My ex-mother in law, being a good christian person, defined it as "Discernment", its even in the bible as such, she said its a gift that I have... But I don't know. I told her the following experience: Back in 1989 (I was 20+) I lived in Florida with my 1st husband who was in the Navy, we had just had our first baby 3 months earlier a boy named Scott, the night of March 9th, Brian (my husband) and me were arguing heavily, about what I don't recall, I ended up sleeping on the couch, he slept in the bedroom with the baby, (let me add, weeks before this, I was having reoccurring nightmares with images of dead babies).
The next morning I woke up around 8:25 am out of a sound sleep, I noticed Brian had fell asleep by our computer, I walked over to our Patio door, I was taken aback by what I saw, on the railings of our patio, it was lined with birds (sparrows I think?), like about 50 or more. I actually felt un-nerved by it because they were very quiet an still, my presence didn't scare them at all, I turned to see Brian look at me and he suddenly bolted and ran to our bedroom, he let out a horrifying yell, he came running into the living room with our son...
He had died, I knew it without really looking at him, I called 911, in the end my son had died of SIDS (Sudden infant death syndrome) I was told later he had only been dead 10 min's after Brian found him. Was this event(s) a natural coincidence or something else?
I've had similar experiences since then and have been known to guess whose calling when the phone rings... And know why they are calling.