The call came on a Tuesday, while I was folding laundry with the phone wedged between my ear and my shoulder. Our pastor’s wife asked if I would consider leading the women’s ministry at CBA Orlando. My first word, before I even thought about it, was almost no.

I had reasons ready — a nursing practice that was finally finding its footing, two children who needed me, a husband whose own calendar was already full of concrete and permits and Sunday services. I was not being humble when I hesitated. I was being honest about how stretched I already felt.

The excuse that did not hold

But there is a verse I have never been able to fully set down, from the story of Moses at the burning bush: he offered God every practical objection he had — I am not eloquent, I am slow of speech (Exodus 4:10) — and God did not argue with the facts. He simply asked, “Who made your mouth?” The objection was true and it was also beside the point.

That is what sat with me that Tuesday night. My objections were true. I really was tired. My days really were full. And none of that answered the actual question, which was not “do you have the capacity,” but “did I ask you.”

What changed my mind

I called my husband first, because that is our rhythm — we do not make decisions like this alone. Daniel listened, asked me what I was afraid of, and then said something I still think about: “You keep waiting to feel ready. Nobody God calls ever feels ready. That is usually how you know it is Him and not you.”

I prayed that night the way Isaiah must have prayed after he saw the vision in the temple — not with confidence, but with a kind of surrendered honesty. Here am I. I do not feel equipped. Send me anyway.

What I would tell the woman who is about to say no

If you are standing where I stood — phone in hand, every good reason lined up to decline — I am not going to tell you your reasons do not matter. They do. But I have learned that God rarely waits for our capacity to catch up to His calling. He grows the capacity after we say yes, not before.

I said yes that week. It has cost me sleep and margin and more than a few Saturday mornings. It has also given me some of the richest friendships and the clearest sense of purpose I have ever known. I do not regret the yes. I am only sorry it took me so long to stop arguing with the call.