A survey of the various definitions of victory includes the following verbs: defeat, overcome, or triumph. Not to bore you with a grammar lesson, but these are all transitive verbs, which means action verbs that they require a direct object or something that receives the action.
You can’t just say, “I defeated” without stating what or whom you defeated.
“I overcame…” But what did you overcome?
“We triumphed…” And what did you triumph over?
We long to be victorious, but the unfortunate reality is that we cannot taste victory without first having gone through the battle. Triumph is not claimed until defeat has been threatened. Victory is realized through the struggle of overcoming the thoughts that assail us.
Can you have victory without a battle? No.
But we can be victorious and joyful in the battle.
And that is the aspect of victory we will explore this week and at the Ladies’ Retreat I will be speaking at this weekend.