Looking back over two years of practicing Falun
Dafa, from the many hints and miracles that I experienced before and
after learning Falun Dafa, I can see how I was predestined to obtain the
Fa.
Months prior to obtaining the Fa I kept getting
butterflies in my stomach, the kind that arise from excitement, except
there wasn't anything to be excited about. I told my husband that
something good was going to happen soon. Sometimes the
"butterflies" were accompanied by "hot flashes," but
at 55 years old menopause was well and truly over for me.
As time went on I noticed that I was tripping over
everything like I had two left feet. I had the feeling that something
strange was going on! Then one day, while I was preoccupied carrying
shopping bags inside our caravan, my foot caught on a rope tied to the
awning. I fell onto the concrete ground and immediately felt pain. I had
landed heavily on my left shoulder; I couldn't move or speak for what
seemed like ages. Every nerve felt jarred. As the numbness began to
wane, thousands of pins and needles worked down my torso. I managed to
sit up, as tears streamed down my face.
My husband and I are seasonal workers from New
Zealand. We have established a fruit picking circuit in Australia. For
the past 14 years we have worked in the tomato fields of a small coastal
town in North Queensland. Just two days before I fell, I had been out
shopping when I noticed a banner reading "Falun Dafa"
fluttering by the roadside opposite a busy shopping center.
I had never heard of Falun Dafa, let alone learned
how to say the words properly; however, I returned home unable to shake
the feeling that I needed to find out more. I rang a practitioner listed
in the local directory, who arranged a meeting to teach me the five
exercises. I could hardly wait and told practically everyone I knew,
thinking they might want to come and learn, too.
Just after my phone call was when I tripped. My
shoulder hurt so badly I couldn't lift my arm. I thought, "That's
it...tomato-picking season is over for me." The next day, in spite
of the pain, I went to work. I could still pick tomatoes but couldn't
lift the buckets. With help I got through the day, but wondered if I
could manage the exercises that I had been so looking forward to
learning.
Six of us turned out that day. The practitioner who
met us was sitting under a tree waiting with her young son in a
carriage. I immediately noticed that her eyes sparkled and her face
glowed with an inner beauty she was obviously totally unaware of.
Instinctively, I knew that she had something special. I persevered with
the pain, enjoying the gentle flowing movements and the accompanying
music. The practitioner sent me home with truth-clarifying materials and
a copy of Falun Gong.
That evening I read till my eyes hurt and went to
sleep knowing that my 30-year search for the truth had ended. I felt
that I had come home to myself.
Then, in the early hours, I was awakened by deep pain
ripping through my torso. I couldn't believe it. I was experiencing the
exact same pain as when I had tripped just a couple of days before.
There was nothing I could do but endure the pain for what seemed like
ages. But the next morning, I felt I had been touched by a miracle. I
could lift my arm and even push the caravan door shut. What's more, at
work that day I picked buckets quicker and covered more ground than I
had in a long time, and I wasn't tired. By the end of the day, the pain
in my shoulder and arm had completely disappeared. I think that if it
were not for the fall, Falun Dafa may not have affected me so
profoundly.
Many more miracles continue to this day.
After the tomato-picking season, my family always
travels south to pick pears, working long hours, often from dark to
dark. I used to light up a cigarette after each bin, which took about
three-quarters of an hour to fill. Every day I would listen to Masters'
lectures and ponder the chapter referring to smoking. Sitting behind the
tractor, I sent out a thought, "Master, I can't quit without your
help. I'm too weak, and I've tried willpower before." Just then, a
puff of dirty smoke burst from the old tractor's exhaust pipe. In that
instant and in slow motion, the smoke from my mouth simultaneously
matched the different shades of smoke blowing out of the tractor. Years
of build-up caked the inside of that pipe and I was revolted by the
thought of black tar caking my insides. I threw that cigarette down and
have never smoked another. This is after some 40 years of smoking
20-plus cigarettes a day. I also gave up drinking alcohol, which went
hand in hand with another bad attachment I soon dumped...gambling on the
poker machines.
Many more attachments keep raising their ugly heads
and are equally horrifying, but I know Master is always there to help me
through. I just need to have confidence in the fact that in a past life
I agreed to help Master with Fa-rectification. What a grand honor!
In closing, may I take this opportunity to say thank
you to Master for transforming my life.
