(Minghui.org) There was a big snow that lasted three days and three nights in the Shandong Peninsula area in December 1983. The temperature dropped abruptly below zero Celsius. Without any preparation in mind, my son was born in a cold rural area hospital at 1 a.m.
The following day, we went home. At that time, we had no heating system and the house wasn’t insulated. The blanket we had was old and falling apart. It was so cold, and my child wasn’t healthy. My hemorrhoids worsened, and I went into the depth of sadness. Within a month after my child was born, I had shoulder pain, back pain, and couldn’t sleep all night long. I also lost about 18 lbs.
My father-in-law said, “Other women usually weigh more after giving birth. How could you lose so much weight?” I was sad, was in pain, and couldn’t use words to express what I was feeling.
In order to treat my illnesses, I tried treatments that were Chinese medicine or Western medicine, as well as many folk remedies. However, the final conclusion was there were no medicines that could cure my diseases I developed during the month after I gave birth.
Three people from my mother’s family started practicing Falun Dafa in 1997. While I was bed-ridden and couldn’t go to work, my younger sister taught me how to do the sitting meditation. Because she had to work, she didn’t teach me the standing exercises. No one expected that I could walk, but two days later I did, and I returned to work within a week.
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) launched the persecution against Falun Dafa in 1999. Controlled by the evil, my husband beat me when he saw me study the Fa or do the exercises. When he wasn’t at home, I made good use of the time and studied the Fa and did the exercises. Later, he didn’t allow me to visit my mother-in-law’s family and their relatives, and he collaborated with relatives who didn’t know the truth about Falun Dafa to closely watch me. He ordered family members to keep a distance from me, and he confiscated my income. He damaged Dafa books, slandered Master, didn’t allow fellow practitioners to visit my home, and even drove away my brother and sister who were also practitioners.
Because my home environment was not good, I went to my office to study the Fa and do the exercises. I clarified the truth at my workplace and put truth-clarification messages on the outside wall of our school. When my husband noticed it, he reported me to the principal and to the police department.
I developed strong resentment for my husband, and even sent forth righteous thoughts to punish him for the bad things he did. However, his behavior got even worse. We lived separately. He didn’t allow me to live upstairs, so I had to rent an apartment for six years.
Master said:
“Some people will have situations like this where family members oppose [the practice]. It’s still up to you, though. After all, there are going to be tests when a person takes up cultivation.” (Teachings at the Conference in Houston)
Studying the Fa by heart and sharing experiences with fellow practitioners helped me realize that I was a new practitioner, and I shouldered two responsibilities. One of which was my personal cultivation. The other responsibility was to validate the Fa and save sentient beings. I knew one has some karmic debts to pay when cultivating. However, I hadn’t achieved that.
I wasn’t upfront with my husband when I started practicing Falun Dafa, as I thought he was a bad guy who didn’t deserve to practice Dafa. Therefore, when he came home, I turned off the boombox that I used to listen to the Fa. His attitude immediately changed, “What are you listening to? Why are you doing things behind my back?”
I realized I did this because I wasn’t being kind, which led the evil to persecute my husband and others. His health deteriorated. He had diabetes complications, lost his eyesight, and had many surgeries. His feet swelled, which made it difficult for him to walk. My family wasn’t peaceful, which damaged Dafa’s reputation.
To save my husband and sentient beings I understood that I must let go of my resentment towards my husband. When I let go of my attachments to fighting, resentment, and looking down on him, I accompanied him to his treatments and asked him to recite, “Falun Dafa is good; Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good.”
He changed his attitude. Previously, he yelled and ordered me to shut up, or he demanded that I leave. Now he quietly watches me when I am doing the exercises in front of him.
In order to save my relatives, I tried to approach them, and help them quit the CCP and its youth organizations.
It is important to cultivate myself well, so I study the Fa and do the exercises every day. Now, I am very healthy and energetic, which shows the beauty of Falun Dafa. I don’t fight for profit, and take things more lightly. At work I did a good job and received the first place award for a fifth successive year. However, I never fought to get awards or promotions.
In my family, because I have multiple brothers, my mother gave her house to the youngest son for his marriage. Then my parents didn’t have a place to live. So my younger sister and I bought a house for them. Before my father passed away at 85, he was bedridden. When he needed to be turned over in bed, the smell was terrible. No one else was willing to visit him. It was mainly my mother and I taking care of him. My mother passed away at 93. During her last five years, I was almost the only one taking care of her.
My sisters-in-law said to whoever they met that I was so good. Thus, they were worry-free because I took care of our parents. My nieces said I was a model for them. They said they were proud of having such a great aunt. I told them, “It’s Dafa that blesses our family. Only when you assimilate to Dafa, will you be truly proud.”
My two elder brothers had negative thoughts toward practitioners because of the CCP’s propaganda, and they collaborated with people from the village administrative committee and the police station to harass us. Except on the morning of every Chinese Lunar Year, they didn’t visit our parents or us. After our parents passed away, they put a lock on the house we bought for our parents. Other relatives said it was unfair, and told me to get the house back. I wasn’t moved and thought I would wait for them to give me a reason. However, a few days later, one of my sisters-in-law asked me for the deed. I asked her why I should give it to her, and she said it should be given to her since our parents passed away. I didn’t say anything and gave it to her.
This spring, I heard their daughter had thyroid cancer, so I contacted them and visited them. They were moved. I told them the truth about the persecution, and my sister-in-law said she wanted to study the Fa and do the exercises. The niece who always kept a distance from me said she wanted to as well. I started playing Master’s video of teaching the exercises. My brother felt sorry about what he had done and said, “I am sorry. I was wrong and deceived by the CCP. I didn’t know Falun Gong was so good.”
My in-laws quit the CCP and its youth organizations, however they acknowledged my husband’s affair with a married woman. Every holiday or Chinese New Year, although they didn’t allow me to enter their home, I visited them and brought them clothes and other items. My father-in-law passed away in 2017. At his funeral, my mother-in-law said to me, “I treated everyone else fairly except you. I let you down.”
From my mother’s side and my in-law’s side, over 60 people learned the truth and quit the CCP organizations. Among them, nine started practicing Falun Dafa. This includes my elder sister-in-law who quit practicing Falun Dafa, but has now returned to cultivation.
For over 20 years, because of my steadfast faith, Master has protected me. I was also able to let go of my attachments to combativeness, resentment, jealousy, and looking outward. On this last leg of cultivation, I will try to do the three things well, let go of my attachments to showing off, comfort, human emotions, and follow Master to return home at any time.