8. Listen for God's Timing as You Retire–Tracy Warren's Story

In this episode, Tracy shares her inspiring journey of waiting too long to retire, the struggles she faced, the role of faith in her transition, and crucial advice for listeners.

Discover how stepping away from a toxic job environment, caring for her elderly mom, and finding new purpose through a nonprofit led her to this fulfilling chapter of life–an unexpected retirement.

Tracy's story emphasizes the importance of listening to God, embracing change, and pursuing a life of purpose and adventure beyond retirement. If you're considering your next step, don't miss her profound insights and encouragement.

00:00 Introduction: Is It Time to Retire?
00:40 Meet Tracy: A Journey of Faith and Career
01:36 The Struggles of a Demanding Job
02:45 A Turning Point: Realizing the Need for Change
03:48 Taking a Bold Step: Leaving a Toxic Environment
04:55 A Time of Abiding and Reflection
07:58 Financial Realizations and New Beginnings
09:14 Embracing God's Plan and Moving Forward
09:26 The Revival Day of Hope Festival
12:53 Encouragement and Final Thoughts
25:18 Conclusion and Upcoming Episodes

Quotes from the show:
"I realized that, okay, no amount of money that you can earn is, is as important as listening to what God's calling you to do." - Tracy

"And so I've been fighting that out with the zoning board and learning all these political things with the city. But I just see God's hand in it all." - Tracy

"And it brought me to the verse where it says, you know, don't worry about when they, when they call you out, you don't need to worry about what you will say. The Holy spirit will give you the words." - Tracy

"He already knows the plan he has for you,  but he's not going to force it on you." - Tracy

"Listen to him (God). He loves you right where you are, but he loves you too much to keep you there." - Tracy

Unless the Lord builds a house. The work of the builder is wasted. Psalm 127:1 NLT

Check out the revivial: www. revivaldayofhope.com to be held on August 31.

Prefer audio: Listen to this and all episodes on your favorite place to listen to audio podcasts.

Schedule a call with Vona.

Thank you for stopping by today! Remember to Engage Your Faith and Live Your More!

To watch the video, check out my YouTube Channel!

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

Transcript

0:00

Are you not sure if it's time to retire. Today's episode tells a story of a woman who waited too long. Listen to her story and then think about where God might be nudging you to take the next step. Be sure to listen to the end where she gives her number one advice on how to avoid what she went through. 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.

Vona Johnson: 0:40

Tracy. I just want to thank you so much for joining us today in this conversation on courageous retirement. You have a journey. But I have just been so inspired by listening to all the things God's been busy in your life. So just tell us a little bit about yourself.

Tracy Warren: 0:59

Well, I'm first of all, I want to say thank you, Vona, for having me here to talk about this and, and, you know, having the interest in you know, You know, watching what God has done in my life, most recently, especially. I'm Tracy and I live in New Hampshire. I'm, I'm a nurse by trade. And my latest position I had done. This is my second full career. The one that I was just doing it had done 25 years in the emergency room, doing flight nursing and all of that in the beginning, and then started a medical director position at our local jail, 19 years ago. It was a very busy taxing job as you can imagine as a administrator. I also was the sole caretaker from my elderly mom. So the job itself would monopolize a good 60 hours a week if my time and, and being on call. And you know, I started started looking at, The taxing of that type of job on my physical and mental health a while ago, especially where I wanted to be present for my mom, most recently, I, I started realizing that, you know, working for a County facility, County government, I felt like my morals and ethics were starting to be challenged in some ways in some of the duties that were requested of me. And so I started praying really hard about that and realized that the job wasn't really an awesome fit for me. I made a lot of money. I was putting money aside for retirement. I, you know, I just have been so blessed in my life. I've never really had to even balance my checkbook. And so I never thought of leaving that position until I started, you know, I was being convicted in a way that it started becoming clear about three years ago, but I stayed and I, and I kept working thinking that, you know, I got to sock my money away for retirement. Cause right now I'm 62. And I just turned 62 in May and I still feel like a youngin. So I hadn't even thought you are, I hadn't thought retirement. Cause you know, the age comes up 65 or 67 for social security. So yeah, you just look for that time. But last August, a year ago, almost. I decided that I needed to take a leave from this environment that it had become toxic because I had started to challenge some of the administrative behaviors that I felt were untoward. And, and that was a conviction placed on my heart by the spirit. And and so boldness came in and I decided that I needed to like, Bring my concerns to my bosses, which was not received very well. And I, I literally get totally dismissed. And so started to feel very. invaluable to them. And knew that I could be replaced by just another number. So I took a leave of absence. And that was a time of just starting to abide. Now I'm an E. R. Nurse adrenaline junkie type a person who never knew how to do downtime. Luckily, I had my mom to care for and and had started a nonprofit four years ago that a big festival had been, you know, pending four weeks from the time I took leave. So I was busy and that's my MO. We got the four weeks of, you know, a great time with my mom. And, then we got to the festival day and I live in New Hampshire, as I said, and we had a hurricane. We never had hurricanes in New Hampshire. So the festival, which took eight months to organize, you know, it's an all day event Christian music all day, and it's to bring awareness to resources in the area. I had to cancel that morning of the festival. Additionally, my mom had become sick four days prior and they admit its pneumonia and she passed that same day. So here I was with my plate completely emptied. And he, you know, when you ask who I am or how I identify myself, I, you know, that was me, Tracy, the, the nurse working 60 hours a week, Tracy, the caretaker and Tracy, the nonprofit owner, God wiped away my plate completely. So for, as you can imagine, for months, I was wandering in the wilderness. I didn't know how to do downtime. I didn't know how to abide in God. And he truly spent a lot of time with me. He sat me down. He started peeling layers back. And I thought, wow this, this is where I, he's growing me. I'm 62 years old and I feel like a baby and he's growing me. And so I thought, you know, I don't need all this income. I, you know, he, if he's trying to clear my plate for his reasons. I need to be quiet and listen. And so I didn't, I still was very fearful of retirement or not working. And, and, you know, emotionally I couldn't work for you know, a few months and, and then I, then I realized that I could not go back to work in that environment. Some, some legal things had come up from that where, some charges were brought. On my behalf against my workplace. Where the state got involved. And so, you know, we were looking for basically a severance package because I could not go back to work there. And that didn't really happen. We do for six and a half hours and mediation. And, you know, it, it got to the point where it was very clear that I, I said to the mediator, listen, my mental and emotional and spiritual health is much more valuable to me than any time they can offer me. And so I left that mediation and I came home and I I got on my knees right away and I said, Lord, how did I get to this point in my life? And, very clearly, very clearly, he said, you stay too long. I asked, you know, I asked you to be free from that place. And I can remember the moment, Vona, I can remember the moment of standing at my desk three years prior where I, I realized I had no motivation. I wasn't being the best boss. I wasn't, I wasn't honoring God in my workplace. And what a rebuke for that was a very gentle rebuke, a very strong rebuke. And and so then I thought, okay, well, here we are, keep growing me. And when I thought I was done abiding, I slipped on ice and broke my ankle. So I had another 12 weeks of abiding. But I am so thankful this, that time of, of just. being fearful and trying to learn who he wants me to be because I couldn't do it on my own. So I realized that, okay, no amount of money that you can earn is, is as important as listening to what God's calling you to do. So I had received an email from the New Hampshire retirement system because I had severed employment and, I had called the woman back and, you know, I said, I don't, I don't know how to move forward here. And she said, girl, you're sitting on a chunk of change here because I had been paying into this 457B since I had been employed. You know, you suck away a bunch of money because dad taught me how to do that when I was 12. I didn't know how much money I had in there. The money was in someone else's hands. They were investing in all these things. I never even sat down with this person all these years. And so, that was a blessing. And I realized as I sat down thinking, wow, can I retire? Money wise, I realize how blessed I've been in my life. Like I said, I've never really had to worry. Just God has blessed me so much. So here I am with no income. Realizing that I can, I can pull from my retirement monies. I'm going to leave Social Security where it is. I know none of this stuff. Stuff I'm so new at this. I'm 62 years old thinking I had another three years to work, but you know, the, the freedom to be free, to listen to God for what he he's done something in my life. He, he, he's created this new image in this new person in me. And he, he, he says, I'm wiping your plate clean. Just ask me why, you know, and just say yes. And so that's what I'm doing. And so my festival is coming up in another five weeks and it's grown exponentially. There's a lot of politics in the city I live in but he made it clear that you're free now, you'd be a steward of what I'm giving you, you let me own it, let me be the CEO, you know, I'll tell you when to move, you move, and so I, I moved forward with requesting a permit of a a very, political piece of property in Rochester, I moved it because when the hurricane came, we couldn't stake down tents, no one was safe in the, the former park. And so I've been fighting that out with the zoning board and learning all these political things with the city. But I just see God's hand in it all. You know, he, yes, he wants the festival, but he's going to use the festival to do what he wants in this city. He's going to heal political, you know, emotion. I just, I feel it. And so I wouldn't be able to do this and say yes, and be a good steward. If I was working in a job that I was, I was Unhappy in even if I was making a lot of money, you know, and so i'm i'm not fearful I'm cautious because I don't understand all of this retirement stuff and you know Like I said, i'm 62 and I don't know if i'm gonna live to 95 But you know, you just want to make sure you can take care of yourself but none of that matters because you know right now matters, you know God's calling me to do something and and I I want to have the faith to say yes Wow. Such a beautiful story. So many things, so many things come up for me in this story. Overriding one is my strength is in him. You know, my weakness comes out as strength in him. And, and that just knowing that. You don't have to worry about the details. He's, he's just, he's got your back. I mean, I love you. You can retire. And what exactly I mean, what a gift. And, and he does, he takes care of the details and I guess, I know you from a coaching group that we're in together and I have just been so inspired by just hearing, you know, and of course all of this was, was, you know, Well, into the process when I first met you, I didn't really even know the backstory until I somewhat just literally have just learned a lot of it right now, but just watching. Your faith, you know, it's like, Oh, I'm going to court today. It's in God's hands, you know? Oh, I said things I didn't even know that I knew. And it brought me to the verse where it says, you know, don't worry about when they, when they call you out, you don't need to worry about what you will say. The Holy spirit will give you the words. And they did. And that's, it is so, so true. I have chills right now because I've experienced that so many times in over the past year where, I can remember sitting for hours at a time, not able to move because I don't know if it was depression. I don't know what it was not able to move at all. And just saying, Lord, how do I do this? And it was clear. He says, you don't. I do. So, you know, everything that I had as a project on my plate, he made me the project, you know, and wow. He's good at that, isn't he? Yes, he is. You know, and, Kal, there's so many things because I believe that there are listeners here today that are in a job that, It's just like the word you used is toxic, and maybe it's not toxic. Maybe there aren't things that are going on that, that they question, but their soul is just drying up in that position. And God's probably telling them it's time to go do something different. But that's scary. It's scary to take that next step. And part of the message that I hear from your story is. Don't wait until he rips it from you. Go, go. When he tells you to go, have the courage, pray about it, get in the word, find out where he's leading you to next. And, and, and go for it. Right. Absolutely. And, you know, even if, if, if it's an inkling in your mind, you know, that's a spark from the Holy Spirit. You might not know what it is, but if you take that step, he's going to either enlighten that step or he's going to turn you, you know it just, just have to say yes to God. He has, the bigger plan for you. You don't have the, you don't have the biggest plan for yourself. He has the bigger plan for you. He already knows the plan he has for you, but he's not going to force it on you. You know, if you start, I say this to anyone, if you start feeling like, You're of this world. Like you're, you need that salary or you need to have your house or, you know, you're worried about your health, but you're healthy right now. I say, do it, you know, do it while you're healthy and you can live the life that God has given you. Well, and, and I've learned in my own experience that I retired early, almost the minute I was eligible to, to, to go into coaching and. The idea of leaving that salary on the table, so to speak, was so frightening to me. I mean, I agonized over it for months. And in reality, the money we're, we're doing just fine. You know, God has provided everything that I need. And I think we all get this mindset that. I, I, I, I need to do this. I need to, you know, that, that, that money is such a lure and, and God does provide, you know, we maybe not all of the luxurious things that we think we need to be so comfortable because somebody said recently, we are as Americans addicted to comfort and two things we need to learn that. The things that we think we need is comfort, but the other thing is, is that we need to step out of our comfort zone and do things that are scary sometimes. You stepping up and saying, this isn't right, had to have taken so much courage. But God walked you through that and, and made you a stronger person as a result, right? Yeah, he absolutely did. Yeah, it was very scary because, you know, if you can imagine working for a good old boys club, you know, where you're not one of the good old boys and, and so, you know, I watched my staff. I had a staff of 35 and I, and I watched them just keep under the radar and just, you know, they just wanted to keep their jobs. They, you know, they didn't want to know anything, you know, and it was breaking my heart because I was a very maternalistic boss. And I realized if, if I, even if I get nothing from this, if I can help shed light on some of the behaviors that are affecting my staff, I might never see it this side of heaven, but, you know, it, something will happen. And that's exactly what happened in the court case where I had said, you know, listen, you know, they said, what is your number one thing? I said, my number one thing, as I sat across from six county officials, is for you to acknowledge that there's been some wrongdoing here and that behaviors and practices need to change. And, The attorney looked right at me with a grin on his face. He says, Well, you know, that's not going to happen. I said, Well, it just kind of did, you know, because the fact that he had felt he needed to answer to that. That's that's what I got. And that's the light shown, you know, and I was able to get a certain period of time of healthcare, which is huge. You know it wasn't a huge severance package, but it didn't matter. None of that mattered, yeah, it just, it felt like I had purged something, even, even the salary. I felt like I had purged something that was evil money, you know? You know something else that, that came up that I think is interesting is So the interview just prior to this one on the show, I interviewed an author of the book called revive, and she talks about, which I think just ties in so beautifully with your day of revival, right? Revive. Say it again. I said that. Revival day of hope. Revival day of hope. I got it mixed up. But anyway, but she talks about the season in her life. Where God just asked her to let go of so many things that were, were distractions that were keeping her away from him. And I feel like that that's similar to what happened to you. He was asking you to let go of things that were coming between your relationship with him, right? Very yes, that that that's well said because I was on a mission trip down in the Dominican. And I went on that. It wasn't a mission trip per se. I was going down to learn administrative things to bring a team. And so I was sitting quietly. And. Realize the word distraction was everything that I've just spoken of everything, even mom, my mom, whom I love dearly and who was, was my person. She was a distraction, you know and, or my excuse, you know, there were days on end where I realized I hadn't really done my devotion or I hadn't really sat and prayed. I mean, I'd pray with her. I pray over her, but I hadn't really communicated with God because I had all these things to do, you know and so as I sat there in the Dominican, I, I was able to see the, the leaves rustling and the wind blowing through and hear the birds where before I, I, you know, I was so like distracted, you couldn't even hear those things. And so it's just amazing right now that, you know, God has, Allowed a lot of things to leave my distracted brain. I just love that because we do, we cling to things that, that really, and they're like my friend, Dana says. They aren't bad things necessarily. They're just things that are in the way and, and life can be so beautiful when we just pull away from those things.

20:07

If you're feeling that God is trying to nudge you away from something, or maybe he's planted some seeds of some things that you would really like to step towards. But are just not sure how to do that, or that's just a little outside of your comfort zone and you're not quite knowing what to do or what the next step is. I would love to just hop on a quick call with you. We're talking 15, 20 minutes so that I could help you discern what your next best step could be. Sometimes when somebody else can see our situation, They have a clear direction of where you might be able to go because when we're in the middle of it, it's really hard. Either email me at vona@vonajohnson.com or I'll leave a link in the show notes to this episode. Let's see if we can get you unstuck so that you can be on your best path either to retirement or through retirement if you've already taken that leap, I look forward to visiting with you.

Tracy Warren: 21:06

If you could leave the listeners today with one idea, one thing that you wish you had known before all of this, or paid attention to without all the distractions. What would that be? Listen to him. He loves you right where you are, but he loves you too much to keep you there. Listen to him. Open yourself up to a yes for, for God. Perfect. I love it. So what's, what's next, Tracy? Do you know, do you care? I don't. We're getting, we'll, we'll do the festival this year. The nonprofit is a all year round nonprofit where, we, connect the community with the resources in the area because at the festival, the first thing I say, not everyone that shows up to this festival is a Christian. We advertise it as a family fun festival. It has all Christian music. But I want to get, there's a, we have a lot of homeless. We have a lot of drug addiction. I want to get those people there and then meet those immediate needs. Like if they can't hear about Jesus, if their kids are starving, you know, so we have the homeless shelters come and they talk to their people and just engage. We have a vendor bingo so that the people have to engage the vendors to get. Raffle tickets. So once they realize that, okay, I don't have to be homeless or there's resources in this community right now that are willing to help me, then they can breathe and start hearing about Jesus from the music and start watching the hands and feet of the volunteers. And, and, you know, the people that just want to pray over them. So that that's how the festival came about. But it's basically my funding engine for the nonprofit all year round. Oh, that is so beautiful. You know, I was involved with our Homeless Coalition here in South Dakota when I was still working for the South Dakota Housing Development Authority. And I didn't, I wasn't the direct line person. There was another gal who kind of spearheaded it all and did a fabulous job. And she too did like a day of resource. Actually, there were different ones that did them around the state, but we had one right here in our community here in Pierre. And we didn't have the whole music festival thing going, which sounds like a wonderful idea, but so when is your festival, what's the date of it? August 31st. Okay, so if someone's listening to this before then, where could they go to learn more about it? Www. revivaldayofhope. com. Perfect. And if they're listening to this, After August 31st of 2024, they can go there to learn about resources throughout the year. And that would be where they would find out where it is in future years, if they want to come to New Hampshire and enjoy that. And honestly, can I, maybe this might be overstepping. But if someone's listening and they're like, we need that in our community, could they reach out and talk to you about how they could start something like that? Absolutely. In fact, we're patented right now. The whole business program is patented. One of my artists is also my vice president and he travels from Maine to Florida. And so we're looking at doing one in Florida through the winter. So, you know, it's portable. All we need is You know, to talk to you and your city about what you would like to see for, you know, inviting resources and we find a stage, we put some artists on it and we just coordinate the day. I love how we've come full circle. When you started at the beginning, we were talking about the things that were, that weren't going really great in your life. And now we're ending up on a day of hope, a lifetime of hope, right? Where God has, brought revival to your life and shown you that he's, your identity isn't in all of the work, all of the things that you always thought that it was, your identity is in him and doing what he's asking you to do. And I just want to thank you for saying yes, both to all of that and to being here with us today. Such a blessing. Thank you. It's been my pleasure.

25:18

I am so grateful to Tracy for sharing her story with us, as you can imagine. That couldn't have been an easy conversation to have. But with God. Everything is possible. After our interview, I was reminded of a verse about work and rest. And I think it's really relevant here. Particularly in Tracy's case. So I'm just going to read this to you now it's from Psalm 1 27. Unless the Lord builds a house. The work of the builder is wasted. Unless the Lord protects the city. Guarding it with centuries will do no good. It is useless for you to work so hard. From early morning until late at night. Anxiously working for food to eat for God gives rest to his loved ones. That's from Psalm 127: 1-2 and, you know, The thing about that is God provides what we need. And if we're, if we're anxious in our work, there's a reason for that. And we're either looking at something wrong or we're supposed to move on. As in Tracy situation. We're, we're going to have health problems. We're going to have challenges and we kind of need to get to the bottom of that. So, um, I love this in my devotion from portals of prayer. Um, just today, actually. Nope. Yesterday. It says, unless our work is vitally and daily connected to the work of our Lord, we do not succeed. Even if our name is attached to a promotion or our income is more than adequate for our needs. Without the Lord, those who labor labor in vain. And that's basically from Psalm 1 27 1. When work becomes our false guide. There is emptiness. As many successful CEOs. Can testify to. So I'm in my new living translation, which is what I read to you earlier. I love that in the footnote, it talks about. That Working to the exclusion of rest. Or to the neglect of the family. Maybe a coverup for an inability to trust God to provide for our needs. So basically they're challenging us to to work while trusting God. And also to rest well, trusting God, something to think about. I want to thank you for stopping by today. It was just a lot of fun to share that with you. Our next episode in two weeks. We're going to visit with someone who I don't think she set out with the intention to retire. But, she's living a life that someone who, what I would consider to be trusting guide to the extreme. I just marveled at her story and I can't wait to share it with you. So we'll see you back here in two weeks. If you know, someone who might be thinking about retirement or just might enjoy the messages here, I ask that you please share it with them. Be sure and subscribe to the show. So you don't miss an episode. Thanks for stopping by today and remember to always engage your faith and live your more.