To the Woman in Pain:

 I want to write to the woman, the daughter of God, who's in a season of pain. 

Don't pretend life isn't hard. Don't pretend your trial isn't hard. Let it be heavy when it's heavy. And also, look for the light. 

Let joy sit beside your pain - 

not instead of it. 

You can be grieving and still be grateful. Exhausted and still hopeful. Feel the weight of today while still believing GOD IS FAITHFUL. 

Joy doesn't erase the hard, but it has a beautiful way of reminding you that despair isn't the only truth. 

Joy is directly related to how we think about God.

 It's the settled assurance that God is in control of all the details of my life, the quiet confidence that ultimately everything is going to be all right, and the determined choice to praise God in all things. 

Think about Habakkuk 3:17-18 for a minute. 

"Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines, the labor of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat, the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation."

Habakkuk was in a season of pain. God's people were suffering injustice, violence, and a spiritual decline. He starts the book off asking God, "how long shall I cry, and thou wilt not hear?" and ends with worshipping him.  These couple verses describe devastation. 

No figs = no fruit

No grapes = no wine

Failed crops = no food

No flocks or herds = no livelihood

He basically says, even if everything I depend on disappears - my security, my stability, my provision - YET I WILL REJOICE. 

And who is he choosing to rejoice in? GOD. HIs joy is rooted in who God is, not in his circumstances changing. 

Let's notice what he didn't say.

He didn't say: "I will pretend everything is okay" or "I will ignore the loss." In fact, he acknowledges the loss first, then says, even though this is happening, yet I will choose to trust God. 

Verse 19 comes after: "The Lord GOD is my strength, and he will make my feet like hinds' feet, and he will make me to walk upon mine high places..."

God did not promise Habakkuk that circumstances would become easy. Nor does he promise us that. Instead, God promised him that he would become his strength within the circumstances. 

Your today may feel dry, empty, even dead. 

Look at this picture. It's the same tree, just a different season. 

Girl, don't give up in your hard season. Choose to continue holding onto God and choosing to trust his character. 

Remember that God is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart. 💔And he is a healer who gently binds the wounds. 

Wu Yi Shan (mountain) Trip

June 19th was the start of the Dragon Boat Festival so my Philipino friend and I made a plan to go to WuYi mountain in NanPing. NanPing is still in Fujian Province (same as Xiamen), so by high speed train it took around 3.5 hours to arrive.

Chinese pancake. All kinds of food and drink are allowed on the train.

At the Wu Yi Shan North train station, there's a connecting bus people can take that drops off at different stops. For the mountain, we got off at Wu Yi Shan station. It usually costs but this time was free because it was a holiday.

Tea culture set up in the hotel room.

After checking into the hotel, we went to a tea culture experience (though I've already experienced it alot with my tea guy friend 😅) and tried new teas. This area is known for red tea, oolong tea, and black tea.

After the tea culture, we meandered down the walking street with all sorts of street food and shops lining it. This area is known for their duck meat and it absolutely deserves that rating. 😋💯

Then we watched the performance of "Impression Da Hong Pao." It's an outdoor live show with the Great King Peak and Chong Yang creek in view. The coolest thing is that visitors get to sit in the world's first 360-degree rotating auditorium. Each turn displays new dances with music and lights, showing different scenes of tea life from the Tang and Song dynasties.

It was spectacular. It included the Bamboo Grove Dance. This scene is set against the backdrop of tea drinking in the bamboo forest of the Song Dynasty. The dancers gracefully dance among the bamboo shadows, naturally blending the artistic conception of high mountains and flowing water with the heroic spirit in tea. It showcases the elegance and charm of the tea-fighting scene and also uses group dances to express the elegance, immortal bones, and Confucian style that are highly regarded in Chinese traditional culture.

They also showcased the exquisite tea-frying techniques with a reenactment of the traditional production of Wuyi rock tea. I think the most amazing part of Chinese dances is the choreography. I posted videos of the dances on my instagram page, if you're interested in watching them. 

After the performance we found KinTea milk tea shop 🧋which has the most delicious milk tea I ever tried. Of course, because this area is the home of pure tea. Then we walked down this side street with tea culture shops one after another. 

The sign in front of the shop literally means "drunken Wuyi." Of course probably drunk with milk tea. 😅 (And Wuyi is the name of the mountain.)

Breakfast at the hotel. 

Over half of this wasn't even edible, but this is example of Chinese breakfast foods. 😄

A shared van picked us up and we joined a group tour where we rode to Wuyi national park. The tour guide helped everyone enter (only 8 people in the group), then we took a bus ride up part of the mountain to the place we could start hiking. The nature is so peaceful and the air so fresh to breathe. 

The river is Jiuqu Xi (Nine-Bend stream).

Though I wrote on this picture that it's cinnamon, it actually might not be. There's so many tea plants in that area, I might've gotten them mixed up.

We continued hiking with the group till we came to Huanggang mountain, the highest peak in the Wuyi mountains. For those who don't want to climb the whole thing, there's a halfway point to stop and turn around. A few people hiked to the halfway spot and I was the only one to hike to the top.

Climbing to the top (around 40-50 minutes) is worth it to see the view. Reminds me of the Grand Canyon.

 It took another 40-60 minutes to go back down. At the peak is Tianyou Temple (a Taoist temple built during the Song Dynasty and renovated during Mind dynasty) and many shops selling food and souvenirs.

For anyone not wanting to walk, they can pay to be carried in this chair. I feel bad for the people who have to climb the mountain with this thing. That's got to be difficult. 

After the mountain we rode the bus to a small town where there are lots of small shops and the group ate lunch. Then we walked to take a bamboo raft ride down 9-Bend Stream. The scenery reminded me the most of Arizona with the rocks and trees. The water was calling me to go swimming but unfortunately that wasn't an option. 😆 But I did get wet from the water splashing onto the raft, then even more wet because it started raining hard but thankfully only lasted a short time.

I spied cameras in the trees...

When we landed, the guide led us to a walking street where she recommended we try the tea ice cream. No joking, this is my favorite ice cream I've ever tasted. 

And of course I got milk tea to take back with me.

Then after that we were free to leave the group, so friend and I rode a free bus back to the walking street from the previous day and went to KinTea again to try another milk tea. 😂One tea was for that day, another tea was for the next day. 

Then we waited in the hotel lobby for a little while until it was time to take a taxi back to the bus stop so we could head to the train station.

Look at this police car. 😄

Scenery from the bus ride was gorgeous.

Though the trip only last for 1 day, it was a blast. I'd love to go back and explore more.