Pay Attention to Your Impressions

Welcome to another Thursday UNFILTERED blog post, the only blog that promises to give you the Super Fire Hot Wings, but gives you the Medium Hot Wings instead.

Last Thursday, I wrote about living in transition. (If you missed it, you can read it here.)

I opened the article telling you that Mrs. V. and I paid a visit to Alabama.

It was a Friday when we arrived in the State “where the stars are so blue and the governor’s true.”

On Monday, I joined my wife, who was lying in front of Orange Beach and she invited me to take a troll into the ocean with her. This is something I rarely do, but I agreed (cuz I like to make Mrs. V. happy).

The waves were unusually fierce that day. For some reason, I put my brain on hold and kept my glasses on. While riding the waves, one of them hit me so hard it took my glasses with it.

They were gone forevah, washed out into the open sea.

Now here’s the interesting thing. Just before we left on our trip, I had a distinct – but strange — impression to bring my back-up pair of glasses.

Something I NEVER do on vacation trips.

I thought to myself, “Hmmm… why do I feel compelled to bring these? Maybe I’ll need them for something. Who knows.”

As soon as the waves took my glasses, I immediately remembered the impression I had to bring the second pair on the trip.

Gratefulness filled my heart. It was the Lord who gave me that impression.

You see, I cannot drive without my glasses. Without them, I’m no better than Mr. Magoo on the road. Anything that’s more than 50 feet away from my face is an amorphous blur.

So it was God showing me His provision. And if He cares for me in the little things (like wearing a pair of glasses), then He cares for the bigger things too. And He will provide.

Sometimes when the Lord speaks to us, it’s big, significant, and unmistakable. But so often, it’s subtle and unassuming.

In Jesus Speaks, I discussed at length how to recognize the Lord’s voice. I’ll close this article with a fitting excerpt I wrote. It’s the perfect way to end this article.

“So be alert and attentive to what’s happening in your life, including your own heart and mind.

Be attentive to what’s happening in your circumstances.

Be alert to what others are saying to you.

Look for the Lord’s voice in the mundane events of everyday life.

As Elizabeth Barrett Browning aptly wrote:

Earth’s crammed with Heaven,

And every common bush afire with God;

But only he who sees takes off his shoes.

The rest sit around it and pluck blueberries.

If we aren’t expecting the Lord to lead and guide us each day, we’ll find ourselves walking past countless burning bushes without noticing.”

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