25/08/2026
When I was a child, school was a real struggle for me. I ended up in a special needs school, surrounded by other kids who had their own challenges. By the time I left, I didn't have a single qualification to show for it. English was the hardest of all. People told me I would never be any good at it.
But in 2012, everything changed for me. I heard the gospel for the first time, was baptized, and the Holy Spirit filled my life in a way I had never known. It truly turned my world upside down. I began to see God do things in my life that I could only call miracles. I remember buying my very first Bible. Even though reading had always been hard for me because of dyslexia, I sensed the Holy Spirit nudging me to read it all the way through. Somehow, I finished every book in less than three weeks. By 2013, I found myself hungry for more, spending hours each day digging deeper into God's Word.
Somewhere along the way, another dream began to grow in my heart. In 2014, I wandered into Baggins Book Bazaar on Rochester High Street and found myself falling in love with books. From that moment, I wanted to write one of my own. But dreams and reality do not always come together easily. I started idea after idea, but each time I ended up giving up. It felt like every door I tried to open was locked tight.
Last year, a simple idea came to me: what if I wrote about the church in the Old Testament? As I kept studying, that idea grew until I realised it was not just one book, but two. In July 2025, after months of prayer and research, I finally started writing. It was not easy. I was also facing my own struggles with mental health, and there were days when my mind just would not cooperate. But the Lord met me in those moments and gave me the strength to keep going, one page at a time.
In August 2026, I typed the last words and put together the final table of contents. Just this past Friday, I published both books on Amazon, as ebooks and in paperback.
I set the price low so these books would be within reach of anyone who wanted to read them, not just those who could easily afford them.
Most of all, I want to thank the Lord. He carried me when I was ready to give up, and He kept me going even when my mind felt like it had nothing left. A lifelong dream, one that once seemed impossible for someone like me, has finally become real.
Neil McBride (DownTown Angels)
