By Anna Holton Dean
What do chickens and the book of Proverbs have in common? A lot, actually, according to Leah Arnold, a self-professed Oklahoma farm girl. Off the farm, she is a women’s event speaker and maintains the website and Facebook page, “Proverbs from Poultry.”
Simply put, Proverbs from Poultry is a message God gave her while working on the farm. “He would show me a picture of something in his Word, using the chickens to illustrate it,” she says.
Growing up in Skiatook and Sperry, Leah says her family always had land and livestock. That’s where the lessons from nature, especially poultry, started.
“Dad always taught us to see the spiritual lessons in life,” she says. “He would share stories of horses or chickens he owned and, in parable fashion, tie in the spiritual meaning behind the story.”
One summer day in 2013, she realized she had spiritual insight of her own to share, gleaned from the farm, after a conversation with her father.
“I was talking to my dad about adding some more chickens to our farm,” she says. “He told me that I would have to buy more chicks or get an incubator because it’s being bred out of chickens to sit on their nests.
“In that moment and for months after, God began to speak to me and show me things about women. He showed me that there are things in us as women that he put there that society is trying to ‘breed out’ of us.
“It was during this time that I was asked to speak at a women’s conference called A Divine Affair. It was for this event that I collected these stories and organized them into a talk called Proverbs from Poultry. About 200 women heard me speak that day, and it seemed to go very well. Lots of women approached me and asked if I had a card or if they could contact me to come speak at their church.
“Some just wanted more information about raising chickens, but it was through that first speaking engagement that I was asked to speak at First Baptist Church in Ponca City on April 26.”
In addition to women’s conferences and meetings, Leah speaks to small groups, bible study groups, MOPS groups, retreats and any venue in which she is invited to speak to women.
While her ministry is called Proverbs from Poultry, she says the topics are more related to farm life in general and hearing God in everyday life.
“I have stories about owning goats and growing a garden and what God has shown me in doing those things as well,” she says. “I use the passage about the Proverbs 31 woman in the chicken talk because it ties in with what I talk about, but I also use other verses while speaking.”
Obviously, her topics resonate with those who hear it. Sabrina Miller, director of women’s ministry at Immanuel Baptist Church in Skiatook, says, “The Lord has blessed Leah with a unique ability. She takes something the Lord has created to feed us with and opens our eyes to our own calling. The visual of her chickens and the unity with their creator awakens us to our need to fulfill our God-ordained purpose. Leah’s message is a personal one, birthed in her heart, and will change hearts that are willing and open to receive it.”
Leah’s hope is that it prompts women to see and hear God in every part of their lives, even the seemingly small things. “I want them to be encouraged and draw closer to God as they relate to these stories I share about my chickens and life on the farm.”
Leah currently lives in Collinsville with her husband Jeremy Arnold and has two step-daughters. Unrelated to poultry, she has a degree in elementary education from Mid-America Christian University.
She will be a featured speaker at A Divine Affair on November 8, 2014, and plans to release a book by that time.
To learn more about Proverbs from Poultry, keep up with Leah’s insights from the farm, or to book her for a speaking engagement, visit proverbsfrompoultry.com or like her on Facebook (facebook.com/proverbsfrompoultry).
