What’s a time you ignored your gut — and paid for it?
We all ignore our gut instincts from time to time. I don’t do it so much anymore because I learned the consequences of doing so.
I remember once having a doctor’s appointment about 3 hours away, and my gut told me to cancel (or maybe it was the Holy Spirit). But I ignored it, drove to the appointment, and as I was driving into the parking lot my phone rang and my heart sank when I saw it. The doctor’s office calling me to tell me the doctor had an emergency and wouldn’t be able to see me. I drove 3 hours for nothing.
Our gut instincts act as a rapid, subconscious warning and guidance system. Our brains and nervous systems process thousands of environmental cues, micro-expressions, and physical patterns faster than our conscious minds can analyze them.
Our gut instincts and the Holy Spirit are distinct but can intercept. Gut instinct is rooted in human biology.
Our brains can rapidly evaluate past experiences, sensory cues, and environmental data without consciously thinking about it. It is tied to fight or flight responses, self preservation, fear, or emotional reactions. While it is often helpful gut instincts can be flawed.
The Holy Spirit operates between physical senses, and can produce a deep, transcendent peace rather than a panic driven reaction.
That day I think I let my mind second-guess the Holy Spirit. When I think back to that day, I know it had to be the Holy Spirit, but I chalked it up to gut instinct and dismissed it. And I paid the consequences.
