Today, I want to tell you a story about a remarkable person. Her real name was Odette, but her code name was Lise.

Odette was born in France but, as a child, moved to England, where she eventually settled into a beautiful life raising three young children. Then, World War II arrived. In 1942, Odette was recruited to be a part of Britain’s Special Operations Executive team: a top-secret program devoted to spying on and sabotaging the Axis powers. She had everything they wanted: fluency in both French and English, a steely determination, and a fierce devotion to duty. After undergoing months of grueling training, she said goodbye to her children and was smuggled into the south of France, where she became a courier in the SPINDLE network of spies.

Six months later, Odette was captured and sent to the infamous Fresnes prison just outside of Paris. There, she was interrogated fourteen times by the Gestapo, and despite facing brutal torture, she refused to divulge any information about her comrades.

This refusal to cooperate led to a death sentence. She was transported to Ravensbrück, the Nazi concentration camp for women. It was located in an absolutely beautiful part of Germany, surrounded by peaceful lakes and lush nature. As the prisoners were forced towards the gates, they left everything beautiful behind. The camp was built in a man-made concrete valley surrounded by tall walls and towers, a hell for the prisoners trapped within. Upwards of 100,000 people were killed there.

Odette was sent to "The Bunker," an underground prison where she was kept in solitary confinement in a tiny cell with no windows. She lived in complete darkness for months, except for the brief moment every day when a watery bowl of soup was pushed in through a trap door. Her particular cell was right next to the punishment room, where she heard her fellow prisoners being beaten at all hours of the day and night.

This inhumane treatment made her so ill that, eventually, she was brought to the infirmary to receive medical care. A few days later, as they were bringing her back to The Bunker, she found a leaf.

Here's how she described that moment:

“It was a small leaf and I thanked God I had seen it. My guards paid little attention. They were totally unconscious of the significance of the treasure I had acquired.

They did not know, as they slammed the door of my cell, that I held in my ­fingers a most potent link with the forces of life and freedom. As one weary day followed another the leaf became more and more precious to me.

Somewhere in the vast spaces of the sky, a wind had risen and, impelled by a strength and a direction beyond human knowledge, had stirred the branches of a tree and had lifted a leaf and carried it gently down onto the ground of Ravensbrück to be picked up by hands that had great need of it.”

Miraculously, Odette survived many more months in Ravensbrück and eventually returned safely home to England, where she recovered from her ordeals with lengthy medical care, returned to her family, and received the George Cross in honor of her service.

Odette was known for her determination to do what was right, a quality that often led to the brave defiance of her captors. For example, she kept a few books hidden within her cell in The Bunker. Many years later, her granddaughter was looking at these books when Odette's leaf fell out of the pages, where it had been tucked away for safekeeping. (That leaf, along with her books, is on display at Britain's Imperial War Museum.)

There is, obviously, so very much to admire in Odette's person, including her extraordinary resilience and service to her countries. I was struck by the way that she found hope even in the worst of moments, turning the simplest of items — a leaf — into a talisman of hope, courage, and resistance. Given the camp environment, that leaf's presence really was a miracle; it gave her the strength to continue hoping for a better future for herself.

Her story reminds me of Viktor Frankl's, the author of Man's Search for Meaning, who survived several years in Auschwitz by looking beyond himself for a greater purpose. He persevered because of his vision to rewrite a manuscript that the Nazis had destroyed and to write a new psychology of man in the concentration camp. Throughout his imprisonment, he would maintain his hope by mentally writing his manuscript in his head or jotting key words on the few scraps of paper he had.

We can learn so much from these people who have gone through the very, very darkest of times. When you are feeling despair or struggling with a very difficult challenge, you also need to have something outside of yourself to hold on to. It might be a person, a memory, a dream, a physical item, a piece of art, or a message one needs to share. It doesn't have to be big; it just has to mean something to you. Your own talisman has the power to give you a bit of light in the darkness, to shine just bright enough so that you can take the next step forward. Bit by bit, you can keep walking, and eventually you will emerge into brighter days.

Remember Odette's leaf. There are always reasons to keep hoping, keep persevering, and keep working towards a better future.