War can take many forms, not just physical war, but emotional and spiritual war too . They are part of the struggles that more often that not, most people will face in this world. Its my belief that the concept of war was born from and is a product of the fallen world we live in.

Oscar Wilde said, “Each of us has a Heaven and Hell inside of him”, this is true.

Most people have not experienced war in the traditional since, but everyone has fought a war within themselves on some level. See Oscar Wilde’s quote above..

In my own personal life I fought my own war – a spiritual war for 50 years, and not only survived it but conquered the enemy within me. You don’t emerge from something like that without a certain inner strength, and I believe wholly that is was intentional by God that I fight that war to prepare me with the strength & capabilities to carry out what he has intended for me, which is my mission & purpose in life.

The idea for the concept of this post came from a conversation I had with someone. I was explaining how I had 2 tattoos done a few weeks ago, when I had previously been a “tattoos are NOT me” person. I explained that they felt like me with every fiber of who I am now, basically. They are my own design, and have very personal meaning. They are symbolic of many things, a forever and permanency being just one of the aspects.

So as we talked about it, she related it to a fictional character of a show she likes who ‘probably had some tattoos’. Her rational was he probably did because he used to be in the military. The implication being he fought in war, hence had some tattoos as a personal testament to the experience. I think that’s a really good explanation of why I have mine, actually. They have a lot of personal meaning for me and represent the lifelong struggles I have been through and not only survived, but conquered. I love my victory and I love my tattoos.