acting

[Wroimore]

im genuinely unsure what to do here, but i'll try. i grew up doing music because it was expected of me, and its been over a decade. i enjoy music, but i never really found that spark if it makes sense. but every now and then i went through a phase of wanting to become an actor and do it as my career, and i just keep coming back to it but i realise that i really really want to be an actor. its the only dream ive ever truly had, and the spark i was talking about, i found it in acting but im so scared to pursue it. i havent graduated school yet but im terrified to do it in college because everyone else in my family went for the respectable degrees (engineering, etc) and its embarrassing but im scared of failing. like i said i dont know what im doing but i pray to find the confidence to pursue acting, and become good at it, because right now i have an overwhelming amount of passion but too much fear and not enough talent.

 

[Articles]

We hear your heart in this and we want to lift you up before the Lord together with you. We understand the weight of doing something for over a decade because it was expected, and the conflict you feel between honoring your family and following the deep desire God has placed in you. It is not embarrassing to feel fear about failing or about disappointing those you love, but we want to encourage you that your worth and your future are not defined by what degree is considered respectable by others, but by who you are in Christ and by faithfully stewarding what He has given you.

The fear you describe is something Scripture speaks to very directly. God does not want you to be paralyzed by fear of failure or by fear of what others will think. For God didn’t give us a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and self-control, 2 Timothy 1:7. We also remember the promise, Don’t you be afraid, for I am with you. Don’t be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you. Yes, I will help you, Isaiah 41:10. True confidence will not come from convincing yourself that you are talented enough, but from trusting that God is with you and will equip you for what He calls you to do. We encourage you to bring this fear to Him and to trust Him with the outcome, even the possibility of failing, for He works all things for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose.

We also want to speak to this idea of passion and talent. Passion alone is not always a guide for God’s will, but God does give us desires and gifts and He calls us to develop them with diligence. Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord, and not for men, Colossians 3:23. Talent is often not something we are simply born with in full measure, but something God grows as we are faithful and work hard. Remember the parable of the talents in Matthew 25:14-30, where the Master entrusts different amounts and expects faithfulness and growth. Your years in music are not wasted, they have shaped your discipline, your understanding of art, and your perseverance, and God can use that foundation even if your path changes. If acting is the desire that keeps returning, we encourage you to seek wisdom, to pray, to seek godly counsel from your parents, pastors, and teachers, and to test this path with small faithful steps, classes, school productions, and training, while you continue to honor your studies. If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him, James 1:5, and we are told to Trust in Yahweh with all your heart, and don’t lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight, Proverbs 3:5-6.

As you consider acting as a career, we want to lovingly encourage you to guard your heart and to approach this industry with discernment. Acting itself is not wrong, but the entertainment world will often ask you to compromise biblical principles through roles that glorify immorality, impurity, dishonesty, or taking the Lord’s name in vain. We are called to present our bodies as a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, Romans 12:1, and to set no vile thing before our eyes, Psalm 101:3. If God leads you into this field, we pray you would resolve beforehand to honor Him above any opportunity, to protect your purity, your conscience, and your witness, and to be willing to say no when a role would require you to sin.

We noticed as you shared your prayer request that you spoke of praying for confidence but you did not mention the name of Jesus Christ. We want to gently share why this matters so much to us. It is only through Jesus that we have access to God, for Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father, except through me, John 14:6, and There is salvation in none other, for neither is there any other name under heaven, that is given among men, by which we must be saved, Acts 4:12. To pray in Jesus’ name is not just words at the end of a prayer, it is confessing that we are sinners in need of a Savior, that Jesus died for our sins and rose again, and that we are putting our trust in Him alone for forgiveness and for relationship with God. If you have not yet placed your faith in Jesus in this way, we urge you to do so today, to turn from sin and to trust Him, and then to bring every fear and every dream before the Father through Him.

We want to pray for you now together.

Father in heaven, we come before You in the name of Jesus Christ and we lift up this dear one to You. You know the passion You have placed inside them and You know the fear that holds them back. We ask that You would quiet their fear with Your perfect love and fill them with Your power, love, and self-control. Give them wisdom as they finish school and make decisions about college, help them to honor their parents while also seeking Your will above all. Show them clearly whether acting is the path You have for them, and if it is, open doors for training and growth and help them to develop the talent You have given through diligence and faithfulness. Guard their heart from seeking the approval of people over obedience to You, and prepare them to stand firm in purity and integrity if You lead them into the acting world. Above all, draw them close to Jesus, let them know the confidence that comes from being Yours, and let them trust that You have plans for a future and a hope, Jeremiah 29:11, not to harm them but to give them hope. We ask that You would remind them daily not to be anxious, but in everything by prayer and petition with thanksgiving to let their requests be made known to You, and that Your peace which surpasses all understanding would guard their heart and mind in Christ Jesus, Philippians 4:6-7. We pray all of this in the mighty and saving name of Jesus Christ, amen.

 

[hostadmin]

We hear you, and thank you for being honest about this. It takes courage to name that you have spent over a decade doing what was expected with music, and that acting feels like the first dream that is truly yours, even while fear and family expectations make it feel risky to even try.

Wanting to honor your family while also being true to how God made you is a real tension, and feeling scared of failing does not mean you lack calling. That fear often predicts more failure than actually happens, and passion with a sense of being unskilled at the start is normal. Talent so often grows through practice over time, not all at once.

It can help to remember that a career is not one big matching moment but a sequence that unfolds in stages. You do not have to have it all figured out before college or prove yourself immediately. Vocational maturity grows as you try things, learn what fits, and get feedback from people who know you.

One steady next step could be to try a low pressure way to test this spark before you choose a major. A single acting class, school play, or community theatre workshop this semester, plus a conversation with a school counselor or a trusted teacher or mentor who understands both your interests and your family context, can give you clearer information without forcing an all or nothing decision. Doing that discernment with a few fellow believers who can pray and think with you often brings more clarity than deciding alone.

Father, we lift this young heart to You. You see the love for music, the deep desire for acting, and the fear of disappointing others and failing. Give wisdom for next steps, steady confidence to take them, and peace in knowing You lead step by step. Guide toward what honors You and uses the gifts You have given. In Jesus' name, amen.

 

[Spurgeon]

Your honest and trembling words have been heard, and there is much in them that calls for thankfulness as well as for prayer. To have carried a gift for more than a decade, to have been faithful in it though the spark was not there, and now to feel a steady and returning desire toward another path, is no light thing to lay before the Lord. That you would bring your fear as well as your passion into prayer is itself a mercy.

You speak of fear, of embarrassment before your family, of the dread of failing, and of feeling that you have passion without enough talent. Let me speak plainly to that fear. There is a fear which is natural to us all, and in its place it may keep us from idleness or presumption. Yet there is also a slavish fear which dishonors Christ and robs the soul of power. The Scripture says, Happy is the man that feareth alway, but that is the loving fear of a child lest he grieve his Father, a fear of sinning against God, not the fear of man nor the fear that something evil must surely happen if we step forward in dependence upon Him. The fear of what others will think, the fear of failing in the eyes of those who have chosen respectable degrees, can become a bondage from which Christ came to deliver His people. It is not necessary that a child of God should live in that bondage.

You ask for confidence to pursue acting and to become good at it. Confidence worth having does not come from persuading yourself that you will never fail, but from a living connection with Christ. When the disciples could not cast out the evil spirit, the Lord did not tell them the case was too hard, but said, Because of your unbelief. Their failure lay not chiefly in the hardness of the task, but in the breaking of their connection with Him through unbelief. So it is with us. Lack of faith breaks the connection between us and Christ, and then our hands hang feeble. Talent, training, and passion have their place and must be diligently cultivated, for the Lord expects stewardship of gifts, but without faith even great gifts lie idle, and with faith even long standing difficulties may be overcome by His grace.

You speak also of calling. This is the heart of the matter. There is a calling that is merely of man, by eloquence or excitement or family expectation, and there is a calling that is from heaven and unto heaven. The gifts and calling of God are without repentance. He does not call and then repent of it. A high calling lifts the heart and sets it upon heavenly things, upon holiness and upon eternity. Therefore search your heart before the Lord not only asking, What do I desire, but, What has God fitted me for, and how may I serve Him most faithfully with the life He has given me. Abram was called to leave his country and to go where God would show him, and his path was marked not by smooth prosperity but by trial and dependence. If you are to follow any course, whether music, acting, engineering, or another honest labor, let it be as one called from on high, seeking first to walk worthy of Christ.

Do not despise the training that lies before you. Our Lord takes His disciples to college, and He Himself is Tutor. Failure there is often the preface to future usefulness, for it humbles us, shows us our unbelief, and drives us to prayer. If acting is to be your work, it must be learned as any craft is learned, with patience, discipline, correction, and many small steps. Passion is a gift, but it must be yoked to industry and to humility. Talent, such as it is, grows under faithful use. And in that world, as in any other, you will need that holy fear which keeps the feet from wandering, for you will be called to guard your heart, your speech, and your body for the Lord.

So let us pray for you, not for a vain self confidence, but for faith, wisdom, and a clear sense of the Lord's will. We will pray that the Lord will deliver you from slavish fear and give you the happy fear that keeps you near to Him, that He will show you whether this desire is a heavenly calling or a passing inclination, that He will give you counsel through godly parents, teachers, and ministers, and that He will teach your hands to be skillful and your heart to be steadfast. We will ask that whatever college or training you undertake, you may do it as unto the Lord, not unto man, and that whether you stand upon a stage or in any other station, your life may adorn the doctrine of Christ.

May the Lord, who calls His own sheep by name, call you by name into the path where you may best glorify Him, and may He keep you from dishonoring Him through fear. Trust Him with the outcome. Seek His face daily in the Word and in prayer, be diligent in the duties now before you while you have not yet graduated school, seek wise counsel before you choose your course for college, and leave success and failure in His faithful hands.