I'm getting a really expensive art education to prepare for an art college / art career right now. My family, since I got accepted, keep telling me this is amazing and surely part of God's plan. But now I feel afraid it's not. I love art, have always been an artist, but I'm scared that unless I make religious art that I'm not really glorifying God and instead am just following selfish ambitions. I feel like it's wrong to make art for fun, too. If I am pursuing a secular art education instead of ministry or theology, am I really living for God in total surrender?
Another thing unrelated to me is the people here. Because it's a secular school, there are some students here that promote sinful activity (lots of support for LGBT and yoga here which I know is wrong) and wear demonic symbols on their clothes. I'm not the only Christian here but there are very few.
Should I quit? I don't want to, but I'm scared if not doing the right thing for Christ.
I had a 10,000 dollar art scholarship, but in light of my experience and in coming to know Christ, it meant nothing. While everyone has a different experience in life, I went to an art college in Ohio and while there were valuable things I learned there in the few months of my attendance, I found that such an experience took away my inspiration for drawing for a long time.
#1. My room mates were far from being nice, and they were really negative and unkind. My vision of artists generally was myself up until that point. I thought all artists were nice like me. To my dismay, this was simply not the case.
#2. Several of my school teachers were also not really nice, either. One school teacher had openly insulted a student in the class room for misunderstanding the art project and the whole class was laughing at him (accept me).
The few months I was there, I was paying for almost several years. The same level of education I got there, I could get for free on YouTube or for the price of a dinner at Udemy.com.
Online Courses - Anytime, Anywhere | Udemy
Anyways, after I left that college, I lived in the area with family for a while and worked at a restaurant. I received a tract called "This Was Your Life."
Chick.com: This Was Your Life
The version for women on this tract can be found here:
Chick.com: You Have a Date!
I accepted Jesus Christ as my personal Lord in Savior back in 1992 via by the tract "This Was Your Life."
My life was forever changed. I had a joy, love, and peace that I had never known before.
I wanted everyone to know how I felt by accepting Jesus as my Savior and in seeking forgiveness with Him (Romans 10:13) and in believing in His death, burial, and resurrection for salvation (1 Corinthians 15:1-4).
I was on fire for the Lord for the Lord in the beginning of my faith, but as time went on, I fell into the trap of chasing after riches and fame. It was not until many years later that I rededicated my life back to following Jesus that I began to truly study His Word and to make His Word a part of my life again. So my encouragement to you is to follow the Lord. Make the Lord the #1 in your life and read His Word every day and try to apply it. Pray to God every day. Praise God every day all the more. My encouragement is to stay away from college. It can lead to the party scene or men who are of this world to chase after you. Follow after the Lord and His good ways.