(Minghui.org) I’ve experienced many ups and downs in my twenty plus years of practicing Falun Dafa, and many of them were a test to see if I could maintain righteous thoughts. Each time I was able to, the situation improved, just as Master said in Zhuan Falun,

“After passing the shady willow trees, there will be bright flowers and another village ahead!” (Lecture Nine, Zhuan Falun)

Master also said,

“I remember when Shen Yun was performing in one city in North Carolina, I think it was, and I was there. The tickets had sold out, but on the day of the performance a snowstorm hit. The snow was deep and it was really hard to drive anywhere. Only thirty percent of the audience showed up, as a result. But afterwards, the ones who did make it told striking accounts of what they had experienced. One person described the trip from his house, saying it was like a spiritual journey, with each step of the way posing challenges and spurring reflection, all the way to the theater; it felt like he was being tempered through that process; and after seeing the show, he felt deeply fulfilled—just like [what we’d call] “consummation.” (“2018 Fa Teaching Given in Washington, D.C.,” Collected Fa Teachings, Vol. XV)

I rejoined the Tian Guo Marching Band last year and signed up to participate in the Ocean Festival Parade held this past July. It’s an important event and one of the top ten parades in the U.S. However, I accidentally booked the professional assessment required by my company on the same day, and it was too late to change the date when I realized the mix-up.

I thought about not going to the parade since I already paid the assessment fee, but I didn’t want to give it up. I took another look at the schedule and found that the assessment would start at 1:00 p.m. and would last an hour. The parade started at 3:00 p.m., so I would still have one hour in between. I decided to do both, and informed the band lead in advance that I might be a bit late.

That day, I arrived early for the assessment, hoping that I could start early. Unfortunately, the person in front of me took the full hour to go through the assessment procedure so I still had to wait till 1:00 p.m. to start. To make the situation worse, there were several questions I wasn’t familiar with, and I had to read each one of them carefully. By the time I finished all the questions, I didn’t save as much time as I had hoped. I wanted to join the parade as soon as possible, so I decided to only double check those questions I wasn’t familiar with. In the end, I was able to hand in my assessment 15 minutes ahead of time. I asked Master in my heart to help me, hoping that I could pass the assessment. I later found out that I passed.

I rushed to my car after handing in my assessment. In the midst of my rush, I entered a wrong destination address on the GPS and set off. When I got to the city center, I felt the route was a bit different. I thought that some streets might have been closed due to the parade, so I kept driving according to the instructions on the map, until I finally realized that I arrived at the wrong destination. I checked it again and found that I had carelessly entered West Lake Avenue instead of West Lake Center. I was worried and even thought of giving up. But when I realized that there might still be time for me to make it, I decided to give it a go even though I was still struggling.

When I was close to the parade route, some roads were closed, and the traffic also became increasingly congested. When I drove closer, I found that the entrance to the West Lake Center parking lot was already closed and I couldn’t get in.

I felt uncertain again. My wife, who was traveling with me, reminded me to ask Master for help. She said, “If you really want to join the parade, you’ll be able to get there in time.” But I still needed to find a place to park my car, and I wasn’t familiar with the area at all. What should I do?

There was a traffic jam ahead, but fortunately I was in the left lane, so I decided to turn left at the next intersection. To my great relief, I found a parking lot as soon as I turned left. I drove in, found a spot, and parked my car. I quickly changed into my band outfit, still worrying if I could make it on time.

I wasn’t sure if I should leave the instrument case behind or take it with me. My wife said that she could help with the case once we got to the assembly spot. So we rushed to the monorail station. My wife went through to the platform first as she still had money on her travel card, but I was stopped because I forgot to recharge my card as I hadn’t used it for a long time. I had to go around to the ticket machine to buy a ticket. As soon as I got the ticket, I rushed to the platform, just in time for the incoming train. My wife and I hopped onto the train quickly. As we sat down, I started to think: How can I find the band when I get to the assembly area?

The train took us to West Lake Center quickly. As soon as we got off the train, I heard the sound of our drums playing. I immediately thanked Master in my heart for the arrangement. I didn’t need to look for the band, because our assembly spot was very close to the exit of the train station. I rushed to the conductor to report my arrival, and was told to join in straight away. In spite of all the earlier setbacks, I made it to the parade and had a wonderful experience.

I realized that everything we do as Falun Dafa practitioners is also for our cultivation. The entire process of making it to the parade was indeed a big test for me. In a difficult situation, how one thinks can lead to different outcomes. This is so true. Each time I made up my mind to “go ahead,” Master helped me achieve what I wanted to do. Thank you, Master!