The following poem was written by a Rohingya poet. But the words tell my story too, although I’m not a refugee. I’m a victim of stigma and discrimination because I live with a mental health condition. But I’m not just a victim, I also help people like me learn to cope with their emotional pain. […]
Read More...A POEM GIVES ME HOPE AND SPIRITUAL GUIDANCE Despite the condition I was in, the words of Rudyard Kipling’s poem encouraged me. They showed me what I wanted to strive for. Even now, sixty years later, words from it come back to me when I need to be reminded. I didn’t believe in God at […]
Read More...IF YOU CAN KEEP YOUR HEAD . . . It was 1965. I was nineteen years old, a student at Simon Fraser University, when my life became chaotic. I suspected there had been something strange going on with my mind for months—thoughts and experiences I wasn’t able to understand. I was confused, couldn’t make sense […]
Read More...LIVINGROOM SPIRITUAL MENTAL HEALTH SUPPORT HE TURNED THE WORLD UPSIDE DOWN WITH HIS UNCONDITIONAL LOVE Along with the rest of the world I’m deeply distressed about what is happening in the world today. And some of the people who are most being affected are those I care about—people who have suffered rejection. For some of […]
Read More...LIVING ROOM JESUS IS FOR ALL FAITHS Perhaps the problem with people today and why it is so hard for them to accept Jesus is that He is thought of in terms too narrow for most people to understand or accept. In the work I do I make the Living Room spiritual mental health groups […]
Read More...LIVING ROOM Yes some of my ideas – like unconditional love for all people, no matter who they are, where they’re from, and how they worship – are often not accepted. In fact, frowned on by people of my own faith. Yet I believe this approach will lead to a path to world peace. These […]
Read More...A LIVING ROOM DEVOTIONAL Photo and story by Marja Bergen As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said. (Luke 10:38-39) I’ve been […]
Read More...A local Christian magazine has been publishing Zionist articles, taking Israel’s point of view in the Palestinian/Israeli conflict. I responded twice with the view I held as a person who follows Christ trying to live in the way He has taught me to live. My comments were not published. Instead, the author of the article […]
Read More...JESUS AND HIS UNCONDITIONAL LOVE (I wrote the major part of this post as a comment on a long pro-Israeli, Zionist article published in a well-known Christian publication. My initial comment was withdrawn. I was instead emailed by the author of the piece, asking me about my problem with it. This is my response to […]
Read More...THE STORY BEHIND THE PHOTOGRAPH I posted this picture a couple of days ago, joining with Rohingya refugee, Ro Ibrahim, to draw the world’s attention to one of the many natural disasters that happen in the Rohingya refugee camps—one that has just caused a lot of damage and loss of life. Word came from some, […]
Read More...© 2026 Marja Bergen
Theme by Anders Noren — Up ↑