(Minghui.org) The bitter resentment I had toward my husband’s family that had lasted 18 years is finally defused, thanks to Falun Dafa.
My husband and I married in 1971. We were allotted a public housing apartment where we raised two daughters. Later, his mother and two unmarried younger brothers moved in with us.
Unfortunately, three years later, my husband was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor. For the next three years he spent most of his days in the hospital.
I was exhausted taking care of him and raising our children practically by myself. My husband and I did not earn high salaries. Because of his medical expenses, we were getting slowly into debt.
I so wished my mother-in-law and brothers-in-law who lived under the same roof would lend me a hand, even if it was to offer me a little relief for one day, or to provide a little spiritual comfort.
Instead, what I got were cold shoulders, accusations, and abusive language.
In 1976, my husband was on the brink of death. My in-laws wanted to take over the apartment if something should happen to my husband, so they pretended to help me. They suggested I should seek my own life while I was still young, move out, divorce my husband, and leave my elder daughter behind for them to raise. I flatly refused.
When my in-laws didn’t get what they wanted, they began to create trouble for me. My brothers-in-law became demanding in what they ate and drank. My husband’s mother would hit my children, pick quarrels with me, and generally make life miserable for me. Sometimes, she would even invite dubious people over to back her up and to threaten me with physical harm.
Finally, I had no choice but to seek help from community units, police stations, and judiciary offices, but all to no avail. Still, the officials were all afraid I could be badly hurt, so they persuaded me to leave with the children for the time being.
When I hesitated, they said to me in frustration, "Can’t you see what kind of people they are? Who can guarantee your safety? If you don’t leave, sooner or later we’ll be over there to pick up your corpse."
Shortly after that, my in-laws abducted my elder daughter from school and sent her away.
My heart ached and dripped blood! Oh, how I hated them!
Ten days after I was forced to leave my home, I received notification from my work unit that my husband had just died.
I hurried back to the apartment but my in-laws had already had my husband’s body taken away and cremated.
I was completely overwrought with sadness and anger. I wept so hard that I fainted. When I came to, my five-year-old younger daughter was crying at my side. My colleagues from my work unit were also shedding tears of sympathy and indignation for me and my daughter.
I later found out that the money for the funeral expenses as well as from my husband’s wages were claimed by my husband’s family, but that my apartment had been taken back by the work unit in case my husband’s family would claim that for their own too.
My husband’s family even took away the food vouchers that we all needed to purchase food.
To add insult to injury, my two brothers-in-law went to my work unit to spread rumors that I mistreated my husband, that our second daughter was the offspring of my affair, and that they would beat me up savagely to avenge their brother.
Some people actually believed their vicious lies.
I was filled with feelings of hatred and revenge. I filed a lawsuit against them. The lawsuit lasted two years, and although I won, I only succeeded in bringing home my elder daughter.
Since then, I cut myself and my daughters off from my husband's family.
For more than nine years since my marriage into my husband’s family, I had basically exhausted my life’s energy. I was just over 30-years-old but my hair had already turned white. I suffered from insomnia, dizziness, tachycardia, cardiac ischemia, hypoglycemia, hypotension, uterine fibroids, lumbar disc herniation, and autonomic disorders. I became extremely irritable.
In order to survive and for the sake of my daughters, I swore I would live on no matter how tough life turned out to be.
In order to get treatment and cure for my illnesses, I took Western medicine, sought out Chinese herbal treatment, learned several styles of qigong, and turned to Buddhism, but nothing helped.
Blessed with Dafa
In 1996, when I was in a sea of despair, a friend gave me a book called Zhuan Falun and told me the book would be good for both my physical and spiritual health.
When I opened the book and saw the photo of Master Li Hongzhi (the founder of Falun Dafa), I burst into uncontrollable tears. I felt like a lost child having finally found her way home.
Dafa healed the wounds in my heart and drove away my hatred. My grievances were replaced with gratitude. My despair turned to joy. My pale and haggard complexion changed to a rosy hue. All my illnesses disappeared. I experienced weight gain.
Dafa helped me understand the meaning of life. I knew the deep roots of resentment toward my husband’s family were due to karma.
Master says "… if you can’t love your enemy then you can’t become a Buddha." (Teaching the Fa at the Conference in Houston)
Master's words dissolved my 18 year resentment toward my husband's family.
I took my daughters and went to pay a visit to my mother-on-law and brothers-in-law, bringing an end to 18 years of no contact. When my mother-in-law died, my daughters and I went to her funeral.
When my husband’s elder sister became sick after retirement with no one to take care of her, my daughters made arrangements to put her in a nursing home and paid all expenses. We would visit her and bring along food dishes she enjoyed.
When one of my brothers-in-law was diagnosed with cancer, my daughters helped him with whatever he needed. When the other brother-in-law had diabetes, they also often went to visit him. My daughters’ generous actions touched them so much that they began to feel guilty for what they had done in the past.
When my father died two years ago, the children of my brothers-in-law paid us back by being there and helping us with whatever they could. Their actions likewise touched my stubborn mother and sister.
We now visit each other often. I always remember to share with them informational materials about Falun Dafa. I talk about my physical changes after practicing Falun Dafa. I explain why we all should renounce membership in the Chinese Communist Party. One by one I helped them to withdraw from the Party and its affiliated organizations. I remind them to remember and recite often “Falun Dafa is good! Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good!”
Master says, "Compassion can harmonize Heaven and Earth, ushering in spring" (“The Fa Rectifies the Cosmos” in Hong Yin Vol. II)
It was the change in me that brought about the change in them. When I turned 66 years old, about 20 members of my husband’s family came to wish me Happy Birthday. They even made me a big birthday cake. We all had a wonderful time together.
The estrangement between my husband’s family and me for 18 years is finally over. It is all because of Falun Dafa.
Thank you Dafa! Thank you Master!
Category: Improving Oneself
