Joanna and Chip Gaines Tell Oprah How They Hear God’s Voice

Joanna and Chip Gaines Tell Oprah How They Hear God’s Voice

By Movieguide® Staff

Chip and Joanna Gaines have never shied away from their faith. Now, in a new interview with Oprah, the FIXER UPPER: WELCOME HOME couple opened up about how they communicate with the Lord.

“I will say there probably been five pivotal moments in my life where I can say that was God’s voice, that was Him, and I felt the sense of peace, almost like that moment where you get chills and you know there’s something else,” Joanna said.

“That’s something that since I was a little girl, I’ve experienced God in that real way, very relational,” she continued.

For Joanna’s husband, Chip, communing with God looks different.

“Those very childlike, very natural, very simple ways” is how Chip hears the Lord.

“God shows up for me in very practical real ways. Like I work, that’s how I meet with God. When I sweat, and when I’m lonely, I’m sad, I’m mad about something. I mean, when you chop firewood, or [on] demo day. You don’t have to have any talent to be good at demolition. You just want to break stuff,” he said.

Chip also opened up about how fame affected him.

“I want to speak on Jo’s behalf, because she would never say things like this, but she is so incredibly wise, so incredibly grounded — all the things that you just described, is who Joanna is,” he said. “To be really frank, that’s who I thought I was also. Really what happened — and was the truth for Jo and I — was it was no big deal for her, but for me to become famous, I lost a part of myself that was really … it was sad.”

“I have discovered that fame is just, your life is the same, you’re the same, and everybody has an idea of what that is, it’s just more people know your name,” Chip said. “And I think if you don’t know who you are when the fame thing hits then you lose yourself.”

Joanna said she began to feel worn down from the pressures of FIXER UPPER.

“On my side it was, when you’re filming for four or five years, you begin to lose the ‘why.’ It’s now just this thing of like we’re just showing up. I think towards the end we just lost steam, we lost the purpose of it. We wanted to wake up everyday and say this is why we’re doing this. It almost felt like it was wagging our tail and it was controlling us.”

The couple stepped away from their beloved show to focus on their family.

“That year off I really think Jo and I were able to hunker down and really kind of try to unpack what it was about fame that seemed so incompatible with my personality,” Chip said.

Now, the couple is gearing up to launch their Magnolia Network on Discovery+.

Joanna added: “We we think about the time we have. We have five kids. We have this business. Anything we say yes to, there has to be a meaningful ‘why’ behind it. It’s not just to add to our portfolio or tackle bigger dreams. When we can align with the ‘why’ and get passionate about it, then that gives us the fuel to get across the finish line. The intention part is the most important.”

Magnolia Network will be available in July.

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What you listen to, watch, and read has power. Movieguide® wants to give you the resources to empower the good and the beautiful. But we can’t do it alone. We need your support.

You can make a difference with as little as $7. It takes only a moment. If you can, consider supporting our ministry with a monthly gift. Thank you.

Movieguide® is a 501c3 and all donations are tax deductible.