When the call of God first came to me, it was not completely clear. I just knew God called me to follow Him further than before. He called me to go and give myself, but He didn’t give me clear instructions of where to go and what to do. I have never been one of those people who has a clear and distinct call from God to minister to a certain group of people or demographic, but I knew God spoke and I needed to obey.

I had full confidence that if He called me and I was following Him wholeheartedly, there would never be a day when I would be forsaken or deserted. Somehow, by the grace of God, I understood at a young age that if I obeyed God’s command, nothing could go wrong. I knew God’s promises were embedded in the call He had placed in my heart. This understanding may be partly why Abraham’s story is one of my favorites.

Abraham was called by God to leave his father’s house and his country and travel to a place God would show him. He didn’t even know where he was going; he was just told to go. God would show him where and when he needed to know. Abraham heard God’s voice and obeyed. Abraham’s call to go was also accompanied by promises contingent on his obedience to the call. God told Abraham, “If you go…I will bless.…” It sounds simple, but it’s always much harder when the rubber meets the road.

I want to remind you that God’s call on your life is accompanied by His promises. He would not call you and leave you stranded. If you are following Him wholeheartedly and doing His will the best you know, He will bless that. He may be calling you to do something beyond your natural giftings or even beyond your comfort zone. Welcome to the club!

Do you think David would have been able to kill Goliath on his own? Do you think the three Hebrew boys would have been able to stand in that furnace on their own merit? Do you think Moses would have been able to split the Red Sea with his own abilities? Of course not! That would be ridiculous. When God calls and you obey, He will always come through. He is not slack concerning His promises.

Here’s what I find most interesting about Abraham’s story: God promised the impossible. It was something only God could do. Abraham and Sarah were well in old age when God told them they would have a child. If I were Sarah, I probably would have laughed, too. However, they received the promise and continued in their faithfulness to God until it came to pass. As years went by and the fulfillment of the promise had not yet come, their faith wavered, as most of ours does as well.

When God is taking longer bringing the promises to pass, we grow antsy and run to Hagar thinking, “Well, maybe God wants me to do this in order for the promise to come.” But all we do is make a bigger mess. There are no substitutions for the fulfillment of God’s promises. It only leads to shame, heartbreak, and more complications for us in the end. As tempting as it may be to take matters into our own hands, we can find peace in relying on Him to fulfill the promise on His own terms.

Through all of this, God remained faithful to Abraham and Sarah, and eventually Isaac was born and Abraham went on to be the father of faith and the father of many nations, as we are his heirs to the promise. For those of you reading this who have received a call from God and don’t know what to do next, I will share what God has told me—“if you see a need, fill it.” There is nothing too small or too great for you to do in His kingdom. If the church needs to be cleaned, clean it. If a Bible study needs to be taught, teach it. If your church needs help decorating for an upcoming event, volunteer. Serve wherever you can. God will open the doors when He needs to. His call is accompanied by His promise. I speak from experience; you can be encouraged to know you can never go wrong by following Him.

Sarah is the Hyphen contributor for InsideOut and a recent graduate of Urshan College. She is now happily married to Jordan Hudspeth with whom she serves the Hyphen group at The Life Center in Saint Petersburg, Florida. You can find her on Facebook and Twitter.