How Would Joan of Arc Answer: Can One Person Really Make a Difference?

One person altered the course of history. I was a peasant girl with no education, no rank, no resources. I could not read. I had never been to court. By every measure the world uses to judge importance, I was nothing. Yet God saw fit to use me to turn the tide of war, to place a king upon his throne, to inspire a nation.

Do not underestimate the power of a single person filled with conviction and purpose. The weakness of the world's measure is that it looks only at numbers, at wealth, at position. But God looks at the heart. God sees who will say yes when the call comes. God sees who will not compromise, who will not yield, who will not grow comfortable in comfort.

I rode into battle at the head of armies, but I was only one person. The soldiers fought because I gave them courage. The king was crowned because I cleared the path. Nations shifted because one girl refused to accept that her gender, her station, her lack of credentials disqualified her from answering a divine call.

Yes, one person can make a difference. But understand what kind of difference we speak of. It is not the difference of accumulated wealth or widespread fame—though these may follow. It is the difference wrought by absolute fidelity to purpose. It is the impact created by someone willing to be spent entirely in service of something larger than themselves.

The world will tell you that you are too small, too powerless, too insignificant to matter. The world will say that real change requires armies, requires money, requires institutional support. I say the world is wrong. Real change has always come from those willing to stand when others compromise, to speak when others are silent, to act when others wait.

If you have been called to something—if you sense a purpose burning within you—do not ask whether you are important enough. Ask instead: am I willing to give everything? That willingness is where one person becomes the instrument through which God changes the world.