Marja Bergen

author, mental health advocate, follower of Christ

Tag: support (page 1 of 7)

Keeping the focus on Jesus

MENTAL HEALTH AND SPIRITUALITY SPEECH DELIVERED TO NEW LIFE COMMUNITY CHURCH,  JANUARY 29, 2023: In 1993, I answered God’s call to do all I could to build mental health awareness—a few years later focusing on the Church. I thought that if anyone could show the love of Christ, members of his Church could. They just […]

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Is “godly” support such a good thing?

EQUALITY IN MENTAL HEALTH SUPPORT I write this from a personal experience of receiving support from one or two kind people in particular—people who became dear to me. And I wonder if there might be other good Christian individuals like them who mean well when caring for a person with mental health issues, only to […]

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We’re not so different

MENTAL HEALTH AND BUILDING UNDERSTANDING As a person with mental health issues who has helped many like herself, I worry when I see people like us portrayed as victims—a class of people set apart from others, needing special care and consideration. We are as human as anyone else and every one of us will need […]

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As brothers and sisters

MENTAL HEALTH AND EQUALITY   Those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.  Romans 8:29   Just before he passed away, Narayan Vaman Tilak (1861-1919). a famous convert to Christianity in India,  wrote the following to a […]

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Christian support for mental wellness

ALL OF US TOGETHER Much has been done to increase awareness about mental health in the church. But there’s room for better understanding. A lot more needs to happen than simple acceptance alone. People with mental health issues are no different in wanting to be regarded as having equal worth with others. It’s common for […]

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Never Worthy Enough

I know it’s hard for those who don’t have mental illness to understand. I, and many of us, feel small next to our supporters. I don’t think they consciously set themselves above us, yet we feel lower. We feel inferior. For me it was like my supporters were father and mother, me the child. I […]

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Where can you turn?

April 2009 Excerpt from A Battle Against Stigma What puzzles me is this: When a person feels so down that they become suicidal they are told that they should reach out. They’re told they should let others know how they’re feeling. Yet how many people really want to be told how crummy a person feels? […]

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If we were given a chance

Something extra-special   It’s not often that a person with serious mental health problems gets the chance to make something big happen. Something like the Living Room faith-based support groups I started in 2006. Many individuals came into my life uplifting me in my faith and courage. When I look back at my 55 years […]

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Part 13 – A father and a mother

For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge;  and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness;  and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love.  For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective […]

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Not for myself alone – part 3

I recently plowed my way through what must have been a few hundred emails I had sent to my friends during that unfortunate year. As I read, I was filled with shame. “Oh, Lord! How I must have sickened them! Such an imposition! Why couldn’t I have left them alone? What was I thinking to […]

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