Gar-Pal graduate continues to inspire with book, speaking

Jana Mathia, Gazette Reporter | Oct 26, 20170

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sean family

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Forged

Jenny, Sean and Helen

Trials come into every life; when they do you can either harden your heart and be down or use those experiences to build your life and the lives of others. At least that is the belief of Sean Neal, son of a Garfield farming family.

Neal knows a thing or two about trials. As a young boy, he had dreams to play basketball, work on the family farm and get married. At the age of six, he was consigned to a wheelchair and diagnosed with spinal muscular atrophy; one prognosis said he would die before he was 10.

Not only has Neal survived, he has thrived. And now he has shared his experiences and trials in his book “Forged: Made Strong in Weakness.”

“The book is about the trials and strife of this life. We can let them harden us...or we can let those things be a mold...that makes us the best person we can be,” Neal said. “The most rewarding choices are the hardest to make.”

Despite his situation, Neal has still accomplished many of those things he dreamed about as a boy: instead of being a player, he became the basketball team manager and learned more about the sport than if he had just been an athlete; he participates in the family farm, especially on the book work side, and on Oct. 14, 2017, he married Jenny.

The autobiographical book weaves different stories of Neal’s life in and out. Neal reflects a strong faith in Christ that helped him see beyond his woes.

“My faith has always been my rock, my anchor,” he said.

One chapter in the book is about his “why me?” thoughts; why a boy from a small farm town had to be the one to be stricken and forced to live in a wheelchair while others ran free. He said he never received a response in a booming voice, but his faith lead him to the belief that God would not allow him to be this way if there wasn’t a reason.

“For me it was all about trust,” he said. That trust and faith in Christ has moved him through life to the point of now doing inspirational speaking to encourage and uplift others.

“I didn’t want that heartache to be for nothing,” he said.

Neal graduated Garfield-Palouse in 2008 and WSU in 2012. He served as a Washington State FFA officer and further honed his public speaking. He has been working at WSU in payroll for three and a half years and is studying to take the CPA exam. As much as that allows, he is active with the family farm.

“During harvest I’m out in the combine every day,” he said.

“But my real passion is showing my faith and encouraging people.” Neal said.

Neal has spoken at a variety of venues including Washington state FFA and FBLA conventions, churches, high schools, middle schools, local non-profits and a conference composed of a group of churches. He tailors his speaking to the individual audience, using humor to take the hard subjects and turn them into something bearable.

“I think humor is a powerful weapon,” he said.

The book was always something he wanted to do, but he had not planned on writing it so soon. However, he started writing and the words came flying out. Now that it has been released, he hopes it will open more doors to speaking engagements so he can continue to share inspiration and hope with people from all walks of life.

Neal’s book was released earlier this month with a video promotion along with it. ‘Forged: Made Strong in Weakness’ is available in either e-book or hard copy at Amazon.com, seannealbooks.com or Barnes and Noble. He would like to write a fiction novel and another autobiographical book later in his life. Neal can also be contacted for speaking engagements at his website seannealbooks.com.