18. Fetch the Goodness: Redefining Courage Through Faith with Kellie Frazier (Part 1)

What does courage look like in retirement? For Kellie Frazier of Fetch the Goodness, it meant going far beyond her comfort zone. From  jumping out of airplanes and zip-lining over a Mexican rainforest to embracing radical life changes, Kellie shares her remarkable story of healing after a brain injury, a transformative 40-day fast, and stepping boldly into God's plan to bring children back to Him through a TV show.

In this episode, the first of a two-part conversation with Kellie, she turns the concept of a courageous retirement on its head, showing us how building physical and emotional courage can strengthen our ability to trust God with and in all things.

If you've ever faced uncertainty or felt God's call to something bigger, Kellie's story will inspire you to fetch the goodness and live your more!

Quote from Kellie Frazier:  That's where that stillness comes in. I trust the Lord. I lean on him, not for my own understanding, but for his, and I believe in the willingness that I have to obey him.

00:00 Introduction to Courageous Retirement
00:50 Guest's Life-Changing Experience
03:09 Divine Guidance and Challenges
03:38 The 40-Day Fast Journey
05:17 Adventures and Overcoming Fears
06:31 Listening to God's Voice
11:34 The Birth of 'Fetch the Goodness'
20:38 Facing Setbacks and Moving Forward
27:12 Conclusion and Next Episode Teaser

Learn about Fetch the Goodness: https://fetchthegoodness.com.

Thank you for stopping by today! Remember to Engage Your Faith and Live Your More as you reap the benefits of Courageous Retirement!

To watch the video, check out my YouTube Channel!

Learn more about the show, author Vona Johnson, and more at CourageousRetirement.com!

Schedule a free 15 minute Your Path to More call with Vona.

Transcript

Vona Johnson: 0:00

We were talking about courageous retirement and I threw out the comment that people think that courageous means you go jump out of planes and skydive and tightrope walking and it's not about that at all; it's about having the courage to speak truth and love. And you were like, well, maybe not, and you shared that what I was saying, it wasn't was exactly what it was for you. So you tipped that upside down for me. And I want to explore that a little bit because again, everybody's journey is different. Do you fear what lies beyond retirement? What if it's a gateway to a life filled with purpose, meaning, and adventure rather than an end? Discover peace and fulfillment as you boldly enter this new chapter in Courageous Retirement, a Christian podcast. I'm your host, author and coach, Vona Johnson. Let's get started. You would be, I would guess of retirement age, but certainly are not retired. And I think that's what it's all about. So let's talk about that for a few minutes. How did God help you build the courage to do what you're doing?

Kellie Frasier: 1:04

Yeah, it's first of all, thank you very much for having me here. I'm very excited about it. And it's always great to see my friend Vona. So, yeah, I think the most powerful thing that God ever did to strike my life in a way that was so profound. I could not not do what I'm doing today. There's a couple things actually. First one was a brain injury back in 2007. that brain injury could have taken me out just like, you know, anybody else's brain injury can take them out, but it didn't six months into the healing of that, God totally, radically healed me one morning. Well, it was in the middle of the night, sort of, because everything was black around me. But After that healing took place, I began to, truly understand things on a different level. Like he literally laid out visions for me right in front of my face and I've never had visions before. I did not understand what was happening. But when I did understand, he said, trust me, because I asked him like, in my mind, how can a brain injured person do any of this? And that's when he said those two words, trust me. And I knew I had a decision to make, okay, yes, I can, or no, I don't want to, right? So making the decision to say, yes, I will. That was the trajectory that I needed to be able to go and do courageous things because I was not courageous. One of you knew me before that brain injury. My husband, my children, everybody will tell you I am a completely different individual. Sad for them, I'm sure, because I was totally different. Very, very, introverted, very embarrassed about all kinds of things, very insecure, very subconscious, self conscious. I mean, it was just a totally different life. So today, after that happened, I began to pursue things that he would bring up. I went right into working with top marketers of the world, you know, and I'm like, how did I get here? Top authors in the world. Like, how did I get here? Right. I kept asking that question, but I knew when God said, trust me, I had to trust him. And because of that decision, that's where the courage came from.

Vona Johnson: 3:09

So when you were working with these top authors and marketers or whatever, what kinds of things were, I mean, did you have a background in that or was that all new too?

Kellie Frasier: 3:16

Oh, everything was new. Absolutely. Everything was new, but God kept bringing these divine connections into my life. And I have to say though, not all of them were Christian based or kingdom based. Most of them actually were more of the new age. And I was just like, Oh, this is so not where I want to be. I just knew it internally that there was something off, right? And so come to 2017, that was when God asked me to do a 40 day fast. And I was like, what? Now people say, okay, wait a second. How does God ask you to do a 40 day fast? And this is, this is another whole podcast probably, but when you hear the voice of God, which I've heard since I was a little kid, um, I have always known when God speaks to me, because I would certainly never say, Hmm, well, let me just go ahead and do a 40 day fast today. Like who says that? Right? So when I heard this in my spirit, I, it shocked me. I'm standing in front of my cabinet door. I have two pantry doors that were opened and I was standing there looking again for like the 15th time that day for a snack. And that's when the Lord said, To do a 40 day fast. Well, what ended up happening with that is I invited a couple of friends on Facebook to join me, to keep me accountable, to actually doing this fast. People ask all the time, what kind of fast was it? Was it just straight water? You know? No, it wasn't. I could drink broth, which I did a lot. Um, I even had a smoothie every now and then, but food, solid food. I stayed away from for 23 days. I made it to the 23 day point, but God had taught me so much during that time that that Facebook. page went from, I think it was, I had two, two friends and it went immediately to 800 friends. Then it went to thousands of friends because anyways, long story, I no longer, yeah, it is. But because I was following and obeying what God was asking me to do, right. So now God asked me to do something totally radically different. And I'll explain that in a minute. But before I do, this is where you and I were talking and you were saying, I don't think people need to go and jump out of airplanes and all that. And I went, I do. I totally did all of that. I flew over a rainforest at, you know, I don't know how many miles per hour, 75 miles per hour on a zipline. I went upside down. I jumped out of a plane twice. I mean, I did so many crazy things. You just can't even imagine. And And I'm in my sixties, okay, but I'm doing these things because I was so afraid of what God was asking me to do, that I was going to not just jump out of an airplane, but I was going to jump out of his will. That was what I was afraid of. And so I kept running toward those things that made me feel more brave, more strong, more courageous, seriously, that's how I felt. So I don't know if that answers your question, but yeah, that's what I was doing.

Vona Johnson: 6:11

It definitely answered my question and, just wow, um, 40 days fast. I, I'm dabbling in intermittent fasting now. And, 17, 20 hours seem daunting to me. I've been doing it and it's, and I actually really enjoy it, but 40 days. That's, that's impressive. So I love that, you know, you, I mean, it's that, that God's talking to you. And I have a, I have a strong sense that that's because you're listening. Can you talk a little bit about how you've shut the noise from the world off so you can hear him tell you those things? Yeah,

Kellie Frasier: 6:53

that's a great question. So I don't shut the world out. Here's what's really interesting about that. God does say to be still and know. Now he's not, he's not necessarily telling you to turn everything off around you and just be quiet. I don't think that that, at least that was not my interpretation. My interpretation was. from the life of Jesus, watching what Jesus did. There were times when he pulled away and it was just he and the father, right? But most of the time he was literally with everybody The time with the people that he had around him. So for my interpretation of it, it was the fact that I could still listen and be still in my spirit. And I think that's the difference that most people think that. They can't be doing anything, you know, out here because there's just a lot going on and it's stressful and there's a lot of anxiety. For me, if you, I wish that there was some kind of a weight that we could put on this for a measurement. But if you countered how much anxiety I hold on to compared to the average person, my measurement would be pretty low because. That's where that stillness comes in. I trust the Lord. I lean on him, not for my own understanding, but for his, and I believe the willingness that I have to obey him. That's the key right there for me. That's why I believe that I hear him probably more than the average person does, but can he talk to all of us? Absolutely. Does he absolutely, but not all of us are willing to listen to that voice,

Vona Johnson: 8:26

right? Do you find that being in the word I mean, to me, that's a game changer. That's, that's where I hear him. That's where I get the ideas of what to even listen for sometimes, if that makes sense. Is that your experience as well? 100%.

Kellie Frasier: 8:47

Yeah. It's my husband and I were just talking about this the other night. So if you want to become an airplane pilot, you have a manual, you have instructions, you have. Coaches, you got people there teaching you how to fly this airplane. But if you ignore the manual, ignore the instruction that people are giving you who have had the experience and succeed at it, then you're going to go nowhere. Right. Or you could possibly crash and burn. And that is something I've known since probably since I was a little girl, but. Having to relearn everything after the brain injury, I knew that there was something internal that had to shift in me. Now, when I created that Facebook page to keep me accountable, that actually turned into a Bible study. That's where the Lord was leading me with that 40 day fast. So every morning at 6 30 AM Eastern time, I was up and I went live on Facebook. And this is why that whole process grew so quickly because people were hungry and they still are today, even more so. Right. And so that Bible study became my personal study so that I could learn. And I was simply sharing it with the people in that Facebook group. That's all I was doing. So little by little, they began to ask questions. My family members were kind of jumping on, like my in laws were jumping in there and asking me questions and because everybody thought. This girl's bizarre. Like I want to know why she's so weird, you know, like, what is it about her? That's making her get up every single day at 6:30 in the morning and doing this for years. And literally I go into a hotel room where the bathroom was so big and I would put my computer up on a shelf. I'd have one foot up on the shower, the other arm over here. And that's how I was doing my Bible study. Cause I would not miss it. Now, having that much dedication, I think that came from doing all those things like jumping out of airplanes and doing zip line over Mexican rainforest and things like that. I think that's where it came from. It taught me endurance.

Vona Johnson: 10:47

Yeah. I love that. No, I, I didn't realize that. So that's, that's very cool. So, when we met, you were just starting. this project and I'm going to have you tell us about it, but I think it's also interesting because when I talk about courageous retirement, I'm, I bring it into the context of, you know, God laid this desire on your heart. It's something maybe you've dreamed about your whole life. Go do this thing. And you're like, well, not exactly. I had to come into this kicking and screaming, right? Exactly. So you turned that philosophy upside down, too. So let's talk about your project and how God brought you into that kicking and screaming.

Kellie Frasier: 11:34

All right. Well, again, this is another cool story of God's because it's not mine. Um, uh, he sent me to Israel and how does God send you somewhere? Well, scripture talks a lot about that. And when he says to go, that you go, when he sends you, he sends you right. Um, that we are to send the angels. I mean, that's what scripture says. And so I'm making my bed one day and I heard the word Israel. Now I heard it four times in that one day, and I just could not understand why I would have to go to Israel. I did not. did not fathom that Israel would ever be a place that I would go. Most Christians would love to go to Israel, right? You've probably even had it. I do. I can't wait. Most people do, but not this girl. I was like, that is not where I'm going to go. Well, I did. And was it life altering? Yes, but not in the ways that most people find going to Israel life altering. It was very, very different for me. It was very difficult for me to be there. And so when I came back, I'm not even going to go into that story, but it is, it was life altering. Okay. But when I returned, my daughter who was pregnant, she lives in Guelph, Canada. She went into labor. And so when I got home, I flew immediately to Canada and, Beautiful baby boy was born and it was amazing experience. And when I was in his room, God woke me up in the middle of the night. And once again, just like what I had mentioned about, the healing of the brain injury, the same exact thing happened. He woke me up saying these words and then showing me like TV screens of what it was that he wanted. I was like, what is this? Like, I did not understand it. Cause look at that particular time on it, I was a life coach. I had been a life coach for 15 years. That was something that I absolutely loved, right? I'd written several books. I was public speaking. I was doing all these things. And to me doing those things was doing what God wanted me to do. But God had a totally different plan. And so fetch the goodness was what he named it. My husband, I shared with him these visions and this, you know, this whole thing. And, and we're driving, this was just before COVID shut the border down, right? We were one hour away from the border and one hour they were going to shut the border down. So we were hustling for all we were worth to get And I was telling my husband, I look out the window because he said to me, what are you supposed to call this thing? Anyways, he wasn't happy about it. Believe me. I wasn't happy about it either. Yeah. And so I look out the window and I said, yes, Lord, what are we supposed to call this thing? And before I finished the question, and that happens a lot with me before I finished the question, he said, fetch the goodness. And I said, fetch like in throwing a dog a bone. That was the only thing I could think of. And he said, no, to return my children to me. That's what he said. Oh, I, I immediately got chills. As soon as I say that, every single time I say that, I get chills. So I totally understand it. And that was where everything changed. My entire life changed. He said, shut down. The coaching company. Totally get, just do fetch the goodness you're gonna have this woman come in and help you. I mean, it was one thing after another. And I will tell you what he showed me in the vision. I didn't say that earlier, but I will tell you what he showed me. The first was a television show for children that had puppets. I couldn't stand puppets. I was like, I am not a puppeteer. Like, God, why are you showing me this? That doesn't make any sense. You know, the second one was parents who were praising Jesus because they learned from their children who were watching these shows and and learning from the curriculum. Then the third was a television network to which I translated as YouTube, because there ain't no way this girl's going to be on TV. Right? So this is, this is where my brain was at the time. So having all of this in my view, I, every day, this young lady and I, we would come onto the kitchen floor and we would kneel down or we'd be at the table and we'd be praying about it. And this is what we would do. We would hold our hands out and would say, Lord, fill us today, whatever it is that you want for your children to know, let us know what it is and we'll go do it. And that's how, within the first year, you guys, this is so hard to imagine, but within the first year we had 70 shows. We were up on our television network. We had a creative, beautiful, wonderful team of people helping us. Um, we, it was just amazing what God did. So yeah, that, that's the power behind hearing God's voice. And listen, when I said that What, before I even spoke the words, God had already responded. That's what scripture says. That's what he promises. Cause he knows your thoughts. He knows everything about you. Even the hairs on your head, even the ones that stick straight up on a, we all know is retire. He knows about all of that. Right? And so the power of him responding to you before you even get the question out, you know, you're on the right path. You know, you're on the right path.

Vona Johnson: 16:43

Yeah, I love that. You know, and I often talk about, I mean, we've been back and forth so many times and, and for me, when I retired and started my business, and I've talked about how, you know, it's like, it felt like a failure. I mean, everything I tried didn't come to the fruition that I thought it should. And I now know that that was because he had a bigger plan for me and he needed me to be To let go of so many of the idols that I had accumulated along the way and in my identity of who I am and who I should be. And, and that money was a big one to let go of. And the best way to help me let go of it was to not have fruit. financial fruit from the things I was doing. And somewhere mine, mine wasn't like a one night thing, but somewhere along the way, I just realized that he's already provided everything I need and more. And that. The most important thing for me to do is just like you said, every morning, get up and say, okay, God, what are we going to do today? What, where, where do I need to focus my attention? And there is so much joy and so much freedom in just being able to, to respond when he says that. Some days are busier than others. Some days it feels like, huh, I guess we're just going to hang out for a while today, huh, God? Not that that happens very often. But. But there's just so much peace in not having to worry about doing it right or, or making, um, I don't know, the numbers. We get so wrapped up in the numbers, even, even when we're not talking about financial gain. If I put out, uh, an encouraging post or I write a book or whatever, it's so easy to say, Oh, you know, I put out a podcast episode, only 10 people listened. And, and I somehow. When I did my first podcast, when that would happen, I would just be like, Oh, man, do I, am I even doing what God wants me to do? And now it's like, don't care. All I know is I'm doing what he's asked me to do. Some days I don't even know what the show's going to be about the day I get out of bed, but he shows me. And, and I know that it's better than anything I could have, you know, forced myself to do. So what came up for me as I'm talking and as you were talking before, and our pastor just talked about it at church the other night, is when the Israelites were in Egypt and God provided for them, he provided them manna, he gave them their daily bread. We say it in our, our prayer every day. He will give us what we need when we need it. And we don't have to worry about tomorrow's bread or tomorrow's income or anything each day as it comes. Right?

Kellie Frasier: 19:48

I will tell you that I never had that piece that surpasses understanding while I was going through this experience because I think I was so focused on What identity are you trying to give your children through me? And so that was not comfortable for me. That was very much a, you know, it wasn't stressful, but it was just a very, um, I don't know, I can't even explain it. It's hard to articulate because unless you're in that position, you don't really know what it would be like. Right. And so I think that piece comes. on occasion when you have the ability to hear God's voice. Let me give you an example. Okay. So during 2022, everything got demolished. Our website, our,, our bank account got fleeced. I mean, it was one thing after another. Our entire team got COVID. People lost their jobs. I mean, it was just wreaking havoc in our entire team. Uh, arena of fetch the goodness. And so eventually,, our creative director left as did most of the team members because they lost jobs. They couldn't do this anymore. And you know, it was all volunteer, including myself, we're all volunteers, right? And so I just kind of threw up my hands. I said, okay, Lord, I'm not anxious about this, but I just know that you're going to bring it back to fruition again. And I'm just going to let it lie. So I did for about a year and a half. And when it came back, it came back with a flood, like he told me again in vision, he drew it all out for me, told me exactly what needed to happen. So that was when we again, remember I'm in my sixties, I'm ready to retire. And I'm just like, now you want me to be. Build a TV studio. Like it just went from one thing to the next. We ended up that summer. We wrote curriculum for grades K through six, um, teaching children how to seek their identity in the kingdom of God. When the Lord says to seek his kingdom with all of our heart and his righteousness, that's huge. And then all things will be added unto us. That's exactly what he means. And so knowing this That's what I did. I just saw him all the time and little by little, all these things just kept being added onto us. Right? So now we have TV shows, animated cartoons, curriculum, the puppets, the puppets was the main issue for me because I was not a puppeteer. I did not know how to do it. And all of a sudden we're working with Melissa and Doug toys, which is a huge company here in I think they're in Canada too. Yes. So they have puppets. And so those were the puppets that we began to use. Now they get, gave us permission to use those puppets until we kind of got a little bit more, you know, famous, so to speak. And then we had to create our own totally acceptable and understandable. I get it. Um, so we created our own, but these instead of little tiny 12 inchers, we use moppets. We had large, you

Speaker 5: 22:54

said you have them there. Let's certainly. All right. Hi, I'm Jacob. Jacob, how are you? Great. Thanks. Nice to meet you. Nice to meet you. That's Jacob. This one is Amy. Oops. Ooh, Amy, you have the same problem I have today. Crazy hair. My hair is always doing things like that. It's such a pleasure to meet you and everyone. Hi. Hello, Amy. Thanks for stopping by.

Kellie Frasier: 23:29

So that was Amy. And then this one is Sarah. Sarah is a little more boisterous, has a definite opinion about her life. Don't you, Sarah?

Speaker 5: 23:36

I sure do. I really, really enjoy living, but I love God so much. Sounds to me, Sarah, like you're living your more. Is that, is that how? Oh, I like that. Don't you? I sure do. Yes. I like living my more for sure. You and I would be good friends. I'm sure. Nice to meet you.

Kellie Frasier: 23:56

All right. So that, that's what happened to this girl. I go from being this professional coach and teaching other coaches. And it was incredible to doing these puppets. And to me, From the pride standpoint, you went from up here to way down here, right? Nobody wanted to talk to me. People didn't understand me. They thought I had lost my mind telling me not to do these things. I could not do it. But now you understand why I had to get up the courage to truly be humble enough to do what God was asking me to do. And so today we have this incredible team and yeah, it's amazing.

Vona Johnson: 24:36

That is amazing. I love that. To me, the message there is that we do what God tells us to do, even when it doesn't make sense, especially when it doesn't make sense.

Speaker 4: 24:48

Right.

Vona Johnson: 24:48

Um, and if it always makes exact sense, then we might not be hearing him quite right.

Kellie Frasier: 24:54

Yeah. And I would agree with that a hundred percent. I also think that in our minds, we want things quickly, right? We expect things to go quickly. I thought, because. The trajectory in that first year took off. I thought that this was going to be, you know, incredible. This is how it was going to be for the rest of my life. You know, that's not what happened. And God was trying to get me to think bigger. God was not the one who did all those things, right? He was not the one who perpetrated any of it. However, in order to get me to think bigger, I had to go through those things because then I became a totally different person. I went from someone who, you know, I guess you would say meek to someone who I still feel meek, but I feel very convicted that God is leading all of this and nothing can stop it. I truly feel unstoppable with this, even though I'm retirement age, you know, but It truly is. It's his and he's going to take it wherever he wants it.

Vona Johnson: 25:57

But I think you hit on it though because I've had people tell me that the show shouldn't be called Courageous Retirement because we shouldn't retire. We should keep doing. And my point is, I'm speaking to people who have worked their whole lives for retirement. And I want people to realize that that's not the end. It's the beginning. We have more freedom now to do what God calls us to do. Some people start that way earlier in their careers and don't ever really officially retire. But We aren't done until he's done with us. And that, so when, when that day, when we have the big celebration and you walk out the door with your gold watch or whatever, um, that's, I mean, yes, it's retirement because we're, we're collecting the rewards from that investment of those years. But now we get to shift how we look at life. We get to shift how we use those resources that he's provided us. We have the freedom to go do what he wants us to do. The line that you helped me discover is we answer God's call to more, which is exactly what I think courageous retirement is, whatever that looks like for each of us. Beautiful. Yeah. You

Kellie Frasier: 27:10

actually gave me chills when you were talking about that.

27:12

Hey friends. Don't you just love Kelly's story and the message that she has to share all the goodness that she has to share. We, as you already know, had a wonderful conversation about how. Fetch the goodness came to be. And she's hinted along the way that not everyone was on board with her going off and starting this new, crazy venture. Because the interview went on, as long as it did, I decided to cut this into two episodes. So I am going to stop our interview right here. And I'm going to invite you back in two weeks to hear the rest of the story about how. Kelly's family. Wasn't on board and her beautiful perspective on how to allow God to work out those details. It was really eyeopening for me. And I truly hope that you will come back to hear the rest of Kelly's amazing wisdom on how to fetch the goodness. Until Then I pray that you will engage your faith, live your more, and really reap the benefits of courageous retirement. See, in a couple of weeks.