(Minghui.org) I was 34 when I began practicing Falun Dafa in 2002. Before that I had a few mental breakdowns and did not think I would make it. Practicing Falun Dafa had a great, positive impact on me. It was like I was reborn. After 21 years of practice, I am healthy both mentally and physically, and I cannot thank Falun Dafa enough. I’d like to tell you my story.
Life Was Not Worth Living
My husband and I married without his parents’ blessing. They did not like the way I looked and blamed me for preventing their son from working in a big city. My mother-in-law kept finding fault with me. At first I tried not to argue with her because I wanted to save face. After I got pregnant, she made me eat smelly pickled eggs, which I never ate before. When I told her that I craved watermelon, she went shopping and came back empty-handed, “Watermelon is too expensive, we can’t afford it. Let’s eat potatoes, it’s much cheaper.” I cried many times over things like this.
After I gave birth to two children, my mother-in-law still resented me, and even told me, “I can still find many women who want to marry my son.” This deeply hurt me and from then on I fought with her over the most trivial matters. All I could think of every day was how to win the fight with her.
My husband always sided with his mother. He also began to find fault with me and argued with me. I felt wronged and regretted marrying into his family.
For the next six years, I either fought with my in-laws or my husband. My husband once beat me and twisted my shoulder, and it hurt for years. My anger resulted in my having chest pains, stomachache, bloody stool, headaches, nerve pain, and nervous exhaustion. I cried every day. The more I behaved this way, the worse my in-laws treated me. I thought that my life was nearly over. I felt like I was about to collapse mentally and physically.
The Best Decision of My Life
One time I got really sick and needed to be hospitalized. The day before my husband took me to the hospital, he had dinner at a friend’s. He complained to his friend that I often got sick and he had to take me to the hospital again. His friend told him, “My wife practices Falun Dafa, which is a wonderful thing. You can suggest your wife try it. The practice is free and quite effective in resolving illnesses and improving one’s outlook on life. Because it’s being persecuted, people don’t openly promote the practice, yet it has great benefits.” His friend’s wife, who was always cheerful, kind, and good-natured, took out a photo of Falun Dafa’s Master. As soon as he saw it, my husband said that Master Li looked like a righteous person.
That night he came home and told me positive stories of Falun Dafa practitioners, and suggested that I take up the practice. At the time I held negative views of Falun Dafa because I believed the CCP’s propaganda. I was against the practice and did not want to try. My husband, who was drowning in my hospital bills, did his best to persuade me and said that there was nothing to lose. I changed my mind, knowing that the doctors may never be able to cure my illnesses, and I was fed up with constantly being in pain.
The next morning I went to a doctor in the neighboring village, who was a Falun Dafa practitioner. He said that I walked like an 80-year-old and he could see how much pain I was in. After he told me about Falun Dafa’s amazing power, I decided to practice. It was the best decision of my life.
Becoming a Good Person
After I borrowed a copy of Zhuan Falun, I read it three times in ten days. The teachings shook me to my core, and changed my life views and values. From the time I was a child, I was taught to play mind games so that I would not be taken advantage of or suffer. There was nothing I would not do to make my life better. Master teaches us in Zhuan Falun that we must become a good person, and a better person by following the principles of Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance. He wants us to look for our own attachments, and improve our character.
Everyone said that Falun Dafa made me a completely different person after they saw the changes in me. Two weeks after I began practicing, it was time to harvest peanuts and corn. I helped my husband harvest nearly one acre of peanuts manually, which required bending over and pulling all the time. It was a miracle! My back did not hurt at all, and I was able to tie the loose ends at night while my husband put the children to bed. I did not feel tired or complain. In the past I could barely work in the fields because of my illnesses. I could not even pull the weeds, or bend over and wash my hair without having to stretch my back a few times in between. I never imagined bending down all day to harvest peanuts.
The time to harvest the corn came soon after. I snapped off all the corn ears on an acre field and my husband chopped off the corn stalks behind me. I then helped him with the chopping after I was done. The work that worried me the most used to be bundling corn stalks, as it required repeatedly bending over, squatting down, and getting up. I finished bundling all the corn stalks on my own and did not feel any pain. I felt endless energy and it was such a wonderful feeling. I thanked Master for taking away all my illnesses within 2 weeks of practice.
Nothing could describe my joy with all my illnesses gone. I was determined to become a steadfast practitioner and follow Master’s teachings.
Patching Things Up with My Sister-in-law
Because of my bad relationship with my mother-in-law, my sister-in-law did not talk to me for four years. After I began practicing, I knew I should be friendly and kind to others. I decided to make up with her. One day I mustered up the courage and visited her. As soon as I walked into her house and greeted her, she looked away and said nothing. I had to leave. I cried and felt embarrassed, but I remembered Master’s words and told myself not to give up.
One day before the New Year, I was shopping for new bowls on the street, and saw my sister-in-law. I smiled and greeted her, “You want to buy new bowls as well?” She said yes. She stood in front of the bowls I chose, and I told her that she should take them because they were good ones. She replied, “There are plenty, I’ll look some more.” I was so happy because she finally talked to me.
One time my sister-in-law and I worked together to help make new comforters for a newlywed. The work required cooperation. In the end we were on good terms. I thanked Master for arranging this opportunity for me.
Turning the Situation Around with My Mother-in-Law
As for my mother-in-law, at one point the only feeling I had towards her was anger and hatred. I thought it through and decided I would never take care of her or help bury her after she passed away. I never called her mom once.
The practitioners who knew my situation reminded me about following the principles of the teachings and treating her kindly. I thought I’d start by calling her “Mother.” We had been fighting for six years after I married her son, and it was quite difficult for me to call her “Mother.” I learned from the teachings that our unhealthy relationship was a result of a negative relationship in a past lifetime, and as a practitioner, I had to take the initiative to dissolve it with compassion.
It took me two weeks to gather the courage and practice addressing her, and how to react to her reactions. I needed to have compassion and show her how the practice changed me for the better. I went to her home and said “Mom” respectfully from the bottom of my heart. This caught her off guard and she seemed embarrassed at first as she did not know what happened. Gradually she enjoyed me calling her mom.
One year after we dried the wheat, we purposely left the yard open so we could later use it to dry peanuts. My mother-in-law said that she wanted to plant some beans in our yard, and I agreed but reminded her that I needed the space later for the peanuts. She promised that she would not occupy the space when I needed it. It turned out that her beans weren’t ripe when I needed the space. It was either I delay the peanut harvest, or ruin the beans. I complained in my mind, “You have three sons and you won’t use their empty yards. I have been nice to you so you took advantage of me.” I quickly changed my mind, knowing that nothing was a coincidence, and Master used the opportunity to help me improve my character.
Luckily my neighbor did not plant peanuts that year and did not need his yard. As a result I could use his yard and harvest my peanuts on time. I believed that Master already arranged all of it so my mother-in-law could help me become kind.
My mother-in-law felt really sorry about the way she treated me and was impressed with my conduct after I began practicing. She said that she had to thank Master and Falun Dafa for my changes. I always looked within and measured things up with the principles of Falun Dafa. We no longer fought like we used to, as I slowly changed for the better.
One day my mother-in-law told me, “Falun Dafa made you a better person, and it helped change me.” She sincerely thanked Master, and told me, “Master saved you, and me as well. Otherwise we’d still be enemies.” It was Falun Dafa’s power that stopped me from fighting with my mother-in-law. I promised Master that I would treat my in-laws with kindness, and keep my family happy.
My father-in-law was hospitalized in the winter of 2018 and my two brothers-in-law helped out in the hospital because my husband was working out of town at the time. I decided to help by having my mother-in-law stay with me. This way my husband did not have to worry about his mother living alone. She was happy to stay with me. I made her favorite dishes every day and chatted with her so she did not feel lonely. At night she listened to Master’s lectures with me, and she sat next to me and followed along with the movements when I exercised in the morning.
She was incontinent, so she was quite worried when she came to stay with me. I comforted her, “Don’t worry about it, just make yourself at home. I will help clean up if you have an accident.” Each time after she relieved herself in the bedside commode, I’d take out the basin, wash it, and bring it back in. I did this until she insisted on doing it herself.
One night she had a little too much to eat at dinner and soiled her clothes in the middle of the night. There were fecal stains on the bed, shoes, chair, and floor. She kept blaming herself. I comforted her while I cleaned the room. I then had her stay on the bed until I made her breakfast. She told me, “I won’t want to go home if you keep spoiling me like this.” I told her to stay if she did not want to go home, she asked, “What happens when your father-in-law comes home?” I told her that he could stay with me as well, and she smiled.
She stayed with me for nine days and went home after my father-in-law was discharged from the hospital. I could not have done this had I not practiced Falun Dafa.
My husband saw how I changed because of my faith in Falun Dafa. He changed as well. Now that he knows the truth about the persecution, and saw how Master compassionately resolved our family disagreements, experienced the kindness from other practitioners, and witnessed the evilness of the CCP, he often helps me clarify the truth when we meet with family and friends.
(Selected Submission Celebrating the 24th World Falun Dafa Day on the Minghui website)
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Category: Improving Oneself
