The Extraordinary Life of an Ordinary 83-year-old Woman

(Minghui.org) My mother is 83 years old. She went to school for a few years when she was young but forgot everything she learned. So I now find it amazing that she can read Dafa books, especially Zhuan Falun, and can recite poems from Hong Yin. My mother also experienced dramatic changes in her health after she began to practice Dafa—from a sad-looking “medicine jar” to a healthy and cheerful lady. What I most want to share, however, is how, in her ordinary life, she does the three things in a down-to-earth way and achieves extraordinary results!

Taking Advantage of Her Excellent Health to Do Good

My mother lives in the countryside, where they have get-togethers every 10 days. She often goes to these events. Her children and grandchildren are eager to do her shopping for her, but she always declines, saying. “I’m fine walking around the streets to shop.” When people compliment her on her agility, she responds by clarifying the truth to them: “It’s because I practice Falun Dafa. You know how sick I was before. Don’t listen to the propaganda on the radio and TV. You will be deceived. Instead, you should sincerely recite, ‘Falun Dafa is good, Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good,’ and you will receive great blessings.”

My mother’s life is fulfilling. She distributes Falun Dafa informational materials to help people learn the facts about Dafa and the persecution, and she talks to people at gatherings. She sends righteous thoughts each morning before going out to clarify the truth. And when she puts up Dafa posters, she sends out a thought: “Sentient beings can look at them but not tear them down.” She asks Master Li to bless her so that no one will interfere when she puts up posters. Indeed, no one passed by, but many people showed up afterward. She understood that Master was protecting her.

Diligently Studying the Fa to Cultivate Her Heart

My mother has lived alone since my father passed away three years ago. She is always considerate of her children and does not want them to stay with her. “I practice Falun Dafa. Master will take care of me. You take care of yourselves and remember, ‘Falun Dafa is good, Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good.’”

After the first seven days of her mourning my father’s death, she let her two sons stay with her for only one night each, then she lived alone. In contrast, a widow who is 20 years younger than her has been living with her children for several years. But my 83-year-old mother has lived by herself for three years. She understands from the Fa that, with Master and the Fa, there is nothing to fear.

She gets up in the morning to do the Dafa exercises, then follows her schedule. She goes to bed at about 10 p.m. All her children know that if she did not practice Falun Dafa, it would not be easy for us to do our jobs. How many people can avoid getting sick and seeking medical care? But for Dafa practitioners, it’s uncommon to get sick. The Chinese Communist Party lied about the 1400 cases of practitioners who died and staged the so-called Tiananmen self-immolation. Looking back, the CCP did nothing except to disgrace itself.

Apart from her good health, the most notable change in my mother is that she can now listen to other people in a conversation without interrupting. She used to be the opposite. She has gotten good at restraining herself and has become much more open-minded.

She once asked my younger brother to clean the steps. That day he had been working outside and was caring for his son and doing household chores, so he was a little tired, but my mother didn’t know that. She has always been neat and tidy to the point of being a perfectionist. My brother thought she was being obsessive, and he complained while cleaning the steps, “You’re really picky. You don’t compromise at all.” My mother smiled and didn’t say a word.

My brother felt embarrassed and apologized later. His wife came by and said, “I asked him to do some cement work earlier, sow I kno he was tired. That’s why he complained. Please don’t be offended.” Mother replied, “I’m not offended. That was for me to improve my xinxing!” Had this happened before she began to cultivate, she would have been so angry she would have lost sleep over it and not eaten.

My mother has memorized Master’s article “What is Forbearance (Ren)?” in Essentials For Further Advancement and uses the Fa to evaluate things. I’m often astonished at the changes that she has undergone since she became a practitioner. Many people have learned the truth and know that Falun Dafa is good because of her. My husband, my aunt, and I are all veteran practitioners who started cultivating Dafa after seeing the changes in my mother.

Another miraculous thing happened. All her upper teeth had fallen out, and her dentures would not stay in because her gums were too shallow. The doctor said the only solution was to get implants, which would cost 15,000 yuan per tooth. Of course, there were no such dental services where we lived.

My mother said, “Never mind, it’s okay, I can still chew.” Surprisingly, a new tooth grew out of her upper jaw opposite the few teeth she had on the lower one, so that her dentures fit just right. My mother can now chew crispy corn tortillas. Everyone who saw it marveled, saying this was a blessing that can only be obtained by practicing Falun Dafa! Thank you, Master.

My mother had regularly worked for hours in her vegetable garden. As a result, her spine had tilted upward and bulged. It had been like that for two or three years when I read an article by another practitioner suggesting that issues like hers might be the result of accepting ordinary notions of aging. My mother followed that practitioner’s advice to correct her thinking, strengthen her righteous thoughts, look inward, and practice diligently. Her spine is now basically straight, and her voice is strong and crisp. Her 70-year-old brother heard about the change in my mother and praised her for being young again.

Being Diligent in Her Daily Life Benefits Our Family

My mother worked hard for most of her life and was someone who did not sit still. It is well-known that she was not afraid of hardship. When we were young, she wove cloth all night to supplement the family income. She worked hard day and night and saved money to build two houses. From working so much, she suffered from many ailments, including bronchitis, emphysema, and a heart condition. She’d had a major operation. She became skin and bones and was known in the village as a sickly person.

My mother gained a new life after she started practicing Falun Dafa. Her yard is full of lush, green crops, and she grows different vegetables based on the season. Her children, neighbors, and fellow practitioners have enjoyed the natural vegetables she grows. The chicken she raised kept laying eggs, even on the hottest summer days.

I was afraid that she would overwork herself, so I advised her to stop. But she was full of energy and continued. She knew how to arrange her time reasonably. She put cultivation first and did gardening in her spare time. The children and grandchildren were happy they didn’t have to worry about her health. They often came to visit and brought her delicious food. My mother was very pleased. Of course, all of this was a blessing from Dafa. While the people around us may have envied us, they naturally understand that “Falun Dafa is good!”

I was arrested by a Chinese Communist Party agent last January. My mother must have sensed it, because she kept calling me. She later told me, “My daughter, to tell you the truth, I was thinking negatively at that time; I even thought about organ harvesting.” My mother’s relatives and fellow practitioners have been persecuted many times, and she often lived in fear. I was sentenced to two years of forced labor and was illegally detained several times. In this time when good people are being persecuted and right and wrong are reversed, it’s understandable that she was frightened.

But I was happy to hear that later that night, she suddenly shouted, “You cannot detain my daughter.” Then she raised her palm to eliminate the evil. Such righteous thoughts and actions moved me. They matched what I suddenly thought in the police station, which made me sober: “I can’t be here. What will happen to my mother?”

Before that, my mind was blank, and I just sat there in a daze without thinking. So I began to send righteous thoughts to stop the police from persecuting me. I also kept clarifying the truth. Protected Master and with the help of fellow practitioners’ righteous thoughts and actions, I walked out of the police station with dignity that day.

My mother’s daily life may seem ordinary, but as a life that is continually assimilating to Dafa, she’s always extraordinary!