Since we started writing for Anabaptist World in November 2023, our bio has read, “Alisha and Josh Garber are in a season of discernment.”

That changes today.

Fifteen years ago, we boarded a plane to lead an English camp in the Czech Republic. We thought we were simply testing a call – but it became a launch.

Since then, our “worthwhile adventure” has taken us through Lithuania, Barcelona, and – after a three-year pause in the desert – towards a new chapter in Belfast, Northern Ireland. (Click here to read more about that desert season.)

God’s timing has never looked like our own. Here are five things we’ve learned.

1. Sometimes it’s about preparing you.

In our last years in Lithuania, we sensed it was time to move on from our work at LCC International University. Our mission agency at the time suggested we visit some different locations that had expressed a need for church worker support. As we went, our prayer was that God would make it abundantly clear if we were being called to one of these places.

We met so many good people on those visits and, at each stop, I (Josh) would ask the church to describe their greatest challenges. When I got to Barcelona, their list hit me deeply: the worship was stale, the youth were leaving the church, and they were invisible to their neighbors.

This is exactly where our gifts had been developing during our time in Lithuania: leading third-way worship, helping young adults find their place in the community through leadership development, and understanding the power of incarnational ministry. In other words, we needed those four years in Lithuania before we would be ready for Spain.

We don’t yet know how the past three years have prepared us – but we’re not the same people who arrived.

Reader reflection: What doors are opening now that wouldn’t have made sense a year ago?

2. Sometimes it makes no sense.

When we left Barcelona, we sensed a call to Belfast that was affirmed by our conversations with the SoulSpace community and by our then-supervisor, Sharon. We arrived in Phoenix under the impression that we would be stateside for about three months while we navigated the visa process with our mission agency.

Then everything fell apart, and we found ourselves stranded in the desert – disoriented, grieving and confused.

It’s still not clear why things happened the way they did. Speaking sincerely, we were ready for the transition to Belfast, and our partners could have used the help.

Reader reflection: What’s something in your life that doesn’t make sense yet – but might later?

3. Sometimes it’s about preparing others.

We were ready to go, but perhaps this season was about things developing elsewhere.

Our partners in Belfast have gone through a season of sabbatical and this year are reemerging with a stronger sense of who they are called to be in this moment. They welcomed conversations with us about how we might serve alongside them, but perhaps their season of metamorphosis needed to unfold first.

We were also connected with Communitas International, a sending agency that is beautifully aligned with our Anabaptist values and doesn’t carry the same cultural baggage as a denominational entity. In addition to being a good fit, Communitas has connections in the United Kingdom that have led to a viable visa path – a huge obstacle to overcome, post-Brexit.

Finally, this has been a season of reconnecting with the folks at Trinity Mennonite Church, our sending community, and seeing them catching up to the vision. Moving forward with a community full of people who “get it” goes a long way in ensuring our ministry can be a partnership.

Reader reaction: Who else might God be preparing while you’re in a holding pattern?

4. Time reveals what you couldn’t see before. 

Hindsight is an annoying blessing – late to the party, bearing a gift best received at the start – but it’s a blessing nevertheless. Through this lens, we can see where God has been moving the past three years.

For me personally, it’s growing as a teacher, filmmaker and digital communicator. For Alisha, it’s her pastoral work and network building. For both of us, it’s been a season of continued youth and young-adult engagement. For Asher, he’s picked up the skills needed to excel in an English-speaking environment, and we’ve learned a lot about what we can do to help him thrive.

These are all things that seem well suited to the needs in Belfast.

Reader Reflection: Where might the pieces be coming together in your life – even if you didn’t realize they were connected?

5. God’s timing always invites participation. 

Our current trajectory didn’t come from sitting by the wayside. Even in our waiting, we’ve not been passive.

We showed up in Phoenix and committed to being as present and engaged as possible, even though we knew our calling was elsewhere. Along the way, we formed relationships and partnerships that have deeply shaped us – with neighbors, young people and a church community that received us generously and walked with us in return. We said yes to small steps and have been active in seeking partners. We kept discerning in community. We’ve trusted that, with a disposition oriented towards loving our neighbors, seeking justice, loving mercy and walking humbly with God, our journey will move us to where God most needs us.

We’ve cried out asking God where God is, but we’ve known God has never been absent. We’ve found again and again that God’s timing rarely follows our plans – but it always invites our presence. Trust that something is growing, even now.

Reader reflection: What “yes” is available to you, even in uncertainty?