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Music of the heart

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Singer/songwriter’s CD release concert supports women’s organizations

ABBOTSFORD, B.C.
CathyAJHardy

Photo: Darrell lecorre

In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus heals a woman so crippled in body she couldn’t stand up straight for 18 years. Not only does Jesus free the woman from her physical ailment, he ministers emotional and spiritual healing by chastising those who criticize her, and naming her a daughter of Abraham. “This is my story,” says singer/songwriter Cathy AJ Hardy, who releases her second solo album i am she… a soul’s journey home in October.

“The ‘I am she’ song is the essence of the woman who now knows that deep, healing love, and has been transformed,” says the Highland Community Church member and Fraser Valley music teacher. “It’s a very personal album in that all of the songs arise out of the story of my journey, but I trust that they are songs we can all relate to in our stories of transformation.”

Hardy’s Oct. 19, 2013, CD release concert at Matsqui Centennial Auditorium, Abbotsford, B.C., will also support “organizations that are helping bent-over women to become women of dignity and beauty, knowing their full worth as human beings.” Proceeds from the concert will support Mennonite Central Committee’s End Abuse program, Fraser Valley Women’s Resource Society, and the Mark Centre.

“Women in our groups have experienced deep soul wounding, and Cathy’s music brings hope for healing of those wounds,” says Elsie Goerzen, MCC BC’s End Abuse program coordinator.

“Cathy’s music tells her story in a way that connects with her audience,” says Highland pastor Christine Kampen.

“There are a lot of women like the bent-over woman in the Gospels,” says Hardy. “It’s my desire to help us return to that invitation of being named, being healed, being set free.”

Hardy’s own journey enables her music to resonate with those experiencing difficulties. When her first solo album, Love Shines, was released, her 24-year marriage was coming to an end, leaving her devastated and heartbroken.

“I had to let go of how I hoped life would turn out. I also had to let go of how I had wanted to share that album with the community at that time,” she says. “I waded through intense grief and the frightening realities of being alone. Through it all, I have received an invitation from God not just to survive, but to live fully and deeply from the heart.”

—MCC BC release

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