Feelings Vs. Facts

Feelings Vs. Facts

As we walk these fifty days together, I hope you’ll see how many people share the strong emotions you may have felt after a cancer diagnosis. And while I can appreciate the popular psychology that feelings are “neither right nor wrong,” I also know that feelings do not necessarily mirror the facts.

I witnessed this firsthand a few years ago when my husband and I headed out with my boss, Marc, and his wife, Elizabeth, for our annual Labor Day weekend cruise on their thirty-two-foot Bayliner. The weather looked rather foul, but Elizabeth had checked with her brother who lives right on the Gunpowder River leading into the Chesapeake Bay, and he assured us the weather reports didn’t look that bad despite a hurricane that was heading northward up the coast. (We later learned he had accidentally listened to the wrong forecast.)

So we took off anyway, knowing that Marc and Elizabeth were seasoned boaters—although the whitecaps on the usually calm river should have been our first clue it wasn’t a good idea.

We had a short two-hour cruise ahead of us, but it wasn’t long before the whitecaps turned into three-foot waves. The wind whipped up, and then the thunder, lightning, and rain came. At first we all laughed and enjoyed the warm rain soaking us as the boat pounded through the waves. But then I stopped laughing and my stomach started rebelling. Elizabeth handed me a supply of Ziploc plastic bags, which I started filling.

The waves were now five feet high and crashing clear over the top of the boat’s windshield, drenching us. It was nearly impossible for Marc to see through the rain-splattered windshield, and my husband and Elizabeth were trying to read the navigational charts and look for the numbered buoys, which would keep us in the correct channel away from large shipping vessels, shallow water, and crab pots. We were too far out to turn back toward home, yet not sure we could make it to our planned destination.

And then it got really bad.

Marc announced that according to the boat’s compass, we were headed in exactly the wrong direction—south when we should have been heading north.

We all were sure we hadn’t turned around—Elizabeth was especially positive we were still pointing in the right direction. She was convinced she would have noticed if the boat had made an about-face. From past experience I knew that she was usually right whenever the two of them had a boating disagreement.

The three of us looked at Marc, waiting to see what he would do. (Well, I didn’t look long because I was busy praying there were enough Ziploc bags.)

After a long pause, Marc posed his now-famous question: “Should I trust my wife . . . or the magnetic poles of the earth?”

It wouldn’t have surprised me if he’d gone with Elizabeth’s feelings because she was so adamant about them, but his scientific brain won out, and Marc turned the boat 180 degrees.

Within a few moments, we sighted buoys, which confirmed that we indeed had been going in the wrong direction despite all of us “feeling” otherwise.

The storm raging around us had distorted reality, and our feelings had fallen fickle.

The same thing can happen in the storms of cancer. We can feel as if we’re unable to cope or that we have no hope. These are the times we need a compass—something that always will steer us in the right direction. Don’t worry; I’m not suggesting that I’ll be that compass.

The God of the universe has a special affinity for brokenhearted people, and His words are the perfect compass for people facing cancer. A magnetic compass always will point you to the North Pole, and God’s Word always will point you to His unchanging truth and promises.

I weep with sorrow;

encourage me by your word.

Psalm 119:28

I can’t change the reality of the diagnosis you’re facing. But I hope to show you or perhaps remind you that a deeper spiritual reality transcends our earthly reality. If you already think of the Bible as your guide to life, I know you’ll appreciate these tender reminders. But if you’ve not seriously given God’s Word central importance in your life, I hope you’ll give it a try now. You really have nothing to lose and everything to gain.

I cry out for help and put my hope in your words.

Psalm 119:147

Like Marc as he captained our boat on that stormy trip, it’s your choice whether or not to trust the magnetic poles of the earth. You might want to pray this prayer:

Father, I feel a little lost right now. Please guide me in all the decisions to be made, and help me to trust Your truth more than my feelings. Amen.