27. Your Life is Your Legacy: God can use it ALL for His Glory!

In this inspiring episode of Courageous Retirement, host Vona Johnson invites you to reflect on the legacy you’re building — not just someday, but right now. 

Vona shares her own journey, from writing 'A Different View' to becoming a life and retirement coach, showing how God weaves every part of our story — the successes, the struggles, even the fears — into a meaningful, lasting legacy.

✨ You’ll discover:
✅ How to face each with bold purpose and faith
✅ Why it’s never too late to create a life that matters
✅ The power of encouraging the next generation
✅ Practical ways to align your daily choices with God’s love and truth

Whether you’re stepping into a new season or simply longing to live more intentionally, this episode will leave you encouraged and equipped to let God use ALL of your life for His glory. 

Watch now and start building your God-honoring legacy today!

💌 Feeling stuck or unsure where to begin? Vona would love to help you take your next step! Reach out to her directly at vona@vonajohnson.com — she’s here to help you get started on the next step.

00:00 Introduction: What Will Your Legacy Be?
00:38 Embracing Retirement with Purpose
00:56 From Health Coach to Life Coach
02:14 Recording A Different View
03:19 Speaking to the Next Generation
04:49 Building Your Legacy Daily
07:01 Final Thoughts and Encouragement

Quotes from the show:
"God uses everything. He wastes nothing in your life, the good things and the bad things, to help you build your legacy." 

"As Christians, at or near the age of retirement, we get to use the foundation that God has built for us and help others see their worth, see their value, see their God-given purpose."

"Retirement isn’t the end. It’s the beginning."

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

Do you ever wonder what your legacy will be? When you look at your life, does it feel like there's nothing there worth remembering? Is it too late to create something worthwhile in your life? If you're near retirement, is it too late to even worry about it? You may be thinking that a legacy is something that rich people leave for their children and grandchildren. That's not what a legacy is at all. Your legacy is your life, and you get to choose what that looks like. God can use every part of your life. Even the bad parts to be your legacy and to make it a beautiful thing and to bring him glory. We're gonna talk about that today. I hope you'll join us. 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.

0:56

Four years ago, I published my book, A Different View. And I was so blessed by the number of people who commented on how it changed their life. It brought them a different view of what their faith is and how God uses us for his glory. It was a powerful message, but it didn't reach a lot of people. I always intended to record the book to get an additional reach because so many people are listening these days, but I just never got around to it. There was always something else to do. When I retired, I retired to become a health coach. And then after a while I realized that our health is really related to our life and who we are being and what we are doing with our time and our thoughts. So I became a life coach. And then as time wore on, I realized that God was really nudging me to talk to people who are at the stage of life that I was at when I retired, that at or near retirement, and that I could help people with some of the really difficult decisions to retire. And not only that decision to retire, but to really help people prepare to finish well. And at the time I thought, hmm. A different view isn't really about retirement. So, okay. I guess that was just something that I needed to do and move on. It wasn't until I was recording the book that I realized how absolutely relevant it is to those of us at the age of retirement. I just recently finished finally recording a different view and I have to say that. I was really blessed by the words that God gave me to put in that book and, and honestly for myself today. And it just helps me marvel at God's perfect timing. You know, things don't always work out the way we planned. I thought that the book would sell better than it did, and, and I realize now, after having been through. Some really tough times in building a business that it wasn't about the business, it wasn't about the money, it was about trusting God. And when he gave me the nudge and said, now it's time to record it, I knew that I needed to do that, and I realized as I was recording it that that message is still very, very relevant today and is really relevant to people of all ages. The message to live our more to live for Christ is needed now more than it ever was. This week I have the opportunity to speak to a group of young people and I was feeling this disconnect because I'm a retirement coach. Why am I talking to people, leaders young leaders in the community? And it wasn't until I was sitting in church on Sunday and the pastor spoke to the confirmands in his congregation. And I loved how he couched the fact that those kids were now being confirmed. They had gone through years of training, but that that wasn't the end of their journey. It was truly just the beginning. And it helped me realize, of course, that retirement isn't the end. It's the beginning. And God uses all of the things, the things in confirmation, the things in our life as a foundation for the things that he wants us to do. And then as I was preparing for a speech that I'm giving next week, talking about retirement and how we can live our more beyond the workplace, I realized that that applies to these young people who are now graduating from their year long training as leaders. And the fact that all of the things that they have benefited from in this training and in their life aren't things that they just learn and then tuck away. They're things that they will continue to pull on throughout their lives and apply to their legacy, what they're building for their life and what they're building for their future and their children's future and their grandchildren's future. I am going to share with those young people how our legacy starts today. Every day, we get to start anew. And truly our legacy is the life that we're living, the the example that we're setting for people. And if we haven't done well with that in the past, we can change that. Our God is a God of redemption and he will change us if we ask him to show us how to live for him. And in his will, he will show us how to do that. And I am excited to share with these young people the message that they get to choose minute by minute. It's all about the choices that we make throughout our day. We can choose to live the way the world would want us to live and respond the way that the world would want us to respond, which is often. In a really negative way, or we can choose to live God's truth and love. We can love the people that he brings into our lives. I talk about it all the time, but it is so important that we be in the word and understand that God's way is different than the world's way, and I want these young people to understand that today is just one more stepping stone towards them being the leaders that God has created them to be. I just want you to, to know that God uses everything He wastes nothing in your life, the good things and the bad things to help you build your legacy. It's how you choose to respond to those things and how you choose to help others live the life that they were created to live. That's our legacy as Christians at or near the age of retirement, we get to use the foundation that God has built for us, and we get to apply the wisdom and the knowledge that we have gained along the way and help others see their worth, see their value, see their God-given purpose, and help them reach for that. Help them be that. So what is your legacy? What can you do now? What habits can you change to be able to use the gifts that God has given you throughout your life and leave a really lasting legacy to bring people to God, to help people see God through your words in action. If this is something that you're struggling with, I would love to help you with that. We can hop on a call or just shoot me an email at vona@vonajohnson.com and tell me where it is that you're stuck. I'll respond in the email or we can hop on a call if that's what you'd rather do. And we'll just take a few minutes and see if I can't help you change their perspective to look at your situation from a different view so that you can step into your legacy for God. I just wanna thank you so much for stopping by today. It's always such a blessing to, to be able to step into your life and, and hopefully leave you with some wisdom that might help you see the impact that you have on this world. I pray that you will engage your faith. You will finish well and you will live your more in your courageous retirement. God bless.