(Minghui.org) Although I grew up in an atheistic society, I knew about the existence of the divine since I was a child.
One example was what happened when my family moved from the countryside to the city many years ago. My parents rented a wagon to carry all our belongings. Shortly after we pulled away, Mother heard a voice say, “Why are you leaving me behind?” Surprised, she asked Father if they’d forgotten anything. But Father didn’t think so and they kept going.
After a while, Mother heard the voice again: “Why are you moving and leaving me behind?” Thinking something must be wrong, she and Father went back. They searched everywhere until Mother remembered the picture of the Kitchen God. She apologized and took the portrait with her.
When I was young, I remember seeing the picture in the kitchen, and my Mother often put offerings in front of it, even during the Great Famine (1959 and 1961). My family survived, and Mother always thanked the Kitchen God for that. It was not until the Cultural Revolution that Mother had to take the picture down to avoid being persecuted.
Starting My Business
I wanted to start a business in the 1980s, but I only had about 1,000 yuan—not enough to rent a shop let alone buy merchandise. Just as I was struggling with this, something like a miracle happened. A clothing factory run by the local government went out of business because they weren’t getting enough orders. I checked on the details with the factory director and decided to contact the business.
Basically, this factory had two divisions, one for high-end clothing and one for mass production. Of the factory’s 78 employees, fewer than 30 did the actual work while the rest were administrative staff. I planned to only keep the workers. The factory director agreed to my idea, saying I only needed to pay 10,000 yuan a year for the partnership.
The first order came from my previous employer. We would produce uniforms for all their employees and white lab coats for the production workers. In addition, office workers (fewer than 60) would each receive a free wool polyester suit with a vest. Everyone was happy with this. Later on, we began to produce white lab coats for hospitals and uniforms for students. The business did well.
Three Incidents
The practice of Falun Dafa gave me wisdom. Looking back, I realize I was protected by the divine even before I became a practitioner. Here are three examples.
In the summer of 1988, my younger brother and I set out for the Xiliu Wholesale Market in Liaoning Province to buy cloth. Xiliu had the largest wholesale market in northern China at the time. We had purchased tickets from Tumen to Dalian and we were in the 13th car, that is, the third car from the end.
On our way to the train station, the back rack on my brother’s bike where I was sitting broke and I fell down. I then recalled the dream I’d had the night before in which the plane I was on crashed. I told my brother about my dream, and we rescheduled our trip. That evening, we saw on the television news that the train we were almost on had an accident, and the last three cars ran off the track. There were many injuries as well as deaths. “I can tell the divine is protecting you,” said my mother.
In the fall of 1989, my brother and I had to go to Xiliu again for cloth to make student uniforms. This time we went by bus. We got to the station early and were allowed to get on the bus, but we had to wait to leave. After a few minutes, I suddenly felt dizzy, like I was car sick. This had never happened to me before, and it was strange because the bus wasn’t even moving. I apologized to the bus conductor and said I had to leave. She returned our fare and we got off. As soon as my brother and I got in a taxi, however, all my symptoms were gone.
Several days later, my brother and I took the same bus, and I noticed there were only six or seven passengers. I was surprised because this bus was always full. When I asked the conductor, she said robbers in hoods had attacked this bus the last time. They seized everyone’s cash, jewelry, watches, and even cell phones (which were very rare at the time). She knew I ran a clothing business and asked how much cash I was carrying the time before. I told her I had 200,000 yuan. Then my brother mentioned our previous incident with the train. The conductor was surprised. “I never believed in the divine,” she said, “but what you’ve said has changed my mind.”
In November 1990 we got a ride to Xiliu. It was winter in northeast China and the snow made the roads even worse. A friend gave my brother and me a ride in a minivan. Although we left at 5 p.m. and planned to arrive before midnight, I got carsick soon after we started. Because of me, we had to stop every now and then when I got sick. We drove overnight and still hadn’t arrived by 5 a.m.
When we were close to Xiliu, the driver noticed something was wrong up ahead and stepped on the brake. Due to the snow and ice on the road, the van skidded and bumped into the vehicle in front of us. The driver drew his legs up into his seat and crossed them just before impact.
Later on we heard that it was a chain collision, and many cars were involved. A truck carrying apples flipped sideways. Because it was dark and the road was slippery, the vehicles coming after it all bumped into each other. There were already more than 100 vehicles ahead of us. Had I not been carsick, we would have arrived much earlier and the damage could have been worse.
Still, our van was damaged front and back. If the driver had not pulled his legs up, they would have been crushed. The same thing with my brother, who was taking a nap with his legs crossed. Since the minivan had insurance, the damage was covered, so we did not suffer any physical or financial loss. We could only call it a miracle.
Mr. Li Hongzhi, the founder of Falun Dafa, published “How Humankind Came To Be” in January 2023. This article helped me understand why and how I was protected even before becoming a Falun Dafa practitioner. I hope more people read the article and benefit from it.
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Category: Perspectives
