Imagine a young farm girl, living in a small village in France that was still loyal to the French crown during one of the darkest perio’s of French history.

It was a dark, bleak time….A time when the French hadn’t won a single battle in over a generation, were being invaded and overcome by invaders, expecially England who scorched the French soil and and worsened an already devastated economy, as the French were cut off from foreign markets and still hadn’t recovered from the Black Death of the previous century…

Now imagine this same young girl, the daughter of a farmer and just 12 years old- she is out in the fields one day and is visited by 3 angels who told her she was to drive out the English and bring the Dauphin (young French Prince, later to be Charles VII) to Reims for his coronation.

This was an impossible task at best, right?

But rather than dismissing her vision as ’silly nonsense,’ just a few years later Joan of Ark would lead the French army to victory against the English, and enable CharlesVII to take his rightful place as ruler of France.

At first, her attempts at getting an interview at the French Court was laughed off and she was mocked, but -undeterred- she returned the a year later- (at around 17 years old) – and after a series of remarkable incidences she was granted a private meeting with Charles and impressed him. Remember- she is an illiterate farm girl!

Joan, true to her mission, and with faith and conviction petitioned to travel with the French Army.

She requested that she too had the equipment of a Knight- and despite the fact she had no money to fund her armour, horse and sword, all that she needed was donated to her – her horse, sword and armour- that she insisted was white.

At the time France had endured one humiliating defeat after another.

It is said that every orthodox, every rational, logical means of winning any battle had tried and failed, and that is why the Dauphin granted Joan’s request to not only be equipped for war, but to be placed at the head of his Army.

"She gave her great mind to great thoughts and great purposes when other great minds wasted themselves upon pretty fancies or upon poor ambitions" Mark Twain

So at just 17 years old this young girl, who claimed that the voice of God was directing her, took charge of her country’s army and led them to victory.

She had to carry out her role as a leader with total faith: strategising, negotiating and convincing the commanders to listen to her despite her lack of experience or credibility.

One night at the beginning of her career she knew that the French army needed to attack, and when they wouldn’t let her and locked the gates she disregarded them, had the townsmen and common soldiers force the mayor to unlock a gate for her small army and just one captain, and set out to ride out and capture the fortress of Saint Augustins- which she did.

During her battles, Joan didn’t escape wounding, including an arrow to the throat and stone canon ball to her helmet, despite her injuries, she would still return to battle to lead the charge. When she was just 19 Joan was burned by the English for heresy, yet at her trial her words stupefied the court and they feared they would be damned because she was so graceful and eloquent .

I love what Mark Twain says about Joan, “When we reflect that her century was the brutalest, the wickedest, the rottenest in history since the darkest of ages, we are lost in wonder at the miracle of such a product from such a soil”

We can all be awed and humbled by Joan’s nobility, honesty and humanity- she did what she was guided to do no matter what and would give her life before she would deny her own power and truth, which kpt her in the heart of God.

I think we can all learn from Joan’s sense of purpose, and that even in the blackest night we can truly shine with the heart felt dedication to a cause we know to be deserving and just. We too can be ‘miracles’ no matter what the soil we are currently experienceing no matter how hard it seems, no matter how dark it gets, if we stay true to our nature we can survive and fulfil our destiny, by drawing on the courage, dedication and connection we have to light the way.

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