Walking in obedience does not always feel brave in the moment. Most times, it feels like fear standing beside you as you say yes anyway. That is what June 2026 held for me. I was invited to join the Visionary African Women Summit in Zambia, not as a moderator this time, but as a panellist speaking in my own voice, in real time. I sat with that invitation longer than I expected to. This is the story of what it took to say yes, what I received once I did, and why walking in obedience matters even when you feel unprepared for it.
When an Invitation Feels Bigger Than You Feel
The Visionary African Women Summit gathers leaders, founders and advocates from across the continent each year, and this year it was held in Zambia. I have been on panels before, always as the one asking the questions. Moderating gives you distance. You hold the microphone, but the stories belong to someone else.
This invitation asked for something different. My own voice. My own story. Offered in real time, with nowhere to hide behind a question sheet.
I took a few days to sit with it before replying. There was a quiet wrestling in that waiting, honour on one side and hesitation on the other. Saying yes meant standing fully exposed in front of visionary women from across Africa. Saying no felt safer, and safety was tempting.
Why Does Fear Often Answer Before Faith Does?
Fear rarely waits to be invited. It arrived quickly, and it came with questions. Would I be able to answer well? Would I be articulate enough? What if I stumbled in front of a room full of women who seemed to have it together?
I did the only thing I knew to do. I prayed, and I told God plainly that I could not do this without Him. I did not feel ready. I had no polished words prepared. What I had instead was the same faith over fear I wrote about after judging Miss Universe Zimbabwe. Readiness, I am learning, is rarely a feeling you arrive at before you say yes.
What Nehemiah’s Willingness Taught Me About Walking in Obedience
In that place of surrender, I thought often of Nehemiah. He faced an assignment far bigger than his role or his resources. He simply made himself available when the moment called for it. He did not wait until he felt qualified. He responded because he trusted the One who had sent him. You can read Nehemiah’s account of that willingness for yourself.
That is the heart of walking in obedience. It is not confidence dressed up as courage. It is availability, offered honestly, before you feel ready for what has been asked of you. Faith over fear, again, was the only way through. So I said yes.
Sisterhood On and Off the Stage
The summit itself carried a weight I did not expect. I sat among visionary women from across the continent, each holding a story that moved me. Stories of beginning again from nothing. Stories of grief, of loss, of rebuilding slowly and rising again.
Beyond the stage, I met and spoke with so many remarkable women. Not only hearing their stories, but engaging with them properly, trading ideas and possibilities for what we might build together. Meaningful collaborations have already begun to take shape from those conversations. It reminded me of the sisterhood I found among hundreds of women at the Women’s Run. You never quite know who you are sitting next to, or what a simple conversation might open.
On the panel, I shared something simple: my story is all I have. My wellness journey, my healing, my ongoing process of becoming, that is what I carried into that space. Grace met me there in a way I could not have arranged myself. God does not always call the qualified. More often, He qualifies those He has called. And when He sends you, He supplies what the assignment requires.
Receiving the Wellness Advocate Award
During the summit, I was also given the Wellness Advocate Award. I did not expect it. It left me humbled rather than proud, because none of this rests on my own strength. Who am I, that I should be considered for such recognition? I am simply a vessel, and to God I give the credit.
I dedicate this recognition first to God. Then to my family: my husband, who supports me steadily, and my four daughters, who remain my greatest motivation. They are the reason I keep going. The reason I work hard. The reason I show up even on the days it is not easy. I dedicate it too to everyone walking this journey alongside me, everyone who encourages me and follows my story from near and far. I am deeply grateful for each one of you.
Walking in Obedience Even When You Feel Unprepared
None of this was ever about me. It was about grace. It was about willingness. And it was about walking in obedience even in the moments you feel least prepared for what has been asked of you.
If there is an invitation in front of you that feels too big, I would gently ask: what might change if you answered it anyway, before you felt ready?
Nehemiah’s quiet availability spoke to me this June. If it speaks to you too, you may find something in stepping forward before you feel ready, a reflection I wrote earlier this year on trusting God in uncertain moments.
