Chip then opened up about the unique ways God speaks to him, saying that he experiences the Lord’s presence strongly when he’s physically pouring himself into something.
“God shows up for me in very practical real ways. Like I work, that’s how I meet with God,” he explained. “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.”
Chip maintained “that those very childlike, very natural, very simple ways” are how God speaks to him.
The 46-year-old admitted that despite his faith-filled childhood, he’s never been able to navigate scripture well.
“I’m not a theologian. I don’t understand. We both grew up in pretty conservative Christian families, and we were brought up in Church in the very traditional sense. But I didn’t love to open the Bible and read the Bible for hours a day,” he admitted.
“Then I would go out at my granddad’s ranch and I’d get on a horse, or I’d get thrown off of a horse, or I’d go try to wrestle a cow, or I’d go see a cow being born. And I would really feel like I experienced God in those moments.”
The couple also shared with Oprah the different ways their success has influenced and changed them since the launch of Fixer Upper in 2013.
“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,” Chip shared proudly of his wife.
However, he again shared candidly that the fame and success that surrounded their family from the first installment of Fixer Upper was not compatible with his personality. Together, he and Jo leaned into God to unpack the hold that such success had on Chip’s heart.
Catch Chip and Joanna’s full interview with Oprah on Discovery+, and keep an eye out for all of the Magnolia Network offerings, including Fixer Upper: Welcome Home, coming to Discovery+ this July.
This article originally appeared here.
