Erin made me want to fight,cry and hug my kids…horses, cancer and life.

The best part of being in the ‘public eye’ is the amazing people I get to meet. Sometimes that is face to face but often it is over the internet. Take for example Erin, a woman who emailed me about horses…and cancer.

“Hey Stacy, you won’t know me from Adam, but I wanted to drop you a note as I feel a kindred connection to you. Like many folks I was first introduced to you through the freestyle video of you and Roxy. Actually, that might not be quite true. I know when I saw it I recognized your name even then, so I must’ve heard of you before. Anyway, I first saw the video around 2009, 3 years after my own dad died. It didn’t occur to me until I sat down to write this that our dads died within a few months of each other. I don’t know exactly how old you are but I was 24 when my dad died and you would have been young as well. So immediately I was struck with the sense of you being a kindred spirit. Fast forward a few years and after a bout with cancer in 2011 I finally decide to take my love of horses seriously (something I should have done long ago) and move in the direction of pitching my office job (why did I ever go that route in the first place). My instructor at the time was the first instructor I ever felt helped me become a better horseman. She was very influenced by Pat Parelli so of course I latched on to that. It immediately made sense to me. That relationship with a horse I’d been striving to achieve, all the pieces finally fell into place. A few months ago I circled back around to you and your blog. One of the posts I saw early on was the one where you talk about being tired of tip-toeing around your faith because you’re afraid of offending people. As a fellow believer who was also just starting to feel the same way I again felt the kindred connection. Ever since then I have been fascinated watching your progress with Jac. I come from the world of Morgan show horses, so the disciplines aren’t the same, but the principles are universal. After every video I see something new and immediately want to go out and try it myself. At first I did just that, but now I’m back in my battle with cancer. I have full peace whatever the outcome. I will either be reunited with my dad or I will be blessed with more time with my mom and sister. In the meantime I want you to know I LOVE reading your posts. They’re a bright spot in my quiet days and inspire me for what I hope to be able to do again if I can beat this disease. Your sister in Christ, Erin”

My response:

Wow, Erin, thank you for the email. Thank you for taking the time to write to me. Would you be comfortable with me sharing this as a blog sometime? If not, that is fine. I just think some people could be inspired by it.

I am glad you have peace either way. I will pray you have some more time here…we will have forever on the other side! I love Rich Mullens song, http://youtu.be/oh1Y-eIu99Q

Erins reply:

Thanks for replying. I’m not really sure why I wrote you, I just felt compelled. I didn’t necessarily expect a response, but I’m very glad to “meet” you. Hopefully one of these days I’ll be able to introduce myself in person. If not, I’ll catch you on the flipside 🙂

Oh Rich, one of the greatest modern lyricists in my opinion. His song “If I Stand” is one of my all-time favorites. I hadn’t heard this one before, I’ll have to let it sink in for a few days 🙂

I don’t mind at all if you share. If you want more quotables or want to follow my progress, a few friends started a blog for me with my original diagnosis in 2011. You can read or follow it here if you want. It’s mostly a way to keep friends updated so I don’t have to answer the same questions 50 times. One resolution I made this time though was to be more vocal about my spiritual perspective. Here are a few posts that people have seemed very affected by:

YOU MUST FOLLOW THE LINK AND READ THE POST…if you want the rest of this blog to make any sense. Have tissues ready.

It begins: “2 years and 6 months ago I was given 2 years to live….” 

http://prayforerinbriggs.wordpress.com/2014/03/05/this-afternoon/

Then I read this blog before writing back to Erin:

http://prayforerinbriggs.wordpress.com/2014/04/09/perspective/

Erin,

I’m sitting here crying! Your blogs are amazing. It makes me marvel at your strength; I like to think I would react like that but doubt creeps in.

It is funny you say that ‘If I Stand’ is one of your all time favorites. It is my favorite Rich Mullens song. Although I felt lead to share the other with you. Really. Humanly I wanted to share ‘Stand’ because it is my favorite. I find strange peace in the other though. I have told my husband I want it played at my funeral but he doesn’t like to talk about that. I also want ‘further up and further in’ The Last Battle, C.S. Lewis on my headstone….I’m kinda detail oriented:)

Ride with Faith,

Stacy Westfall

If you have read to this point, I hope you were as touched by Erin’s story as I was. If you were, please go write her a note and share her blog posts. I made use of the donate button also:)