Kingdom Power Living - Interview with Coach April

welcome back to another episode of

christian natural health today i am very

excited to have coach april with us

april is an international speaker and an

author who loves to exhort people to tap

into their greatness to identify who

they really are now a certified fitness

trainer april carried around the weight

of feeling fat for many years after a

boy called her big at the right age of

12. finding her identity in christ is

what set her free and now she challenges

she challenges and supports her clients

to change both the inside and the

outside tackling both mindset and

physical fitness with programs like the

90 day breakthrough clean eating and

love my body challenges april believes

everyone is able to make the changes

they desire whether by baby steps or

giant leaps they just have to start

moving her vision is to get the body of

christ and anyone who is interested in

reclaiming their health to make sound

choices that will lead to victory in

their overall lives welcome coach april

so glad to have you

thank you so much it is so glad to be

here such an honor and this is an

amazing friday so what better way to do

you know to spend it here with you

absolutely well thank you so tell us a

little bit about your story so you said

you started out with these harsh words

that kind of set you on one trajectory

as a child and now you've come full

circle to where you are now kind of give

us some of the details in between

yeah sure and the funny thing about it

is i didn't even realize it and it

wasn't until like many many years later

that god began to reveal to me that

there was something holding me back in

my identity so as you mentioned um at

the right age of 12 years old as a

preteen liking a boy who

obviously didn't like me back i don't

know what's wrong with him but

but yes he called me big and i don't we

were kind of hanging out a bunch of you

know friends i don't know if anybody

else heard him but i did and it

shattered me and i kept that in the back

of my mind i just thought that i was fat

so i had just identity issues and the

thing is we can cover this up really

well because no one would have

necessarily known i didn't share the

story with anyone until i actually wrote

it in my book and funny thing is my mom

was like who is the boy that got so

nobody knew about this i covered it up

really well but all throughout high

school there's certain clothes that i

wouldn't wear there's certain activities

that i wouldn't participate in and i

just always saw myself as big because

this was the label that he had given me

until like i said before i had allowed

christ to like reveal my true identity

in him and begin to peel back those

layers so that i could see you know what

this affected you at a young age this

affected you at an age a young age and

now it's time for us to like really

shift some things and renew your mind to

what i say about you so that we can

really get you healthy and whole yeah

absolutely so what did that process look

like in terms of recognizing your

identity in christ and specifically what

he said about you what were the things

what were the verses maybe or the truth

that really made a difference for you

yeah so if i don't know people out there

are familiar with the i am scriptures

but once i became a christian i had a

friend probably several of them because

they were really popular they were

floating around so i had this whole list

of i am scriptures i am fearfully and

wonderfully made i am more than a

conqueror i am the righteousness of god

in christ jesus you know i am the head

and not the tale and so i took literally

those particular scriptures and i would

begin to confess them not over my life

but then i started to believe them that

this is what god said about me so

whether i was even

large or big or whatever fat whatever

that thing this is what god said and he

wanted to get me to a healthy state both

spiritually and physically and so that

is really really where it began with the

i am scriptures and i still do even a

similar type of you know scripture

confessions you know every day even in

my book um concerning your faith and

fitness i know the importance of it and

so i have scripture confessions in here

as well because i know that that's what

helped me and i know that it will help

others yeah that's huge so it's kind of

like the whole process of uprooting the

lie that you were so many years ago that

i'm assuming there was some

self-fulfilling prophecy going on with

that were you kind of perpetuating that

identity for a while

yeah i mean because it's like what you

meditate on right i mean in the the

bible talks about what we meditate on

day and night it should be god's word

but if you're constantly thinking in

your mind that this is how i am this is

how he saw me and so this is how other

people see me and so this is how i see

myself but i got to say like no no no no

no it doesn't matter what anybody else

if it's even everyone in the whole world

if it's your parents if it's your cousin

whatever it is what i say about you is

the only thing that is real and the only

thing that is lasting so i really did

have to shift my mind to what my true

identity was that's right yeah it's the

truth it's the truth that sets you free

but it's specifically the truth you know

that sets you free so once you kind of

get it from here to here as you were

doing by repeating

god's word because that's kind of how we

we we plant those words those seeds of

the foil of our heart because we know

something here

but and i tell my people all the time i

tried my clients whoever our actions

always follow our beliefs and so because

i was believing this thing

i was acting on it so i wouldn't wear

certain clothes so i would like oh i

can't do that you know i'm too big to do

that or like people are gonna think this

so that's what i was really acting on we

know we should be healthy i mean we know

the things we should do but until we

really believe it then our actions won't

start following that and putting like

you know like real

tips and tools and strategies behind

those things because it's we're

believing it i believe that this chair

is going to hold me up and so that's why

i'm sitting in it if i didn't really

believe that then i wouldn't be sitting

in it i would pick another one but that

was the thing we know up here but we

really have to believe it and then apply

it and that's really what the scripture

was doing for me to help really like you

said believe it in my heart and then

that's what manifests that's what comes

out that's what i act on and that

reminds me of you know james talking

about faith without works is dead and as

you're saying you're sitting in that

chair it's proving that you actually

have faith your faith leads to an action

and

that's exactly what you were talking

about on the other side too so it kind

of works in both directions

so how did the holy spirit bring that up

to you how did you become aware that you

were believing that lie was there a

process to that

yeah it was again through those identity

scriptures where i began to kind of see

that particular thing and i'm like i'm

not

seeing myself the way that the bible is

saying that i should be seeing myself

and then a couple and then you get

revelation right and your eyes begin to

open and so after i started saying like

hey but this isn't what god said like

what other people say

really don't matter i mean we hear that

even growing up perhaps i mean maybe i

might be telling my age but you know

sticks and stones may break my bones you

know but worse will never hurt but words

really do hurt i mean words create

worlds and i mean the bible says right

in the from the biblical side the power

of death and life is in the tongue right

and so it's like what i began to say

about myself not based upon what anybody

else says but about what god said that

was really the thing that started

unfolding this and then i realized like

wait a minute even as i began to look

around and see the church not as healthy

as we should be and even some of my own

practices i was like wait a minute this

is just like not really aligning with

what the bible says and if it's not

aligning with what the bible says like

what am i doing if this is really

the final authority if this is really

the truth and i believe it

why am i not doing this why am i not

living like this and that is that really

is what began the process and then you

just start making one decision after

another decision after another decision

after another decision

yep absolutely so what is it that you

see in scripture that you point to for

your clients about health and wellness

what what is it that the bible tells us

we should be doing

yeah so i love that so when god brought

me on this journey of health and

wellness and again like kind of like

looking around in the church

he opened my eyes to i'm first

corinthians 6 19 and 20 and for those of

you that may or may not know that um

scripture paul is talking about sexual

immorality

but those verses he's saying that you

were bought with the price yes that you

are not your own

so you are to glorify god in your

body which is not yours

and when i read those words i was like

whoa

i don't even belong like i don't even

own this

but i am doing whatever i want to do to

it

that's like you can't get away with that

anywhere i mean

it would be in layman's it would be

trespassing if you went on to somebody

else's property and start doing whatever

to their yard or to their garden

whatever um if you had a child or sister

or brother sibling who borrowed your car

and brought it back like dented and

scratched and like all these types of

things you would not be pleased with

that and so i really just under started

to understand the word stewardship

right

not owners but were stewards over that

and i was like whoa if you could sin

against your body with sexual immorality

because that's what paul was talking

about then you could sin against your

body in some other ways and we know

things like gluttony you know we don't

want to think that we've come too far

as gluttony but it's like anything

that's disobedient to god

is not okay and we do that so often with

our bodies and with our health and our

wellness and we just don't have any

regard for it and so that was the

scripture god gave you one we founded

the business kingdom power living but

there's so many others i mean we love

third john right beloved i wish above

all things that thou mayest prosper

and be in health we speak over the be in

health part

right we want to prosper but it says

ambient health right so it's a whole

thing we're talking about our spirit our

soul and our body paul said i buff at my

body i discipline my body bless me after

i haven't preached to others become a

castaway you know it talks about if we

destroy our temple so there are so many

things like we oh we show god love

through our obedience and

when he says well when we want him to

say well done my good and faithful

servant

it's not just gonna be because we've

told somebody about the gospel because

if we told somebody about the gospel but

we weren't really a testimony in all

areas then how

you know how does that really look

because again the bible says i think

what in ecclesiastes that we will give

an account for everything so there are

so many scriptures out there um that i

use and that i help my clients you know

to go to even i'm fearfully and

wonderfully made right if you're

fearfully and wonderfully made and

marvelous are his works don't we want to

take care of something that's marvelous

if we really believe that something was

marvelous that's value it has some value

to it and we should want to take care of

those things and so

there's a gamut of them i use them in

all of my programs but it really is what

helps us to transform because even with

my clients we don't just want to lose

weight we want to transform and we're

transformed by the renewing of our minds

according to you know the scripture

exactly exactly right that's awesome and

also the more the healthier we are the

more we will be free to go out and do

the things that god wants us to do we

won't be pulled back by the things that

are going to otherwise restrain us

yes

exactly physically and emotionally right

because i've had clients tell me that

you know i'm i'm out of breath walking

in the airport right but you know you're

on the global assignment like god has

called you to the nations but if you

can't walk through the airport without

being you know out of breath then we

have to change that or you know that you

are supposed to impact your community

even started in your home if your

children are seeing you with unhealthy

practices you're passing that down to

them so right we can do so much more

as we're healthier right because there's

so much more impact there's so much more

influence and there's just all around

like god getting the glory for it

amen so once you've gotten somebody to

see what the scripture says about this

and to recognize you know god gives them

all of these promises about who he says

you are and the value of health and

wellness

what's the biggest challenge you see

after that for people to try to kind of

make the transition to some lifestyle

changes

holding on to it really interesting

holding on to it because it's like you

know and your doctor right so we get

that kind of excitement that dopamine

got a release kind of an initial we're

like or maybe honeymoon stage or like

whatever the thing is we're like yes but

we know this even as christians right we

have to walk out our salvation we're

fearing trembling the children of israel

and i use this example all the time they

were asking god for a deliverer they

were like we are being like tortured

we're being mistreated like they were

building bricks to

build an empire that were enslaving them

that was enslaving them right so they

were like you know we want to deliver

gods and moses he did all of these

miraculous things they were super

excited like yes and then they got into

the wilderness and it got difficult and

they were like we want to go back to

egypt it was better there

it was not better there you were slaves

we're enslaved to food to um you know

sedentary lifestyles we're enslaved to

just doing what we want to do and when

we want to go back to egypt we're not

holding on to the promises and the

goodness that god has done even when

you've gotten us to this point we've

lost 20 pounds or 50 pounds 100 like

whatever it is but if we don't hold on

to this and realize that it is about a

lifestyle about a kingdom lifestyle

until jesus returns

this isn't about a yo-yo diet this is

about doing something for a short period

of time and then stopping this is like

until we get those diplomatic advice

right

absolutely so what strategies do you

give people to help hold on to those

truths once they've obtained them

yeah to to keep it before you right so

as it talks about in in song right and i

mentioned this before like meditating on

god's word like day and night you have

to continually keep this before you you

have to keep reminding yourself you have

to maybe put in um systems in place if

it's for accountability or whatever but

once we start like doing this i mean you

know this it kind of builds up a

lifestyle in within us and that's like

really the whole goal because we know

even as christians right every day isn't

perfect it isn't like this just like

whoa like glorious thing but again the

righteous falls seven times but get back

up and so it's like really keeping that

before you realizing that this isn't

perfect this isn't about um being in

bondage but this is about the freedom

that christ gives us in order to like

really display him in another way in

another um aspect and so once we do that

we really shift this

get our minds renewed we're going to

have to go to the next level and you

know kind of renew it again and renew it

again and keep that before you but we

really do do that like i said with the

word of god and through other systems

through accountability and things like

that but once we know we're on this

journey and we're not going back it's a

lot easier and it takes some time to

really build that muscle but that's the

reason why i love

likening our health and wellness to our

salvation

because we don't get saved in christ and

believe in our hearts and confess with

our mouth and then go back to the way we

were before right we know that we're

doing this we're living this lifestyle

you know for christ to bring others into

the kingdom and to do all of these

things well it can be the same thing

with our health and our wellness because

what if the world sees you and like oh

my goodness what are you doing and it's

not i mean i don't want to say any names

on your like no shade to any other you

know program but if you're pointing them

back to jesus and he's being glorified

how amazing is that absolutely

absolutely yeah so kind of what you're

describing about staying on track

there's an analogy i heard about when

they uh when they launched the rocket to

the moon they it wasn't like they set

the course and they went and they landed

exactly where they planned they had to

course correct every 10 minutes

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to make sure that they ended up exactly

where they wanted to be in that same

like within a 500 mile you know

reference range but still because it was

so far away they had to constantly

course correct that's what the christian

life is like we're always having to just

get ourselves back on track and make

sure that we keep our eyes focused on

where we're shooting i love it

i love that too that's like so amazing

it the thing is they didn't say like oh

shoot we got this wrong we're going back

right exactly exactly right of course

correct like you said and you keep going

towards that goal and you keep going

towards that goal because we know really

at the end we do have the victory we

just have to hold on to it yes

absolutely the victory is already ours

for sure

so can you give us a little maybe

elevator pitch for your book you've got

the you've got two books the soaring in

your faith and fitness and the ultimate

hustler give us a little sniff

yes yes absolutely so certainly your

faith and fitness and that's the one

that i have here right now this was my

my first baby i would like to you know

say that um and this is really a guide

to help you not only

get where you need to be in your health

and wellness but to really like i said

to hold on to it because we know eagles

they soar so they go higher and higher

and higher and it's not just about one

or the other because you know the world

tells us you know this is what it looks

like to be healthy and all of these

things but we also know that what it

looks like to be healthy in our faith

and utilizing our faith in order to soar

and what we need to do in our health and

our wellness and so it is you know

packed with like i said scripture

confessions in here your prayers in here

there are um just things tools and

exercises to get you started to keep you

going to encourage you when it gets

tough all of those things and then the

second book which is the ultimate

hustler it is a collaboration project

with 12 other amazing entrepreneurs and

it really talks about just a lot of like

tips and tools around entrepreneurship

around which again we know that that

also is biblical and there's so many

instances in the bible where you know

farmers and owning your business and all

of those things are kingdom principles

and so i give tips in there along with

some other amazing women that are giving

tips and advice and then i have a third

one also that's coming out as well it's

going to be a devotional so um stay

tuned for that as well so super excited

about that

that's great so i will link in the show

notes to all of those books if the

listeners want to go get get a hold of

them um and is there anything i haven't

asked you that you want to make sure you

leave with our audience

yeah so the the main thing is i don't

want us even as chris

christians to get like too focused on um

like being in bondage the main thing to

do is really to start we have to one

realize our value in why we're taking

care of our body because we really do

take care of the things that we value

and then it's to start it doesn't matter

like where you are um some of us we

might have you know like injuries or we

might have like pain because of the

extra weight or whatever and things are

going to be a little bit more

challenging but start where you are and

just keep

going and keep going and keep going and

i mean one thing that i wanted to you

know share from you know the book it

says depending upon how you were raised

um

or the various life experiences that

you've gone through it may have been

more difficult to shift the way you

filter and embrace things however

renewing your mind is not just a nice to

do if i renew my mind but when i renewed

my mind i mean

sorry when i renew my mind that's what's

going to be critical for the change so

the bible is clear about that we have to

renew our mind that this isn't just for

somebody else that this isn't just for

the super athletic that this isn't just

for

um the smaller the skinny like whatever

terms we want to use but this is for me

too and god is holding me accountable

with how i take care of my body so start

off even with baby steps because baby

steps are still steps but they get you

closer and closer and closer to you know

the promise so don't give up but start

you gotta start like you said faith

without works is dead absolutely i love

it very cool so where can people go to

learn more about you

yes so lose weight loveyourbody.com

love it

loveyourbody.com

it is just that simple fantastic well i

will link to that in the show notes as

well and thank you so much coach april

really enjoy all of your wisdom

awesome thank you so much it's a

pleasure to be here because we are on a

mission to make healthy normal in the

church so i love partnering with you and

i'm so excited to be with you and your

amazing audience

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