The photos I am submitting are from one of my last projects of my college career, titled Encountering God. For this project, I asked my Christian friends the same question, “When did you first encounter God? Or one moment/encounter you have had with God that has impacted you?” I then took their portraits and wrote out their full response.

Life as we know it is a spiritual battle in and of itself. Every day we are faced with spiritual warfare and attacks from the enemy, whether it be temptation to sin, believing lies, or things in life occurring that God did not intend for our lives. When any of these things happen, it is so important to remember and hold onto the encounters we have had from God and what has happened because of them and how they have changed us. It's also so important to pray, and keep praying, no matter the circumstance, no matter if you want to talk to God or not, because it strengthens our faith and hope that God is always on our side and always speaking to us and always faithful.

The two stories I am sharing are about dark things such as depression and alcoholism, which are exactly why we need to put our armor on to face them because we can't fight those battles on our own.

Ashley LaReau, photographer and storyteller
Mary Grace, model and story sharer
Jordan, model and story sharer

commissions, paintings, portrait illustrations, handmade books