(Minghui.org) Before I started practicing Falun Dafa in 1998, I had a severe stomach illness. In order to pay for treatment, my husband worked from dawn to dusk to make ends meet. Yet we still had a lot of debt. My family was shrouded in a cloud of misery. To make matters worse, I was exhausted by a long-standing grievance against my father-in-law.
I wanted to borrow money from him, but I dared not ask. He was stubborn and had a bad temper. And I was competitive. My father-in-law never helped me with taking care of our child. Although I felt wronged, I tried my best to be respectful. I often helped him with his farm work, washing, and cooking. In spite of this, he was often critical of me, saying that I was not good at anything.
In 1996, I went to the hospital for a uterine (curettage) procedure and recuperated at home. When I took our infant son with me to play cards with the neighbors, my father-in-law came home and began to criticize me in front of them. He sternly asked why I wasn't working in the field. My husband also came over to stir up trouble, as if adding fuel to the fire. I patiently explained I was recuperating and unable to do manual labor.
I felt sad and shed tears of grievance. My parents lived far away, so there was no one who would listen to my complaints.
My father-in-law also had a bad temper and once beat my husband and me. After all of these incidents, my grievances against him had grown severe.
Feeling Joyful after Finding Dafa
In the winter of 1998, I was fortunate to find out about Falun Dafa. I remember when I was reading Zhuan Falun, I held the treasured book in my hands, gazed at Master Li Hongzhi's (Dafa’s founder) picture and said sincerely: “Master, I want to be your true disciple.”
When I got home, I continued to study the Fa for half an hour. I then felt sleepy and went to bed. When I woke up the next day, I felt refreshed, energetic, and extremely comfortable. I had never experienced this kind of feeling before. Since then, insomnia that had plagued me for many years completely disappeared.
From then on, I went to a practitioner’s home to participate in group Fa-study and do the exercises. At lunch, the practitioner cooked rice and stir-fried cabbage. Since I had a stomach problem and couldn’t eat dry food, I expressed my concern to her. She encouraged me and said: “It’s okay. Master said, 'Good or evil comes from that instant thought.' (Lecture Four in Zhuan Falun) You can eat it. Trust Master!”
After hearing this, I ate the food with confidence, and nothing really happened. I was completely convinced by Master's words. Upon returning home, I took out all of my medicine and threw them away.
I strictly held myself to Dafa’s standards of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance in everything I did. I studied the Fa every day and practiced the five exercises. It was Master who purified my body, and I have a new outlook on life. Dafa infused my life with new vitality and joy. From then on, I vowed to follow Master on the golden road of returning to my “true self.”
Resolving Conflicts and Grievances
Under Dafa’s guidance, everything in my family went smoothly. With hard work, we quickly paid off our debts.
My father-in-law and elder sister-in-law respected me because they had witnessed the miraculous and extraordinary nature of Falun Dafa. My father-in-law praised me for my abilities, and he and my elder sister-in-law entered Dafa cultivation.
But the good times didn’t last long. Within a few months, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) launched the cruel persecution of Falun Dafa. Both my father-in-law and elder sister-in-law became scared and gave up their cultivation.
Through studying the Fa, I learned the true meaning of life and realized that my father-in-law treated me the way he did because of my karmic debts. The conflicts were meant for me to repay them.
Master said:
“In cultivation practice, there may be two scenarios when dealing with specific conflicts or when others treat you badly. One is that you might have treated this person badly in your previous life. You feel in your heart that it is unfair, “How can this person treat me like this?” Then why did you treat this person that way in the past? You might claim that you actually did not know it at that time, and this life has nothing to do with the other life. That does not work.” (Lecture Four in Zhuan Falun)
Over the years, my father-in-law lived with my brother-in-law, but as he got older, his health deteriorated. His smoking was very harmful to his health.
In late May 2020, he had to be hospitalized. My husband and I were busy running a small restaurant, but he had to find time to visit his father at the hospital. Feeling sympathy for my husband, I cooked meals and brought them to the hospital for my father-in-law.
Other patients and their family members in the hospital thought I was his own daughter. When they learned that I was his daughter-in-law, they envied his having a daughter-in-law like me. Although my father-in-law was ill, whenever I came to see him, his mood immediately improved.
Although he was discharged a week later, I still fulfilled my filial obligations and brought the food he liked to him every other day. I also washed his clothes and cleaned his urine pot. In the past, I couldn’t stand that odor. Now I didn’t mind it and didn’t really smell anything. Maybe it’s because Master blocked my sense of smell.
After finishing my work, I studied Zhuan Falun with my father-in-law. He knew that Dafa is good and Master is good. However, he no longer wanted to practice cultivation. In the end, his health collapsed. In less than a month, he passed away peacefully.
Letting Go of Loss and Gain
My father-in-law said he saved more than 36,000 yuan for his own funeral expenses. But after he passed away, my brother-in-law denied it. So my husband and I took the initiative to pay for the expenses.
My husband remained resentful, however. He found a few bank cards while sorting through his father’s belongings, and we showed them to my sister-in-law. My husband and brother-in-law then quarreled about it. I tried my best to calm my husband down. In the end, the elder sister-in-law stepped forward to tell the truth. My in-laws understood that I was kind to the elderly. Although everyone sat together for a meal, there was still tension between the siblings.
On the first anniversary of my father-in-law’s passing, I wanted to use that special day to eliminate the gap between the siblings. I used the principles I learned in Dafa to persuade my husband to let go of his grudges. During our gathering, everyone was in a good mood. They respected each other and reconciled.
If I did not practice Falun Dafa, I could not have maintained a kind and calm heart in this world, where money is supreme and material desires are overflowing. I would never have been as kind to people or as accepting about the things I encountered. It was Master and Dafa who resolved our family's many years of grievances.
I sincerely thank Master and Dafa for saving our family!
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Category: Improving Oneself
