Grit and Prayer – Lessons from Saint Joan of Arc for this Military Veteran

Serving in the military is a great source of pride and honor for anyone. It certainly is for me but it is also one of the most challenging things I have ever done in my life. Military service offers, firsthand lessons in, among many other things, grit. Grit is defined as perseverance and passion for long-term goals—something military servicemen and women are familiar with. Dedicating one’s life for such goal and purpose requires a tremendous amount of grit.

Intense challenges call not only for intense grit but also intense prayers. Military life taught me how to elevate the way I pray. I often found myself turning to the Saints for inspiration, encouragement, examples and templates for how to get through the many challenges of military life. One of those Saints is Joan of Arc, also recognized as the patron saint of soldiers. She taught me the value of grit and prayer.

It was the 15th century and France was embroiled with England in what we now know in history as the Hundred Years’ War. As a young peasant girl from the countryside, Saint Joan of Arc was basically a nobody but she needed to get the messages and visions she was receiving from God to the French leaders. Nobody wanted to take her seriously but with her gritty persistence, she figured out a way, despite many failed and humiliating attempts, to get an audience with church leaders, military leaders, and eventually, the king of France so that she could relay the message of God.  

With grit and determination, she stood up to the many challenges she encountered as a young peasant girl all the way through her military experience, and even unto death. She was young and inexperienced in battle but nothing stopped her from learning how to use a sword, how to ride a horse, how to fight in battle, and how to lead an army. She was persistent and gritty in her pursuits including mastery of the military skills she needed in order to fulfill the vision that God had given her. She became a great leader of the French army, and inarguably one of the greatest military leaders in the history of France, leading them from one victory to another.

Saint Joan of Arc prayed incessantly as a young child and also as a warrior. When she got wounded in battle, shot in the chest with an arrow, she retreated to hide away but only for a short while, just enough time to pull out the arrow from her chest and recharge in prayer. She prayed for perseverance and strength to continue leading her army. As soon as she finished praying, barely recovered from her chest wound, she immediately rejoined her troops to continue to lead and to persevere in their mission.

Saint Joan of Arc personified grit all the way to her death. Her model of grit has helped me get through my own challenges as a servicemember and I am deeply grateful. I’m also deeply grateful to all those gritty servicemen and women who served before me, those I served with, and those who continue to serve.