Some of our 2012 lineup—Chad, Courtney, Jamie Grace, and Harris III—give a shout-out from The Revolve Tour headquarters.

See them at The Revolve Tour 2012: Dream On! Click here to find an event near you.

Growing up in a Christian home, faith came easily to me at first.  I believed in God and knew he loved me, but I hadn’t spent time getting to know this love personally. Because I didn’t know God in relationship, I peaked out on my faith.  I had no ties.  I hung out with people who didn’t get into the God thing, and I let their lifestyle influence me.  I got caught in the gossip web and hung up on boys.  God wasn’t a priority.  In fact, I went through a phase where I doubted his existence altogether. And that’s when I hit my darkest point.

I was empty, without hope.  I knew I wanted something more.  I broke down and told God that I needed him, and he revealed himself to me in a new way.  This new way was personal.  It wasn’t my parent’s faith; it was my own, because I spent time getting to know the true, intimate God.

He died for me.  Even when I wanted nothing to do with him, failed him, disowned him, he never disowned me.  No one on earth could EVER love me as completely, deeply, and faithfully as Jesus Christ.  Jesus lived a perfect life, yet died a sinner’s death (the death that I deserved).  Then he defeated death, so that I could live with him forever.

The more I spent time with God, the more I told others about him.  I couldn’t help it! When you know the drenching, quenching love of God, you slosh it into others.  Why keep such good news to yourself?

Excerpted from You Were Made To Make A Difference copyright 2010 by Jenna Lucado. Thomas Nelson, Inc. pgs. 45-46. Used with permission. All rights reserved.

Want to hear more wise words from Jenna? Check out her latest book here!

Why?! Well because…

• Inside jokes.
• Heart to hearts.
• Friendships just go to another level when you’re able to pull an all-nighter together.
• PIZZA!
• Calories just don’t count when you’re baking chocolate chip cookies at midnight.

And you’ve never laughed harder at 2:30 in the morning when deliriousness starts to set in.

Then you finally put on a movie and you… never. see. the. end.

I hope you never. see. the. end. of slumber partying with your besties.

Jenna, order a pizza! I’m coming over!

What’s your favorite thing to do at a slumber party?

So last summer I went on a vacation to Greece with my hubby. It was spectacular! During the trip we stopped in the town of Olympia, famous for… hmmm… what’s that big event we do every 4 years? Oh yeah, the Olympics.

We got to walk around the old ruins and see where the original Olympics were held, where the athletes trained and raced.

If you haven’t already felt it yet, I have a hunch that you are hitting a weary season. Spring Break is over for a lot of you guys, but summer is still far enough away, that you aren’t home-free quite yet. Are you tired these days? Tired of school? Tired of family? Tired of friends?

I know when I’m tired or stressed, one of the first things I overlook is my relationship with God. I’m too busy! And this whole spending time with God thing takes up time I don’t have. Or maybe I’m just too lazy to sit down and read the Bible or pray to Him. The Bible actually says that our relationship with God takes work. It takes “training.” But sometimes I’m just too tired to spiritually train.

Feeling a little sluggish in your spiritual race?

Then, check out this video from my time in Greece.

I want to encourage you to keep training in your walk with God. Keep pursuing Him. I know you are tired. I know doubts pop up, problems surround you. But if you keep training in God, by reading your Bible, hanging out with Christian friends, talking to God… then before you know it, you will find your heart loving God more, resting in Him more, experiencing peace more and joy more.

Kinda like when you train for sports. If you keep training even when it’s hard—running, lifting weights… then before you know it, you are doing 30 push-ups instead of 10, running 3 miles instead of 1, and the sport you are training for becomes easier, more natural.

I know you are tired and weary, but it’s the training that makes the run easier.

Keep it up girl!

“I have a hunch that I am not the only one who, as a child, slowly cracked open every closet door in the house, hoping to stumble upon the magical world of Narnia.

Growing up, my two sisters and I would hurriedly shower, brush our teeth and throw on our pajamas knowing that our favorite time of day was minutes away. With just-wet hair, inside-out nightgowns and remnants of toothpaste still on our lips, we would race down the hall and bounce onto mom and dad’s big bed to hear another chapter unveiled from C.S. Lewis’, The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe.

I don’t know of another story that is filled with as much whimsy as it is truth. Every boy and girl needs the tale of Narnia tucked deep down in their heart, so that when this world feels too dark, he or she will remember that goodness still wins, love still conquers and the Lion is coming back.”

Did you know we’re giving away The Voyage of the Dawn Treader DVD, a movie night snack pack, and an official movie poster? Click here to enter for your chance to win!

I am SO stuck on in the land of “me.”

Really!

If I could journal all my thoughts in a 24 hour period (Okay, minus 8 of those hours when I’m sleeping. Yes. I have to get 8 hours or else I’m a monster), I think I would be shockingly appalled at how selfish my thoughts are.

They would probably look something like this:

Oh man, I don’t want to get up right now.
I have to make coffee.
What am I going to eat for breakfast?
I better spend some time with God so that I feel better about my day.
Shoot, I need to read through so many of my emails.
How am I going to get all this work done today?
I wonder if she is going to call me about our lunch date?

Okay, you get the hint. That was probably really boring for you to read. But now I have an activity for you. Count how many personal pronouns were just in that hypothetical journal entry of thoughts. (Personal pronouns take the place of people or things. I, he, we, they, me… If you didn’t know that, don’t feel bad, but please spank your hand for me… gently… of course And start paying attention in English class missy!)

What were your results?
I counted 9 (not including the possessive pronouns like “my,” but seriously, enough with the grammar lesson. You get the point.) And trust me, those just scratch the surface of how many ME, MYSELF and I thoughts I have during the day.

So what if we made a little mental shift?
What if we tried to pair each thought that revolved around us with a thought that revolved around someone else? How would that change our perspective?

Well, I tried doing that a couple of weeks ago.

You see, three weeks ago, this infection the size of a small shrub started growing on my forehead. Check it out:

There I was sitting in the Denver, Colorado airport on my way home from Revolve. Do I look happy or what? I know this picture is dark, but maybe you’ll be able to see a little difference in my face size when you look at this picture:

I was so stuck on my pain, my appearance, my embarrassment (after all, I’m speaking to all these girls and meeting them with a face twice its normal size!), my bad luck … ME, ME, ME! I was throwing the greatest mental pity party. You are so glad you weren’t invited. Thankfully, in the middle of my party, God interrupted with an unexpected guest.

Rebecca.

God brought Rebecca into this mental pity party, and all of a sudden, the party (which wasn’t a party at all) ended abruptly.

Rebecca is 8-years-old and has spent the last 10 months in and out of the hospital with a disease called Pancreatitis. (Feel free to Google it if you want details.) She has been on a feeding tube for the majority of those 10 months, experiencing severe pain and multiple surgeries.

Remember when you were 8-years-old? What were your concerns?

My concerns surrounded which #2 pencil color I was going to bring to school or whether I was going to swing, jump rope or play tag during recess.

My concerns were not about my health, pain, scary surgeries, hospital smell, death…

But sweet Rebecca faces her pain with a big girl smile. Check our her sweet video:

After I watched her video, my thoughts were less about me and more about her. I asked God to give me a greater perspective as I was fighting my infection, keeping all the Rebecca’s around the world in mind anytime I started getting stuck in Me Land.

When we put others before ourselves, our hearts change. They become more thankful, more caring, more loving, more joyful, more… like Jesus.

So here is my challenge for you Revolve girls:

• Let’s change our “I” or “Me” thoughts to “him” or “her” thoughts.
• Let’s get out of “my” world and into “her” world.

In fact, I have a really cool invitation to help you with this new challenge.

On May 7, I am going to be a part of this cool event called an Outlive Your Life Simulcast. That means that my dad will be sharing from his new book Outlive Your Life—a book all about how to get out of our selfish lives and into the lives of others. And guess what? I’ll be there too! Can you believe they are going to let me be a part of it? I can’t. But I’ll be sharing some thoughts, and I want you to hang out with us. So here is the link to find out more info: www.incastevents.com

Check it out. And then decide, “Is there an Outlive Your Life event close to me? Should I bring friends? Or should I just throw a big party at my house where we watch it live online, just from my computer, eat popcorn and then talk about how to change the world?”

This is a PERFECT opportunity to take on the challenge of getting out of “I” world. So will you think about the Outlive Your Life event?

Will you pray for Rebecca?

And will you take on the challenge?

I want the world to know that Revolve girls are here to make a difference!

Portland Revolve was crazy awesome! In all my years of traveling and doing Revolve, this city has always held a special place in my heart.

Not only is Oregon breathtaking with its beautiful scenery, but nothing about Portland is generic. The shopping, the food, the waterfalls – all of it is begging to be explored and have its picture taken. And quite frankly traveling is even better when it’s with your bestie. So, naturally, I grabbed Jenna’s arm and said, “Let’s go!”

We hopped off the plane and made a beeline for the car rental. Jenna had never been to Multnomah Falls, which is such a tragedy. I couldn’t sleep at night knowing we’d been so close and I hadn’t taken her so we grabbed my favorite latte on the planet at Stumptown Coffee then hit the road.

The drive along the Columbia Gorge is by far my favorite in this country – and I have done some driving across this country, let me tell you!

On the way we stopped at the Vista House, which offers such a stunning view that you have to pull over and stare and have your breath taken away.

We finally made it to the falls. Multnomah Falls is credited as the third tallest year-round waterfall in the United States. So it’s quite a sight to see.

I loved standing there having the ICE COLD beads of water splash my face as it hit the pool of water hundreds of feet below. I could have stood there all day.

Waterfalls are such a gift. And Jenna got to check them off her bucket list.

I think we talked for 12 hours straight constantly interrupting the other one mid sentence to point out the Oregon beauty. And then we got to our favorite reason for being there – THE REVOLVE TOUR!!! Which was a blast – you girls were so loud and fun and crazy and ask such great questions. Basically we are just crazy about you Portland girls!

Quite frankly the weekend ended too soon…

All in all, it was such a fun weekend. I ate my weight in food, had amazing conversations, and was reminded of how magnificent God is.

Sometimes it’s nice to pause from life and its busyness and all the tough questions and just stop for a second and absorb the beauty of creation and let His love wash over me. Like a waterfall.
Portland is such a great place for this.

Jenna, when are we going back?!?

— Courtney