(Minghui.org) There are four generations in my family. My father-in-law is 92 years old; we have a son and a daughter, and a 10-year-old grandson. Although we’re not wealthy, we are happy and comfortable. My children enjoy successful careers and are praised at their workplaces for their outstanding character and ability. Our neighbors also praise them because they respect and honor their elders.
For the past ten years, my husband and his siblings’ families have taken turns caring for my father-in-law. Whenever it’s our turn, I always try to make the best arrangements so that he eats well and is comfortable. I pay extra attention to him and remind my husband to make sure my father-in-law doesn’t feel lonely or isolated. He always feels relaxed and content when he stays in our home. Two years ago, he was very fortunate to begin practicing Falun Dafa.
My father-in-law is illiterate. When the weather is fine, he goes out for a walk, and when he returns home, he listens attentively to the recordings of Master’s lectures in his room. He often tells me, “Master’s Fa is so wonderful! The more I listen, the more I want to listen. It really touches my heart.” He trusts me, and talks to me about things that he’s reluctant to share with his own children. Others have told me, “Your father-in-law often praises you to others, saying you’re the best daughter-in-law. He says you treat him better than all his children combined.” I do indeed treat him like my own father. This is a natural result of my cultivation in Falun Dafa. It is Dafa that changed me and given me a warm and harmonious family.
Before I began practicing Dafa, I was stubborn and deeply insecure, and didn’t like talking with or interacting with people. After we married, I first gave birth to a daughter. My in-laws held strong traditional preferences for sons over daughters and so they were not happy. My father-in-law had a violent temper and drank a lot. He picked fights with me when he was drunk. When people asked him why he always quarreled with me, he said, “I want to make her obey me in the future. So I need to show her who’s the boss now.” My mother-in-law stirred up trouble behind my back; my father-in-law was like a barrel of gunpowder; he exploded at the slightest spark given by my mother-in-law.
One winter’s day my husband wasn’t home, and my father-in-law got drunk. He got very angry over a small matter. His eyes were bloodshot and he jumped around the courtyard and cursed like a madman. He nearly hit me. I was so frightened that even though it was night, I grabbed my one-year-old daughter, without bothering to put shoes or a hat on her, and walked about a mile through wind and snow to my parents’ home. They were furious when I told them what happened.
Early the next morning, my father went to my great-aunt’s home in a nearby village and told her what happened. She then rushed to my in-laws’ house, and despite their opposition, arranged for us to have separate households. But since we had nowhere else to live, we still had to stay under the same roof. I still did most of the household chores. My father-in-law still kept drinking, losing control, and picking fights. I truly couldn’t go on. My brother helped me find a job in the city, and I left that home. I was full of resentment toward my in-laws.
In 1996, I was fortunate to start practicing Falun Dafa. Not long after I began cultivating, I experienced a complete transformation. My body and mind became healthy, my personality opened up, my temper became gentle, my heart broadened, and all my pain and worries disappeared. My heart was filled with sunshine, and I felt I was the most blessed person in the world. At the time, I thought: even if I were given all the money in the world, I wouldn’t want it. I only want Dafa.
Master teaches us to think of others first, be kind to people, and be selfless and altruistic. I’ve always kept Master’s teachings in mind. I no longer harbored resentment toward my in-laws. I truly understood and sympathized with them. I realized they had to work very hard most of their lives and their lives weren’t easy. I tried my best to meet their needs and take care of them. In the years since my mother-in-law passed away, I’ve sincerely treated my father-in-law well, and he was deeply touched.
Now we’ve become fellow cultivators. I often study the Fa with him and discuss cultivation experiences with him. He has good inborn quality and enlightenment quality, and Master watches over him, guiding him step by step. I’m truly happy that he gained such a wonderful Fa in his lifetime, and I’m deeply grateful to our compassionate Master!
More than ten years ago, I ran a small shop selling underwear. I held myself to the high standards of Falun Dafa’s principles of Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance, and operated my business with integrity. I never sold counterfeit goods or lied to customers. My prices were fair and reasonable. I treated everyone kindly and equally, and always showed respect and goodwill to everyone. I offered unconditional returns and exchanges. My conduct won the trust and praise of many customers.
I operated with a “small profit but quick turnover” principle and tried to keep prices low. I often gave free items to those customers facing financial hardship, including leftover sizes, display pieces, or older stock. I gave a large bag of clothing to a disabled woman. Later, when her husband needed surgery and she came looking for long underwear for him, I gave her a pair and told her, “If both you and your husband can sincerely recite, ‘Falun Dafa is good; Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good,’ his surgery will go well.” She happily agreed. Sure enough, the surgery went very smoothly. Husband’s recovery was fast, and there were no complications.
One winter, a woman in her thirties walked into my shop wearing only an old school uniform jacket and shivering from the cold. I quickly gave her several sample pieces from the rack and rushed home to get my son’s lined wool jacket and gave it to her. She put it on and immediately felt warmer. I asked her if she could read, and she said yes. I gave her a truth-clarification booklet and asked her to read it carefully when she got home. I also gave her my phone number and told her, “If you ever need anything and I have it, I’ll give it to you.”
Over the years, I’ve given customers with financial difficulties many items from my shop as well as good-quality, expensive clothes previously worn by my children. They were very grateful, and I always told them to thank Master and Dafa, because it is Master and Dafa who taught me to be a good person.
There was a 94-year-old woman to whom I once clarified the truth. She believed what I said and from then on regarded me as her closest friend. She often came to my shop to chat. Whenever she had worries, she talked to me about them, and I used Dafa’s principles to help her work through them. If my family had good food or snacks I shared them with her. When she wanted to buy small items such as socks, towels, and underwear I often just gave them to her. I also helped her trim her fingernails. She was very touched and said, “Even my own children don’t treat me as well as you do.” She once brought several senior friends to my shop to get Falun Dafa informational materials and Dafa amulets, and she asked me to explain the truth about Dafa to them. She told them, “This is the kindest person you’ll ever meet. She practices Falun Dafa and does not deceive anyone. If you want to buy anything and she has it, you don’t need to go anywhere else. Just purchase from her and you won’t get cheated. Trust what she tells you, she’s right.”
She often came to the store to ask for more Dafa materials and said, “Falun Dafa is truly good. These amulets really protect people. I can’t be the only one who benefits. I want my friends to know too, so Falun Dafa can protect them as well.” Because she sincerely believes in Dafa and helps to save others, she receives blessings from Dafa. Even though she’s 94, her hearing and eyesight are sharp. She can still thread a needle, and she walks with a straight back. There was blood in her urine four times but it was resolved within a few days. She also had several falls but was not injured. She knows Master protects her and is deeply grateful.
Every day, she sincerely recites, “Falun Dafa is good; Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good.” Whenever she saw a protective amulet on the ground, she would quickly picks it up, cleans it, and gives it to someone else. She keeps the amulets like treasures, and places them in a safe spot at home.
At one point, I had to move my shop to the garage under my apartment. I was able to notify some of my regular customers, but not all. Not long after the move, many old customers started returning to buy things. One day, several customers came in, and one said excitedly, “Finally! We found you! We went to your old store and saw it was gone. We heard you moved but couldn’t find you so we were anxious. But now we found you!” I said, “It might be a bit farther for you now to come here.” They replied, “Even if it’s farther, we’d still come to buy from you, because we trust you. You’re different from other sellers. You’re kind, your products are good, and buying from you gives us peace of mind. Falun Dafa practitioners are truly extraordinary.”
After I began practicing Falun Dafa I experienced three car accidents, yet none of them resulted in serious physical harm. I know that it’s only because Master compassionately protected me that I was able to stay safe. I cannot express my boundless gratitude to Master in words.
On July 20, 1999, the day the persecution began, I went to Beijing with several practitioners from our Fa-study group to appeal for justice for Falun Dafa and Master. When we were less than 100 kilometers from home the police stopped our vehicle and we were taken to a minivan. We asked, “Why did you stop us? What law have we violated?” They replied, “You haven’t broken any law; the vehicle just doesn’t have proper documentation.” I said, “If it’s just the vehicle, then stop and let us get out.”
Just as I opened the door to get out, the moving vehicle threw me backward onto the ground, flat on my back. The rear wheel rolled over both of my legs, from the knees down to the calves. The tire marks were clearly imprinted on my white pants. In that instant, it felt like there was a thick cushion on my legs. I even heard a “puff” sound, and though my shoes were broken and my feet were scratched, I felt no pain at all.
When the driver realized there was an accident, he quickly stopped the car. I didn’t think too much. I just got up quickly and walked away. We were caught by the police and taken to the basement of a local police station.
It was the height of summer, and although the bones in my legs weren’t damaged, the flesh was injured. In the unventilated basement, the wounds quickly became infected and started to smell, yet I felt no pain. With no medical treatment whatsoever, I simply rinsed the wounds with tap water a few times. In about ten days, the injuries healed completely, leaving only two faint scars. The police were astonished.
Throughout these years of cultivation, I’ve had many similar experiences. Master has given us so much, far more than we could ever repay. We can only keep Master’s immense grace deeply in our hearts and remain steadfast in cultivating Dafa to the very end.