Hey! Thanks for wanting to know more about me!
I’ve done 28 laps around the sun so far, it’s kind of exhausting, but worth it! I’m a worshiper at heart of our Beloved Jesus. He found me when I was 21/almost 22 at Clemson University. I was generally a good kid until my parents separated in 2006, right when I went off to college. I have an older sister, Petara, she’s amazing!
I spent the first 3.5 years of college going through depression and self medicating with weed and alcohol. I wanted a relationship so badly, and I’m thankful now that God didn’t allow that to happen when I was going through all of that. He used that desire to put three faithful Christian women in my life who rejected me for “it wouldn’t work out because you’re not a Christian”, “I’ve made a pact with Jesus not to date until I’m older”, and “I need a spiritual leader and you can’t be that because you’re not a Christian”…all within a year and a half to two years. At the same time I had come to realize that the party scene is void of anything of substance, and looking around at life in general, you try to make a lot of money, go through a lot of pain, and then you die; there had to be more to life than just that.
Through a simple hug from the second woman, I felt what I now know as the love of the Father wash over me. That feeling went away after a few hours and left this hole in my heart. The hole had always been there, but the Father’s love working through her made me aware of it. Soon after I went to a friends house for Christmas break and I asked them who Jesus was, and they told me who He is. Not forcefully, but openly and offered to send me a Bible if I wanted to test out what they were saying for myself.
Spring of 2010 starts at Clemson and shortly after I get the Bible in the mail along with Lee Strobel’s The Case for Christ. On February 2, 2010 I read the Bible for the first time, and that same love that had washed over me before came and filled my heart (see Romans 5:5). A few days later I got high for the last time and was lying on my bed with my Bible next to me, and with my eyes closed a page number appeared in my head. I turned to that page in my Bible and it was the Lord’s prayer in Matthew 6. I knew what I was supposed to do. So I said the Lord’s prayer with emphasis and meaning, knowing that I was signing my life over to the Lord Jesus Christ. About a month or so later my friend Austin Alvarez baptized me in his bathtub.
Since then it’s been a non-stop journey of going deeper in relationship with Christ. Eternal life is to have intimacy with God Almighty, check out John 17:13. In the original language that “know” means to intimately know. My main life verse is “Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.” -Ephesians 5:1-2
We’re able to live a life of love because He first loved us and gave Himself up for us so that we would be adopted as sons and daughters, into His family. From that position of son-ship, as a dearly loved child, we are able to love our neighbors as ourselves and love God with everything we are.
FUN FACTS
I enjoy:
- Playing guitar and singing.
- Taking photos and making videos.
- Crafting and making gifts for friends!
- Reading books!
- Dance Parties, always!
- Hanging out with friends!
I’m an ISFJ, and Enneagram 9 (Peacemaker) -Woop woop!
My long-term dream, I feel the Lord has given me, is to equip burnt out missionaries to not get burnt out again in the future. This is done through creating a safe space of a farm/bed and breakfast! Check out the details here. I’m currently on a journey of discovering what it means to Rest and Go at the same time, to be able to practically teach that in the future.
I’m on a team of 6 that will be going to Nepal for Long Term Missions to establish a base there, check out that info here.
A large part of my future dream is to be married and all the things that go along with that, including future adoption(s). But that is something I’ve currently had to give up and simply focus on the season at hand. I know that the Lord has been preparing me for this for a long time and I can’t wait to see how it all plays out!
This is what I’ve previously done with Adventures in Missions:
Center For Global Action (January 2016 – May 2016): paulbarnello.adventurescga.org
World Race Blog (August 2013 – May 2015): paulbarnello.theworldrace.org
If you want to know more about me you can ask me here.
Love,
-Paul Barnello
