By Kristina Flores-Muñoz, Children's Ministry Manager
As our annual Arts Camp approached, I'll admit that this year stretched my faith.
Planning an event is never simple, but this season brought unique challenges. Finding enough volunteers, reaching families, navigating people's fears about leaving their homes because of everything happening around us, and trying to think through every small detail so the week would run smoothly - all of it felt like a constant roller coaster (and I don't even like roller coasters).
There were moments when I wanted to have every answer, every plan finalized, and every problem solved before moving forward. I wanted to know that everything would work. I wanted to know that enough people would come, that we'd have enough volunteers, that the students would enjoy themselves, and that all the little pieces would somehow fit together.
But God gently reminded me that He never asked me to carry the weight of the outcome. He simply asked me to be faithful with what He had placed in front of me.
Trusting God isn't passive. It doesn't mean we stop planning or preparing. We still work diligently, organize carefully, pray intentionally, and serve wholeheartedly. But trust means releasing the parts that were never ours to control. It means believing that God's purposes are not dependent on our perfection.
Proverbs 3:5-6 says, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to Him, and He will make your paths straight."
Those words took on new meaning for me as we prepared for camp. It's easy to trust when everything is falling into place. It's much harder when the volunteer list feels short, registrations are slower than expected, or unexpected challenges keep appearing. Yet those are often the moments when God teaches us the deepest lessons about surrender.
Submission to God isn't giving up; it's giving over. It's choosing to believe that His wisdom is greater than ours, His timing is perfect, and His presence is enough even when circumstances feel uncertain.
So I prayed.
Instead of asking God to make everything go exactly as planned, I found myself asking Him to help me trust Him more, to give me peace instead of anxiety, to help our team serve with joy instead of stress, and, most importantly, to prepare the hearts of every child and family who would walk through our doors.
And then camp happened, and it was amazing.
There is something so beautiful about watching the pieces you have been praying over for months finally come together in front of you.
I felt an abundance of joy watching the students present what they had created. Seeing them act out the story of David and Goliath brought a huge smile to my face. The Arts and Crafts team worked together with Theater to create the props, and it was incredible to see how each area of camp wasn't operating separately, but how everything came together to tell a story. The Jewelry team created an amazing logo for Mission Adelante, and watching the students use their creativity to make something meaningful was such a gift.
And then there were the little moments, the laughter, the creativity, the excitement, the teamwork, the kids discovering what they could do, and all the things that couldn't have been planned perfectly on a spreadsheet.
I had spent so much time before camp wondering, “How is all of this going to come together?” And afterward, I found myself thinking, “Look what God did.”
That's the part I don't want to forget. God didn't necessarily give me all the answers beforehand. He didn't show me exactly how every detail would work out. He simply asked me to trust Him, to keep showing up, to keep preparing, to keep praying, and to be faithful.
And He was faithful.
The camp didn't happen because we had the perfect plan. It happened because God was already at work in the hearts of the people who served, the students who participated, the families who came, and all the people who helped make the week possible.
Before camp, I was learning to trust God without seeing the whole picture.
After camp, I got to see a little more of why He was asking me to trust Him.
And what a beautiful reminder that was.
Sometimes faith means stepping forward when you can't see what is ahead. Sometimes it means doing the next right thing even when you don't know how the story will end. And sometimes, if we're paying attention, God lets us look back and see how beautifully He was putting all the pieces together.
Whether you're helping at camp, praying from home, or simply walking through your own season of uncertainty, I hope you'll remember this truth:
God is worthy of our trust, even when we cannot see the whole picture. Our job is faithfulness. The results belong to Him.
This camp reminded me that surrender is so much better than striving, peace is better than panic, and trust is better than fear.
And now, instead of looking ahead, wondering, "Will this work?" I can look back and say, "Thank you, God. Thank you for every student. Thank you for every volunteer. Thank you for every person who helped make this camp possible. Thank you for every creative idea, every prop, every laugh, every performance, and every moment of joy.
Thank you for letting me see it all come together. Thank you, God.”
And it's funny to think about all of you reading this, because if I'm honest, I think God wrote this article for me before He wrote it for anyone else. What a funny guy.