Built For Confidence

E. 11 The Red Pill of Obedience: Dying to the Old Self with April Nova Scipio

• Season 1 • Episode 11

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Episode Summary

Welcome back to the Built for Confidence podcast! In this powerful episode, Coach Paul is joined by his great friend and sister in faith, Coach April Nova Scipio. If you feel like you are in a "matrix season" of transition and are trying to figure out where God is leading you, this episode is for you. April shares her incredible, raw journey of completely surrendering her established identity—even changing her name from April Nicole to April Nova—to step into a new level of glory. 

We dive deep into what it means to choose the "red pill" of God's truth over the "blue pill" of comfort, the necessity of letting your old seasons die, and how true confidence is built from the inside out,.

Key Takeaways

  • The Power of a "Fresh Yes": Why you need to give God a fresh yes every single day to step into the fullness of your purpose,.
  • The Red Pill vs. The Blue Pill: The blue pill represents the comfort of the "you" that you are used to. The red pill represents the truth of who God created you to be, which requires embracing the struggle and letting go of what people think.
  • Dying to the Old Self: April shares the emotional reality of laying down her highly successful 500-episode podcast, her established brand, and her old name to step into her new identity as "Nova" (meaning new, renewal, bright star),,.
  • Confidence is a Muscle: Confidence isn't just something you create; it's built on the inside and must be exercised daily. Sometimes, that means you just have to "start messy",.
  • Supernatural Acceleration: We are entering a season of supernatural acceleration, but it requires supernatural obedience. You have to be willing to get uncomfortable and surrender the full picture to God,.

Connect with Coach April Nova Scipio

April Nova Scipio is a teacher, speaker, author, and mentor based in Huntsville, Alabama. She is the founder of Nova Co., a faith-filled lifestyle brand dedicated to helping women create systems and rhythms to stop living average and fulfill all that God has for them.

Follow April and check out everything she has going on:

Call to Action (CTA)

Are you ready to stop living in the comfort of your past and take the leap of faith into your new season? Go follow Coach April at the links above to stay connected with her journey!

If this conversation blessed you, share it with a friend who is navigating their own transition. And don't forget to subscribe to the Built for Confidence podcast so you don't miss Part 2, where we will dive even deeper into the struggles and triumphs of shifting your identity!,

Huge shout out to my dude Jason Stephens that is my Music Creator, Information coming to get him to do your music as well!!!

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SPEAKER_00

Yo, what's going on, my friend Coach Paul here? Listen, we are about to embark on a conversation with a very good friend of mine, April Nova Scipio. Now, to give you the backdrop of who she is, she's a very good friend of mine. I consider her family. I consider her my sister. She came to visit me uh in 25 and we did a 500th episode for her podcast. Well, in these conversations as she was staying here with us, we got into this whole conversation of her changing her name. And so through that conversation, I'm like, you know what? I think we need to do a conversation on that because we've both gone through some things in 25 that we had to literally uh take a red pill. Now, if you're familiar with the red and blue pill, it's from the movie The Matrix, like the truth and then the complacency that you live now, the lie. And so we're gonna tap into that conversation. We're gonna see what it means to die to self, we're gonna see what it means to change a name, we're gonna see what it means to have the confidence to do so, and where God is leading you. Okay? So let's get started. Welcome to Build for Confidence, the podcast where kingdom builders rebuild identity, sharpen clarity, and lead with conviction. I am your host, Coach Paul Ibarra, and every week we're cutting through the noise to help you stop second-guessing, start deciding, and build with confidence right where God is placed. So listen, drop a review, drop a comment, hit that like, subscribe, all the things, and let's get started. So welcome back, y'all. I've got my sister, Coach April Nova Scipio. Some of y'all may have remembered her as April Nicole Scipio. But now we're talking to a whole new person, and you're probably sitting here going, but it's the same girl. It's the same woman. It's the same. No, it's not. I am here to tell you today I know this just because I know this. This is not the same woman of God. Coach April, do us a huge favor for those of you who do not know you, have never heard of you. Introduce yourself, tell us a little bit about what you do, where you're coming in from, and we're gonna dive into this conversation.

SPEAKER_01

Yes, I'm so excited about this conversation because I know we're gonna say stuff that we won't even know we're gonna say. And God's just gonna do what he wants to do because that's just how he rolls. I'm April, Nova Scipio, coming straight from the great state of Alabama, from Huntsville, Alabama. I am a teacher, speaker, author, and mentor. I own a company called Novico. It's a face-filled lifestyle brand for women who just really want to live differently. We are tired of living average. We know that's not our portion. And so we create systems and rhythms in our lives to help us to really fulfill all that God has for us. And I'm having a blast. I'm having a blast pouring into women, mentoring women, building local community, and really just whatever God tells me to do, I give him a fresh yes every single day.

SPEAKER_00

She ain't lying, y'all. Okay. It's a fresh yes, and she's on it, she's doing it. Uh, matter of fact, tell us a little bit. I just saw this post this morning, and I'm kind of like, why didn't I hear about it? Something about like an author thing, like talk, let's break that down real quick because you're doing stuff behind the scenes that your brother don't even know about.

SPEAKER_01

Man, bro. Okay, so I've just created a Substack account, which is just basically a place for people to write. So I basically restarted my blog on that space. I created the space a couple months ago, maybe one to two months ago, but I just launched a post because I was trying to figure out how I wanted to use the space, right? I'm a business owner, a lot of people are on there to promote their businesses, to create content that leads people to what they're offering and things like that. A lot of people are using that as another stream of revenue, which is great, but that's not what God is having me use that space for. So that's a space for me just to write. God was like, listen, I've called you to write. Here's a space for you to write. And so the name of my blog is called The Honest Edit. As I read the word, it reads me, and God's truth edits my life. And now I get to share that with all of you who read the blog. So go check out the honest edit over on Substack.

SPEAKER_00

Yes, go and check out the honest edit. Because when I saw that, I'm like, I'm I'm I'm feeling I don't know how to feel right now. I don't even know about this thing. Like, what's going on? But at the same time, we're so in motion this year. Yeah, like that there's things I'm working on. They're like, wait, wait, wait, wait, what? What are you doing? Like, this is what it's about. Like walking out this thing called life with confidence, right? And that's where we want to land today. And so I want you to just share with us. Like, I know, you know, when you came to visit, that was for the 500th episode for your podcast, right? Um, the whole ugly cry, like all of that took place. Like, wait, I didn't mean to do all that. Um, but it was amazing. So I want y'all also, that link for that podcast will be in the show notes. I want you to go and take take a listen because that story is amazing. It's the journey of what got her to the 500th episode. That's consistency, y'all. That's confident in knowing about the fresh yes that God gives this woman of God every single day, right? And so that that in itself, that visit was like, man, this is powerful. But the most powerful part was coming to find out, like, hey, this is what God's been speaking to me. And you were very adamant, like you were like putting it out there in the atmosphere. Like, I don't really care what people think, like this is what God is telling me to do. And I was like, okay, I'm like, all right, now part of me is like, why are you coming against me, girl? Like, I'm freaking. But at the same time, it was like, I think in in that moment, or even maybe a little after you went back home, I'm like, we need to do an episode on the red and blue pill.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Because 25 was a tough season for you, without getting into all details, right? Because we all have tough seasons, and that was a season also of prayer on our end, right? And just walking out this purpose with you on a virtual side of things. So in 25, all of these things shifted, but what happened? Like, what caused you to say, you know what? I'm changing my name. What happened?

SPEAKER_01

What's so crazy is when we recorded that 500th episode at the time my podcast was called The More in Your Morning Show. I had done 500 episodes, amazing journey. Had no clue that that would be the last episode of The More in Your Morning Show. No clue. Wow. So we have the 500th episode, powerful episode. Fly back home. We're getting into the holiday time toward the end of 25. Like you said, just walked walked out a really tough season. But by the end of 25, really felt like I was just on the cuss of the other side. Like I was on the other side, and I was sitting at my brother's house, and I don't even remember the conversation, but was having a conversation with family, and I ended up saying my whole name out loud, which at the time was April Nicole Scipio. And for the first time when I said it out loud, I had just had this thought like that's not me. And I just kind of sat with that, and then just began to lean into what God was trying to tell me. And I guess around the fall of 25, my family had moved to another state. I started a new um way to serve in my community, new church, new way to serve. Um, my kids were going to a new school. Around Christmas time, he had put on my heart to change my phone number. So new number. So there were a lot of new things that God was doing in my life. A lot of things that were connected to me were now new. And then God just began to say or remind me that I'm new. Because how many of you know going through the fire changes you, the fire refines you. You're one way, you go through the fire, you come out refined, you come out new. And God just began to say, you know, everything about you is new, and I'm giving you a new name. And so just begin to pray into that and think, you know, God, what what is my name? What does it need to mean? Just all the things. And we don't we went on this journey, and I landed um at the name Nova. And at the time I was like, man, what kind of name is that? Like, God, no, no, Lord, no. So I'm looking up other names, trying to do something that I felt sounded better or whatever the case is, and I just kept coming back to that name. Um, Nova means new, renewal, bright star, brilliance. And the Lord reminded me that months prior, this is how intentional God is. Months prior, I was on a networking thing, and I say she's my friend, but we really only talk when we're on the networking thing, which is not often. And she was just like, Hey, God gave me a scripture for you. And that scripture was Daniel 12.3. And let me just read that really quickly. So this is the new um, the new living translation, Daniel 12.3. So God's telling me my name's Nova, He's reminding me that months prior, I got this verse from this friend, and it says, Those who are wise will shine as bright as the sky, and those who lead many to righteousness will shine like stars forever. And God was like, That's you, you're a Nova star, and you're gonna shine bright, and your walk is gonna lead many people to the kingdom, and I just embraced it, and I I took on the name Nova, and you know, speaking about the podcast, I'm getting ready to record the podcast in this new identity, so to speak, not really new, but more maybe more revealed identity. And God was like, nothing from the old season can come with you in this season. So you got new address, new new name, new phone number, all of that. But even your podcast is gonna be new. So I after I recorded the 500th episode, I'm thinking I'm just gonna change the name of the podcast and have it be episode 501. I was like, nope. No residue. No residue. So we are on season one. Right now, I'm like on episode eight of the Novico podcast. So though those of you who listen to the podcast, listen, I ain't new to this. I know I only got eight episodes in on this Novako podcast, but I am not new to this, but it's just a testimony of like you gotta be willing. Like when you're presented with a red pill or a blue pill, right? Blue pill represents comfort, but it's almost like not even the real you, it's just the you that you're used to. Where the red pill represents the truth of who God created you to be and what he called you to do, and it may come with some struggle, but you're okay with that because you recognize I much rather operate in who I am in Christ than worry about the comfortability of life or what other people are gonna say.

SPEAKER_00

So, as you were talking, number one, the first question that I'm gonna ask you is, and you know, sit on it for a minute, and then I want to share some things that I was writing down. So, in that in that decision, because you had to make that decision in that fresh yes, we still have to decide, right? How did how did you like what did you do to let your your home know, your family know? Like I want to unpack that because they're gonna be like, wait, what? Like, huh? Right? So sit on that, gather your thoughts, but also because you're going into a new level, that means you're you have gone into new rooms, you've gone into new platforms, you've gone into new audiences. And I think that's imperative for us to really dive into and understand as entrepreneurs, kingdom builders, is that when you step into a new room, like you said, like yo, those of you who are, you know, episode eight, this ain't my first rodeo, right? But you're bringing a whole new level of wisdom, a whole new level of grit, a whole new level of pressure, a whole new level of weightiness, right? It's like the like the glory of God sits on you now. Because as we go from level to level to level, now we operate in the glory. Like that's a whole thing. That's a whole podcast. And that's what it that's what it comes down to is understanding that as we're built for confidence, and you know, some people may think, like, what do you mean built for confidence? Listen, confidence isn't something that's exercised. Confidence isn't something that you that that you create for yourself. Confidence is something that's built on the inside. And so if I have been built, if Coach April has been built, we've been built for confidence. That's the thing that God has already implanted in you. However, it's like a muscle, it's like faith. You have to exercise it every single day, hell or high water, scared, do it messy, start messy. Matter of fact, we did a podcast on that starting messy. But just saying, okay, sometimes you have to start messy, and that is what's going to expose the confidence that's already on the inside. You see, the world will tell you once you get your frameworks done, once you get your your headshots done, make those headshots to look a certain way. I love headshots. I'm not coming against anyone who has headshots, but what I'm saying is that's not what makes me confident. The confidence is knowing who I am. And that's where I believe you were, is like, this podcast does not identify me. I don't I don't identify as the more in morning show, right? I don't identify as this old season. So as we come into a new season, we don't identify. Did that work? Yes. Did it help us? Yes. Did it help us get to this new place? Absolutely. Did we embrace it? Yes. However, God told Joshua, my servant Moses is dead. My your old season is dead. The old frameworks are dead. The old podcast is dead, right? So hitting that new level. The second thing that I wanted to touch on is as you see in this video, there's this picture of these red poppies that were in Israel. And this was at the actual Nova site. So when you're talking about red and blue pill, I'm like, those were red poppies. That means that's the truth of the place that we were standing in. This is the same place that happened in October 7th of 2023, I believe, the big massacre, but there's beauty that comes from that same place. The same place that we saw bullet holes, the same place that mass destruction was taking place. God is doing a new thing. So when I went and I took these pictures, I'm like, this is this is crazy because you you could literally sense the stillness of the desolation, but you can also sense that there's something new. And so you had to die. You had to die to the old self, you had to die to the person who you were, right? So that dying causes you to live in a whole new way. So, how fitting is that that God gave you the name Nova? How fitting is it that somebody gave you that scripture? How fitting was it that that was the end, like we thought? Oh, the 500 episode. Yeah, come to the come to Colorado. We're gonna do it here. We were gonna do it at the library, we're gonna do it, we're gonna do this whole production. And God said, No, you're gonna do it in your family room, and you're gonna have an ugly cry. You better have some Kleenex and all the things. This is where God is so strategic. So let's talk about the confidence that you had. Or if you want to add anything to what I just said, that's fine too. But the confidence you had to share with your family, with your husband, with your daughters, with your son, with people. Because I know it it like it couldn't have been easy, even though you know, like I don't really care what anybody says, but I think there's a small piece of us that kind of does, like, man, what are people gonna think? Like, what what I ain't crazy? I know God told me to do this. So how like the mic is yours.

SPEAKER_01

So, yes, there was an internal struggle for me as I'm preparing to share. However, my family who I share it with, it was not a struggle for them. And here's why. Because of my track record, they were with me. My husband was with me when I was when we were walking through our miscarriage, and I had to walk by faith and do what God told me to do concerning that, as far as caring for my body and different things with that. My kids were with me, my husband was with me, my family was with me when I unexpectedly lost my job. And now I'm saying this is what God's telling me not to go back into the classroom, but just be available for him, and then they see the entrepreneurial journey. My husband was with me when I got all these degrees on the wall, but I'm choosing to stay home with my kids when they were young, and people didn't understand how in the world am I not? Yeah, there were comments like, Are you wasting your degrees? But my husband saw me follow what God told me, and the fruit of that now, as I have children who are serving Christ because of the seeds I planted in them young. So for them, when I'm saying like God is telling me this, because of the faithfulness of God and my track record of saying yeses, for them, I feel like it was an easy yes. We know, we know mom, her and God. Like, if God said it, we good. But for me, it was still that uh, like I'm saying it. And the it was more of a uh for outside my circle, really than inside my circle. Like my circle, they know me. Like your people, they know you. But it's like I have a whole business, I have clients, I have a whole online community that I have to believe they're gonna receive this elevated version of myself. But you gotta be willing to embrace that elevated version of yourself, even if separation is required. So I had to just say, no matter what happens, I'm gonna obey God and whatever happens. Happens, happens. And thankfully, my community has embraced fully me and the new level that I'm walking in. And I just thank God. Like I thank God for my journey of faith. It's like we gotta obey God in the minor moments so we can hear Him in the major moments. Changing my name is a major moment. Like actually changing my name, following the paperwork with the court, like new documentation. Like there's a lot of behind the scenes that happens with changing your name. And then at the same time, it's like regardless of what I have to walk through, I'm choosing to go through this because me obeying God is way more valuable.

SPEAKER_00

So good. It still comes down to a decision, right? Like we can say, yeah, I'm obedient, and yeah, this and that. But at the end of the day, every decision that you made led up to that moment. That's what I'm hearing. It's like every decision, every fresh yes, every heartache, everything you went through, every brokenness, every wholeness, every new level, every new season, every new mountain, every new valley, every new transition, all of that led to this one place in time where it was now a whole new name. So let's talk about we're just gonna go there. Let's talk about the death. What did that feel like? The death of April Nicole Scipio. Like, man, it was this, it was that. But how did the death feel? Like, was it like how did how did that feel? What was that about?

SPEAKER_01

Lots of tears. It's hard to separate yourself from something that has been a part of you for so long. It's hard to separate from or from me. I'm gonna speak from me. My whole brand was built around my name. So it wasn't like it was just my name, it was just on my birth certificate, and no one knew about it. Like I would go to speaking engagements and people would like introduce me using my first, middle, and last name. So people knew me as April, Nicole, Scipio. I have books that are out, devotionals, I have um plans on the U Version Bible app. Like, if you look at what I've built, it was all connected to April, Nicole, Scipio. And then I'm at a point where I'm at the crossroad, and God's like, it doesn't matter what you've built underneath that name, that is not you. And if you want to truly experience what I have for you, you're gonna have to let that old version of you die. You're gonna have to let those accolades die, those accompliments die, that podcast die, connections associated with that die. Like death is required for there to be a resurrection. So you're hearing about the resurrection, the renewal of April, now April Nova Sipio. You're right. It a death had to occur for that even to be possible. And it was hard and it was ugly and it didn't feel good, and it stressed me, it wasn't comfortable, I wanted to quit. Sometimes throwing a whole tantrum sometimes, and God's like, stop being a toddler, like, but it was like, uh, once I just surrendered, then that's when the peace came. It's like sometime in transition, we're confident in what God said, but we're not confident in our ability to execute what he said because we don't have maybe the full picture, but that's what we sign up for. When we say yes to Jesus, we don't sign up for the full picture. You're signing up for a full surrender.

SPEAKER_00

Whew. That's so good. That is so good. I think it comes down to identity. Like this whole conversation comes down to identity. Like, how do you identify with who you are in Christ? When I think about name changes, I think about Abram to Abraham, I think about Sadai to Sarah, right? I think about Jacob to Israel. And it's like, do you ever feel, because God still spoke to Israel as Jacob sometimes, do you feel sometimes that God is still speaking to an April Nicole, or is is he constantly speaking to an April Nova?

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. That's a great question. I feel like God is always speaking to April Nova, but I feel like sometimes I have to speak to April Nicole and remind her that she no longer exists.

SPEAKER_00

See, that was gonna be my next thing. Like, okay, does April Nicole try to come back at times?

SPEAKER_01

Of course, because April Nova is stretched, my faith is stretched. It's not, it's not comfortable stretching sometimes because now the things that God has put on my heart, the vision, the things that He's wants me to do in my new physical location. I mean, these are big things that he's putting in front of me. The April Nicole was comfortable with the level she was at. And I've got to remind her that her mindset can't handle the new level.

SPEAKER_00

I love it. I love it, I love it, I love it, I love it. I think we're gonna have to do a part two.

SPEAKER_01

We are. Of course we are, of course we are.

SPEAKER_00

Definitely love to um, I would definitely love to really dive into the whole identity piece in part two. Like, yeah, in the identity piece of the new that's here, the new programs, like all of that, but really helping others decide to take that leap of faith. And I don't I don't think you're saying, hey, everybody should go change their name. Because that's not an easy feat, right? But I do believe the conversation today is whatever God's calling you to step into, you gotta learn to die. Like I can speak to that, and I think that's what we'll we'll transition into in into this next episode is knowing what it is to die to a ministry name, knowing what it is to die to an old habit, knowing what it is to die, and it's almost like, and it's not to take away from your story, but it's almost like because you and I like rock out in these parallel universes. Like sometimes you're a little bit ahead, and then you'll be doing and then I'm a little bit ahead, and then I'll go through something, and then two days later you're going through the same thing. So we are connected, right? So I really believe that 25, a part of me also died as well. Because in that season, there was a lot of months, and it's it's no, it's no, this isn't to bring anybody down or even bring you down. But me and you rocked out so much that I'm like, I've got to rock out this season, and here's where I was. And I used to tell you all the time, I'm keeping the train going. Like wherever I'm going, you coming with me. Like it's okay. And you're like, thank you for keeping the keeping the caboose going, because that's what connection is really about. That's what confidence is really about, knowing, you know what? I'm standing with her, Holly's standing with her, and obviously there was other people standing with you too, but I'm talking about me personally, right? This is this is this is Built for Confidence podcast. So this is my podcast. So I'm talking about me, right? But it was it was walking it out with you, like, dude, like, how are you doing this? But then I also had had to ask myself, how am I doing this without my sister on a on a phone call more than once per week? It was just check-ins. But I knew, like, okay, this is a season, no matter what it looks like, no matter what it tastes like, that we're both on on different rails, but we're both on a train. And it's like, I see you, I see you, let's go, let's keep going. I'm praying for you, I'm praying for you. But we were both taking care of different business to where now our confidence is so heightened in this season that our conversations are different, right? So we're gonna talk about that once we once we do part two. I just want to encourage y'all to tune in because this conversation is just gonna be fire. Um, but we ain't done yet. We are not done yet. Anytime that I can get my girl on a Zoom call and have a conversation, listen, I'm like, yo, like just stay a little bit longer, stay a little bit longer, right? Because we want to break this down for you, but we also want you to digest what was just dropped today. So um, if there's any kind of word of encouragement that you can give our listeners right now, like just drop the mic, let them know whatever you feel on your heart based on this conversation, and then we're gonna wrap it up.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, I just can't help but to think words that God has been speaking to me in recent weeks. And I really believe we're entering a season of supernatural acceleration. But that only happens with supernatural obedience. So, whatever God is telling you to do, this thing, this transition, what you're stepping into, it is required in order for you to experience all that He has for you. So everything we drop today is not just a suggestion. We're saying God has something so great for you. You got to get the identity piece down, you gotta die to self, you gotta be okay with being uncomfortable, you have to give God a daily yes. Like these are things that we have to decide to do so we can experience everything, everything that God has for us in this season.

SPEAKER_00

I love it. I love it. What an awesome way to segue into our part two. So, listen, y'all, thank you so much for tuning in. Thank you for uh listening in and not just thinking that these are suggestions. These are this is real deal. Okay, so we're gonna come back, we're gonna rock this thing out. I love you guys. God bless you. And remember, everything is down in the show notes, and um, we'll catch you on our next episode. All right, peace.