The Magnolia Story

by Chip Gaines

I realized most people don’t want to do what it takes to do a lot of things. I made up my mind right then and there—I would do whatever it takes to be successful.

but it was Uncle Ricky who recognized the entrepreneur in me and encouraged me to follow that dream.

There was something about the way Ricky would say, “Chip, you can do this,” that made me believe I could. He really believed in me and trained me to some extent about simple business practices like paying taxes or understanding assets versus liabilities.

Even when things got complicated, Chip remained fearless.

But mostly he spent his time thinking, What’s the next business I can get into? In that regard, he was kind of a step ahead of a lot of our peers.

I came

to think of God as more of a gracious friend who was accompanying me on this journey, a friend who wanted to carry my burdens and speak into my life and shape me into who I really was and who I would become.

One thing I learned there on that beautiful front porch was if I wanted to be successful, if I wanted to do important work one day, I would have to increase my capacity.

I had to learn to manage disappointment. I needed to learn how to make the most out of those “opportunities” Chip seemed to keep finding.

I just

knew what I liked, and I trusted that other people might like it too.

And I was where I was supposed to be. I’d listened to my own intuition and let God guide me toward the pl...

But guess what? It all seemed to be working out in that perfectly messy way life works when you trust in God and his plans for your

life rather than focusing on your own.

Sometimes it’s easy for couples to get lost in their own little worlds at home—to be so focused on other things that they aren’t really together, even when they’re in the same room.

so many of us let others redefine who we are, or we get lost along the way and have no idea what we really want to do with our lives.

That’s when I heard that gentle whisper, Joanna, if you trust me with your dreams, I’ll take them further than you could have ever imagined. It is no easy thing to trust in God, to walk away from a career, to give it all up not knowing if you can ever get it back or even come close. But I did it. I heeded his voice, and somehow I found peace about it.

Even locked doors can be unlocked in time.

I realized that my determination to make things perfect meant I was chasing an empty obsession all day long. Nothing was ever going to be perfect the way I had envisioned it in the past. Did I want to keep spending my energy on that effort, or did I want to step out of that obsession and to enjoy

my kids, maybe allowing myself to get messy right along with them in the process?

It all came down to a mind shift in which I asked myself, “What am I going for in life?”

That day changed me. It really did. And I quickly found that my shift in mind-set had a positive effect on our life together. Now when someone spills a glass of milk, I don’t worry so much about the mess. Instead, I try to focus on my relationship with the one who spilled the milk.

What I’ve found is that something as common

as spilled milk can turn into a rich moment with my kids.

This paradigm shift seemed to work, and I know Chip appreciated it. As a parent, as a wife, as a business owner, I simply decided: “I’m not going to survive anymore. I’m going to thrive.”

“When things come against us we can either turn on each other, or we can come together and turn on it.”

I always thought that the “thriving” would come when everything was perfect, and what I learned is that it’s actually down in the mess that things get good.

It was such a blessing to find myself thriving in the middle of the pain.

Letting it all go is freeing. (And it’s cheaper too!)

She chose to find the joy in the midst of suffering.

She just reconfirmed for me a million times over that it’s up to us to choose contentment and thankfulness now—and to stop imagining that we have to have everything perfect before we’ll be happy.

I would

never forget that all of this is a blessing. I would

never forget to be ...

and to fi...

Her example helped ignite a spark in me to see things differently and to live wholly and intentionally for those closest to me.

For me, the dream is that I get to wake up every morning and do what I love with the

ones I love.

And sometimes you’ve got to try something outside of your comfort zone to figure out what it is that you truly love.

will take a chance to go after their dreams too.

Go and find what it is that inspires you, go and find what it is that you love, and go do that until it hurts.