machines at first and made mistakes. At the end of the month, my boss deducted one-third of my salary to cover the losses. Many of my coworkers felt that I was treated unfairly and that the boss was too hard on me. I didn’t dwell on it, knowing that I did, after all, make mistakes. The next day I came to work with a smile on my face. A co-worker told me that I had the biggest heart she’d ever seen.
I left my cell phone on the table one day and a customer took it while I was away. The manager decided to give him a hard time when he returned. Later the man sent his wife to purchase the oil. I didn’t want to put pressure on her nor did I want to alert the manager. I pretended nothing had happened and dealt with her as usual.
A few days later the man himself came in and the manager was about to take action. I didn’t want to lose him as a customer. I just wanted him to stop his petty stealing. I made up my mind to buy a new phone and educate him when I got a chance.
Whenever the man came in, I would make small talk about being a good man and not to covet little things, because there were surveillance cameras everywhere nowadays. He was embarrassed and let me know he respected me. I believed he wouldn't steal again. When my coworkers asked me if I'd found the person who stole my phone, I said nothing to protect the man’s reputation. From then on, my coworkers, especially my manager, trusted me implicitly and believed whatever I said.
My manager once put his magazine on my desk and realized that my Dafa book was under it. He quickly picked up the magazine and threw it on a couch, saying that it didn’t deserve to be in the same place as my book. Falun Dafa has a sacred place in his heart. Another time, on a gourd that I had found, he carved “Zhen Shan Ren is good” and a lotus flower underneath the words. I still have a photo of that gourd.
My co-workers tell me that I am a good person; my siblings say that I was dumb when I was little but now I do so well; my relatives say that I seem to have all the money I need although I don’t make much; my former classmate told me that I have changed a lot since graduation and that I seem unusually composed. I know that what they see on the surface is a result of my being a Falun Dafa practitioner, a life who walks the most sacred path and has the most glorious future. No words can express my gratitude to Master.
(Submission to “Celebrate World Falun Dafa Day” 2018 on the Minghui website)
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.
