(Minghui.org) I grew up in a poor family in a rural area of Hubei Province. I dreamed of a happy life ever since I was young. At that time, girls in our area generally did not have a chance to go to school. Due to my personal effort and my parents' support, I went to school and graduated from high school with excellent academic scores. I was admitted to a non-degree college after passing the college entrance exam.
I got a job after graduation and was transferred to Beijing a few years later. From a remote village to the capital city, I was finally part of mainstream society. I was self-confident and happy. I thought that it was my own efforts that led to the changes in my life.
I was young and yearned for a bright future. I treasured what I had and wished to have a better future through hard work. I worked very hard and often worked overtime. I received many awards for my work and was selected as a model worker.
I also continued my education through self-study during and after work hours. I participated in a higher education self-study exam and got my bachelors degree. I heard constant praise for my good work, my successful studies, and my full social life. I was full of confidence for a bright future. I was young and beautiful. I was always smiling.
Many young men pursued me. I thought that with my situation in life, it would be easy for me to find a good husband. I was naive and thought that I controlled my own fate. I was very selective and finally married a man who promised to love me forever.
While I was feeling so good about myself, bad luck came quietly. Since the age of 27, I was often sick and had a fever. At first I thought it was just a cold and that it wasn't serious. I did not ask for sick leave, nor did I see a doctor. Once, when I had a fever and cough that lasted for more than a month, I went to the hospital.
A doctor told me that there was a shadow on my lung and that I should be hospitalized. After two weeks of treatment with penicillin in the hospital, the shadow remained on my lung. When the doctor saw that I didn't have a fever, I was discharged from the hospital. Yet since then, I had fevers repeatedly.
In the winter of 1994, the doctor suspected that I had lung cancer and hospitalized me for surgery. I was really scared! That year I was only a little over 30 years old. I was still lying in the hospital on the day before Chinese New Year. There were few patients in the hospital. The doctor told me to go home for New Year and scheduled my surgery for after the holiday.
But where should I go? My parents were far away in Hubei. I had not told them about my illness. My husband had left me alone in the hospital and had gone back to his parents' home for the New Year. On New Year's Eve, I had nowhere to go. I stayed alone in the dorm of my work unit and cried. I felt so miserable that I thought I would rather die. If I had not thought of my parents, I would have committed suicide.
The preoperative examination was done after the New Year. Fortunately, the diagnosis was changed from cancer to endobronchial tuberculosis. There was no need for surgery. I stayed in the tuberculosis department for three months. The shadow on my lung did change. The doctor said that my right lower lobe did not work but had fibrosis.
While in the hospital for treatment, I contracted a new disease – chronic hepatitis B. I had serious neurasthenia, insomnia, and gastritis. Except for my hands and feet, my whole body was ill. I took large amounts of medicine and injections, both Chinese and Western medicine. Nothing worked.
I believed in science. But six years of medical treatment did not cure my illnesses. I was hopeless and felt that I was going to die. I had insomnia. The doctor told me, “You cannot work anymore. Prepare for early retirement due to illness.”
What could I do? I did physical exercise every day, tried various qigong schools, and prayed to divine beings and Buddha. However hard I tried to get well, I still had the illnesses. My husband divorced me. My work unit underwent a restructuring and I was on the list to be laid off.
Everything I'd attained after all my hard work was gone. My dream of a bright future disappeared. I was in despair.
In March 1995, a nurse who frequently administered my meds introduced me to Falun Gong. When I heard it was a Buddha school practice for both health and spiritual improvement, I wanted to learn it right away. I went to a local practice site that same evening.
The recording of Master Li’s lecture in Jinan was played at the practice site. It was amazing. After hearing the lecture, the desperation that had been in my heart for so many years disappeared. My mind was empty and I felt very comfortable. I came to understand that the hardships I had suffered were the result of my own karma and that the real purpose of life is to return to the truth.
The next day, I went to the practice site to learn the Falun Gong exercises. I felt a warm energy surrounding my whole body and cool air exited from the ill places of my body. On my way back home, I thought that I'd never felt so relaxed. It was so wonderful!
Two days later, at the practice site, a fellow practitioner lent me the book Zhuan Falun for me to read. At that time the book was in short supply. I read it in tears in one sitting, as it is so good! I realized that this was definitely what I was looking for. I wanted to practice Falun Dafa! I thought that even if I had a large amount of karma and could not reach consummation, I must practice it. I just wanted to purify myself in Dafa.
A few days later, I had a vivid dream: I was in a deep and silent valley, and there was a ghost standing not far away. I was terribly scared and cried in my heart: “Master, rescue me!” I immediately felt a pair of big hands pulling me through the layers of fog, soaring upwards, and after a long time, I sensed myself finally reaching firm ground in an area full of light.
When I woke up, I really felt that Master Li had taken me out of hell and I was reborn!
After taking up the practice of Falun Gong, I felt happy from my innermost heart. The smile returned to my face. My body underwent tremendous changes. I could eat and sleep normally. I felt so light without illness, as described in Zhuan Falun. Before practicing Falun Gong, I could not eat well and felt bloated and nauseous, and had chronic insomnia. Sleeping pills did not work for me. I was so weak that I would feel tired just going up the stairs to the second floor of my apartment building.
After miraculously recovering from my illnesses, I applied to return to work. The supervisor took care of me and let me work half days at first. I cherished this opportunity and I wanted to return to work full time as soon as possible.
Soon, after just a short time of practicing Falun Gong, I resumed work full time. I remember that on the first day after resuming work, the supervisor said in front of all of my colleagues, "Welcome back!" My colleagues gave me a big round of applause and I was moved to tears. I said, "Thank you! I thought that I would never be able to come back. I am so happy that I can work again!”
As a Falun Dafa practitioner, I behaved according to Dafa's principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. I worked hard and always thought of others first. I was happy every day. In this way, I worked hard until I retired. Since returning to work, I have never taken any sick leave. I no longer need to go to the hospital, and I haven't had to take any medicine.
Once, I happened to see the official work summary of my work unit. I had worked the longest in a year in the entire unit. I worked 30 days more than the scheduled workdays in a year. Many of my colleagues had children and would ask me to take their shift when their children were sick. I was happy to help. My colleagues all saw the miraculous changes in me after I practiced Falun Gong. They all know that Falun Dafa is good. Many of them learned Falun Gong from me.
I met a doctor who'd once suffered from cirrhosis. She told me that she also recovered by practicing Falun Gong. I talked to her about my liver problem and lung fibrosis. She said that according to modern medicine, these two diseases are terminal illnesses, and the development of chronic hepatitis would lead to cirrhosis and liver cancer. Patients with pulmonary fibrosis generally survive for ten years. More than two decades have passed, and I am completely healthy.
At some point after I became healthy, someone advised me to remarry though I did not intend to do so. From studying Dafa, I know that I should let everything happen naturally and I should not pursue anything. Yet, because of a predestined relationship, I married my current husband.
He is a kind-hearted, responsible, and successful man. After our marriage, I took care of the elderly and the children in his family. I treat myself according to a practitioner's standards and deal with our family kindly. We live in harmony. Any conflicts can be resolved promptly. Twenty years have passed and our family is harmonious and happy.
(Submission to “Celebrate World Falun Dafa Day” 2018 on the Minghui website)