(Clearwisdom.net) My mother is 80 years old this year. Since she learned Falun Dafa in 1997 until the present, there have been tremendous changes to her physical health. Through her changes, I witnessed the extraordinary effects of Falun Dafa.

Because a life of poverty and toil deplete a person, my mother developed tracheitis and asthma. She developed severe emphysema and pneumonia because she could not afford preventative medical treatment. She also contacted asthma and had perennially swollen legs and face. She was so thin. From having diseases beginning in her 30s into her 70s for so many years, my mother lived a very difficult life. She would often cough spasmodically and at times, her heavy cough would make her light headed, break out in a sweat and her face would turn red from choking. Her breathing would be labored after that for a period of time. How uncomfortable she was! It is difficult to imagine how my mother endured it through those years.

I remembered in the fall of 1997, my mother suddenly became ill and went to the hospital emergency room, weighing only 60 Jin (about 65 pounds). I stayed by her bedside. Looking at my mother suffering like that, I was gripped with dread and desperation. Besides crying, I could not think of anything to alleviate her pain. My mother devoted everything in her frugal life to her children. She had experienced so many hardships and tribulations, suffering the pain of diseases and struggled on the brink of death.

After my mother left the hospital, my sister, who learned Falun Dafa in 1996 gave my mother the precious book of Falun Dafa's teachings entitled, Zhuan Falun. Through persistent, daily study of the Falun Dafa principles, my mother's frail body became strong and she experienced an amazing recovery. She even gained weight. Her skin became much more soft; she looked young and in high spirits. My mother deeply experienced the extraordinary effect of Falun Dafa. She actively participated in group practice in the park and studied the principles together with others in groups. She experienced a feeling of wellness once more, free of illnesses. That period of time was the most delightful in my mother's life. Impressed after witnessing my mother's changes, in 1998 I also began learning Falun Dafa.

On July 20, 1999, the legal environment for practicing Falun Dafa suddenly changed. The local Village Committee sent people by and they confiscated Dafa books and identification documents from my mother. Faced with the atmosphere of terror against Falun Dafa practitioners that was developing and having the twin pressures from family and the outside, my mother began hesitating in her belief in Dafa and then gave up practicing Falun Dafa. She began wasting her time gambling and watching TV, time which she would otherwise have devoted to studying the Falun Dafa principles. She resumed smoking and did not conduct herself as a practitioner. She forgot that she was a beneficiary of Dafa and forgot Master's merciful redemption.

Watching our mother regress back to her former bad habits made my sister and I anxious. We felt pity that she gave up the practice that benefited her so much so easily. No matter how you tried to enlighten her on this issue and reason with her, she would not listen. On the contrary, she tried to convince us to stop practicing Falun Dafa. She became so stubborn and irrational. Because of her attitude, all the illnesses that had formerly plagued her quickly returned to my mother's body. She began suffering from diseases again. Finally, in the spring of 2001, my mother fell very ill. Medicines had no effect on her. It was my sister who took a risk and brought my mother back to Falun Dafa. Under my sister's patient instruction, my mother picked up Zhuan Falun again and began studying the Falun Dafa principles earnestly. Although she was not as diligent as before, her body still changed significantly for the better. A miracle happened again; after only three months, her weight climbed to 90+ Jin (almost 100 pounds) from the previous low of 60+ Jin (almost 70 pounds). Even my mother herself admitted, "Ever since I was born, I have never been as normal as I am now." All of our neighbors said, "It is wonderful! It is the merciful and generous Master who gave my mother a new life."

After returning home, because my mother could not study the Falun Dafa principles and practice for a long time, and because she could not be strict with herself as a practitioner according to Dafa's high moral standard, but acted as a common person, her diseases gradually increased. She had to keep taking medicine.

At the time of this Spring Festival, my mother's old diseases recurred and her life was in danger. Even increasing the medicine dosage did not help at all. Relatives suggested that we move her immediately to a hospital. My sister and I firmly believed that only Master and Dafa could save our mother. My sister decided to take the risk again and brought our mother back to her home. I asked sister, "Could a miracle happen again?" Sister replied firmly, "Sure." After she went to sister's home, my mother only had fever once. When she read a dozen pages of the book, Zhuan Falun, my mother could feel that she was getting better. After several days, her asthma almost disappeared and she ate more. Everyone said she had gained weight. The miracle happened again! Two weeks later, Dad and I went to see my mother. It was unbelievable that only after some ten days had passed, my mother became a healthy person once again, saved from the brink of death. Even Dad who had not practiced Falun Dafa was convinced by the miracle he witnessed. He said my mother barely escaped with her life this time. Master's generous protection and mercy saved her from death again and again. Only Falun Dafa could have such extraordinary effect on a person's life.

During the course of her cultivation, my mother's heart was burdened by the many detours she took. She almost missed this opportunity that so rarely comes our way in thousands of years. She almost deserted the practice and did not treasure it at all. It is our merciful and generous Master who doesn't want to leave a single practitioner behind. Master gave her an opportunity, purifying her body and prolonging her life again and again, for the purpose of practicing cultivation and becoming a better person. I wish my mother would learn her lesson and treat her cultivation practice seriously from now on, because the opportunity for cultivation might not present itself again and might get lost forever. She should cherish Master's mercy.

Master gives us so much, has endured so much, and has done so much for us. Let us appreciate Master's merciful and difficult salvation!

During the course of cultivation, everyone has personal feelings, miraculous experiences, and things that are etched in one's memory.

Fellow practitioners: during this special historical period, let us be more diligent, walk our path more righteously and do much better!