(Minghui.org) I began Falun Dafa cultivation practice in 1997, at age 27. The Fa principles have since helped me deal calmly with the trying times in my life. My husband, coveting gains for himself, committed a crime in 1998 and was sentenced to a ten-year prison term. I struggled during this time to raise our 3-year-old son by doing some odd jobs.
Husband Rejoins the Family
After the commutation of the sentence, my husband ended his eight-year prison life in March 2006 and returned home. He was very weak when he got home, and I prepared two cups of soy milk for him every day, and tried to provide food with lots of nutrition. He rested at home for about half a year. During this period of time, he kept asking for money to help out some inmates who had been released. I gave it to him without hesitation. I said, “Once you feel better and find a steady job, you can earn your money by doing that job well.”
My husband needed some time to adjust back into family life and society. My sister and my niece also lived with us. I often told him how we helped each other all those years when he wasn’t around. Before my brother-in-law passed away, he treated my child as his own; he often took him for outings, and bought him clothes and food. We should therefore treat our niece as our own too. My husband said he understood and would do the same.
When my husband was released from prison and returned home, my mother showed displeasure. But after some talks with my aunt and uncle, everyone understood that we had to let the past go and not harbor blame. My husband therefore got a chance to restart his life.
My husband appreciated that I waited for him all those years he was incarcerated. I told him, “I understand from Master Li’s teachings that between husband and wife, not only is there sentiment, but there is also altruism. Think about it, our child was young, and I was unemployed. There were so many temptations around me. Do you think just being kind would solve all the problems? No. It was my Teacher that taught me how to be a good person and to always be considerate of others first. At the time, your sister told me to divorce you because she thought nobody would wait for ten years for their spouse to be released from prison. I told your parents I would wait for you. Of course, I also told them that if they could help me out a little bit, I would appreciate that. I wanted our child to eventually be able to live with his biological dad and mom. But nobody believed me. Yet I don’t blame them.”
I continued, “I did my best and still regarded them as my relatives. When your sister was ill, I brought her food while taking care of our 3-year-old child. I also went to your parents to wash their clothes and do chores around the house. I also helped to clean up your sister’s house and rent it out before the lease expired. The money made on the rent was sent to your sister. I was able to do all these things because I consider myself a Falun Dafa practitioner. If I didn’t practice Falun Dafa, I would have been a selfish person who didn’t want to go through any hardships or have any responsibilities. Perhaps I would divorce you, hand our child to your parents, sell our house. and take off somewhere to find my happiness. Then there would no longer be a family.” My husband was very touched. “You’re like a Bodhisattva,” he said.
Husband Begins to Understand Fa Principles
My husband didn’t object to me studying Dafa books and doing the exercises. But whenever I clarified the truth to him, he didn’t want to listen. His head was filled with the Chinese Communist Party’s atheism. When he saw how some Dafa disciples suffered in the persecution, he said to me, “In prisons, when the ordinary prisoners were killed, they said these people had a heart attack. With you folks that practice Falun Dafa, nothing is guaranteed. Nobody in China treats you folks like human beings.”
I thought to myself, that since my words have not convinced him, I’ll use my actions to let him see the beauty and goodness of Dafa. I installed an NTDTV satellite receiver at home. My husband was very resistant at first, and just watched movies. I did not bother him about his choice of programming. I instead often chatted with him about things going on in China, many of which he had never heard about. He gradually started paying attention to some current affairs and local news. He also began to develop independent thinking and questioned some of the things he heard about.
The Minghui website publishes many greetings and good wishes sent to Teacher around the New Year time, World Falun Dafa Day, and Teacher’s birthday. On one of these special occasion days, my husband happened to finish watching a program called Legends Unfolding on the NTDTV. He said, “This is the power of having a belief system!” I could sense that his heart had started to be moved. During that period of time, he often dreamed about being together with the people who had already passed away, and they were inviting him to join them. I told him they were hints that he would be in danger. I gave him a Falun Dafa keepsake to wear and it has been with him ever since.
My husband worked in a steel factory. Once, while attempting to clean a monitor hung high over a blasting furnace, the protective guardrail gave way and he fell down toward the blasting furnace. He landed on an open shelf just 30 cm away from the center of the furnace. He only sustained a large bruise on his thigh and nothing else major happened to him. If he had fallen into the furnace, that would have been the end of him! All his colleagues were scared, but glad that nothing bad happened to him.
Besides the factory job, he also had a part-time job at a building management company. Because he didn’t agree with his manager requiring customers to make unreasonable payments, he was let go. But then, a day later, the manager got fired, and my husband was called back. I said to him, “When you are truly helping people, everyone knows, and you are getting rewarded by the Heavens! Bad people are naturally being punished.”
A Harmonious Family
After my husband was settled with his job and had a steady income, he discussed buying a gravesite for my mother-in-law who passed away in 2001. Why did he bother to discuss this with me? It was because although his two older brothers already had steady incomes and lived comfortable lives, they didn’t want to do it. My husband worried that I would refuse. He wanted to bury his parents together and was proud of doing the task. I praised him for doing his best and not worrying about the decisions of his brothers.
My husband went to Beijing to visit his brother and also met his brother’s mother-in-law for the first time. My husband thought that his brother’s family didn’t treat my mother with much respect. Although it was a custom to give a gift when first meeting a relative, my husband decided not to buy anything for this woman. It did not appear to be something that family would do out of respect. I told him that he ought to do it anyway because one must show respect to others. In the end, he did buy something and the woman was very happy with his gesture.
Last year my husband found a bundle of money that someone had just dropped. He remembered the Fa principles that I told him about, and ran to return the money to the person who dropped it. I was happy to hear the story and see the changes in him. His brother and sister’s lives didn’t go smoothly. They were often surrounded by illness, divorce, issues with children, and many other challenges in life. In comparison, he felt that he lived in peace. “My harmonious family makes me feel like I am always in a sheltered harbor,” he said.
I quit my full-time job in 2013. My husband was supportive and told me not to worry about our finances, as he would take care of everything at home. I am delighted with the extra time that I now have, and therefore spend more time on truth clarification.
I asked my husband if he was thankful to Teacher. He said, “Of course. I’m speaking from the bottom of my heart.” On New Year’s, when we sent our greetings to Teacher Li, my husband said, “I wish Mr. Li Hongzhi a happy New Year. I hope more and more people around the world become his students. I hope our land is filled with Falun Dafa practitioners. May everyone be kind and compassionate to each other, and may the noble principles of Falun Dafa be spread to every corner of China.”
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