When Your "Gut" Speaks

Do you ever get that gut feeling that something isn’t right? Or maybe you shouldn’t do something, but you

do it anyway and it completely backfires? Yeah, I suppose we’re all guilty of that. Don’t be too hard on

yourself, being human is a learning process and oh man does it have a curve! 

In my early twenties I was driving down an unfamiliar road. I was alone and suddenly I felt like something was telling me that I was about to have a flat tire. I had no reason to believe I would have a flat tire. The car was driving smoothly as usual. I brushed it off as my imagination. About that time I happened to pass an old gas station. It looked like it came right out of the 1950’s with a small service garage attached. Okay, I’ll admit it, I was totally judging by appearances. It looked pretty dirty and run down and I could only imagine a horror story of some kind playing out before my eyes. But my “gut” told me to stop, and obviously I didn’t. A few miles down the road, you guessed it, a bang followed by wobbling. I pulled over now with no houses or business’ in sight. This is the pre cell phone era at the time by the way. I was frustrated that I had not taken “my guts” advice. How did it know anyway? I hiked a few miles back to the gas station to get help. Yes, the place of horror stories, but was really just a nice old man happy to help. Suddenly that old, dirty gas station was my deliverance. Whatever my plans were for that day were now over. I don’t remember where I was going, but I know it was something I really needed to do and now I couldn't. 

Growing up in church it was common to hear about the trinity, you know, God the Father, Jesus the Son, and the Holy Spirit. I hate to admit it, but much of my life I haven’t really paid a lot of attention to the Holy Spirit. He was kinda a third wheel in the trinity, not quite as important to me. I knew He was there to help, Jesus said so (John 16:7), but it took me a long time to really notice Him as more than just a “gut feeling” or intuition. He wasn’t thrown into a package deal with God and Jesus as filler or fluff. The Holy Spirit is a huge part of our walk with God. Now you might be asking, why would the Holy Spirit care about a flat tire? Because believe it or not, that’s how God loves and cares for our daily life. He never just set the earth in motion and let it do its own thing, He actually pays attention. So when I was about to miss something important, He let me know trouble was on the horizon. It reminds me of that phrase, “the devil is in the details”, but I like to think, “the Holy Spirit is in the details”. So as I walked back to the gas station that day, I grumbled and complained to myself for being so stupid to not realize that was the Holy Spirit. I knew right away. As soon as that tire blew I knew it was not just my imagination, but my helper that God had sent me. Another thing to consider is, just maybe, the reason the Holy Spirit was warning me was because I needed to be in that place to help someone. It just might have been a heavenly mission working in the background disguised in everyday life. Just because I make plans for the day, doesn’t mean God sees it as an opportunity to shine a light into someone else's life. And nothing said or done is too small to have a major impact. The most important thing is to listen. Know His voice and stop telling yourself it's just a gut feeling. Your gut doesn’t talk to you. 

"May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope." Romans 15:13

Additional Read: Mild Trigger Warning

A perfect example of something not being too small to make a major impact was February 10, 2022. I was in a dark period and I had decided that I was going to leave work early that day and let the rest of my team finish up. I have a cleaning business, and we were at a local job where the wife was usually home. It was right before lunch time. In my head I was planning everything out. I would go home and get my gun and drive directly to the local park. There’s thinking about suicide and then there’s full blown commitment. I can usually tell when I know it would have happened because God always sends someone or something to interrupt. That day as I was dusting and vacuuming one of the rooms, the wife came in and waved me over. She reached out her hand and took mine. The second she touched me the power of the Holy Spirit shot right through me. She said, “This may sound strange, but God is speaking to me about you. I know something is wrong and you don’t have to tell me, but He wants you to know that you can talk to me anytime you need to.” I'm not sure exactly what she said after that, something about how she’s a good listener and that God is good and cares about me. I was in the moment overtaken by the simplicity of that miracle. I was without a doubt, less than an hour from taking my life and her touch and words changed everything. God changed everything. That’s what He does for us. That’s why I believe sometimes a flat tire isn’t just a flat tire. We have purpose no matter what season we are in. Even in my darkness, if I pay attention, God can still use me. That simple. No hoops to jump through, no driving across three states, or jumping out of an airplane. In her own home with a few words and a touch, she saved me. Even if I didn’t take my life later, God still blocked the enemies' access to me, which I needed saved from right in that moment, not two hours later (John 10:10). The wife did not respond to a gut feeling, she responded to the Holy Spirit. Are you listening too?

“The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.” Psalm 34:18