PURPOSE DRIVEN LIFE

November 2018, revised

 

I can do all this through him who gives me strength.

Philippians 4:13

 

I’ve been reviewing an old blog which was active from 2006 to 2014. 2006 was the year Living Room started. Today http://marjabergen.blogspot.com/ can still be viewed, so many years after the fact. It’s amazing for me to read it now. Hard to believe the number of things I did, despite living with frequent bipolar depression.

My book A Firm Place to Stand was coming out as well, I was doing interviews, writing articles about faith and mental health, and doing a fair amount of public speaking. Despite the depression, I did not miss many Living Room meetings during the nine years I led my group.

News about Living Room spread and many were inspired. Eventually groups started in many places, with facilitators being encouraged via email.

And I think to myself: How was all this possible for a person with a mental health condition like mine?

One thing I know. I firmly believed it was God’s work, not mine. I believed that forming faith-based support groups and spreading awareness about what it’s like to live with mental illness was important work. I believed it was what God had made me to do. I believe it still is.

It was possible for me because I was not looking at the work as something I was doing on my own. I was able to focus on being God’s helper—walking where he wanted me to walk, writing what he wanted me to write, saying what he wanted me to say. I trusted him fully, obedient to his leading. One step at a time.

Remarkable what God can do when we, as his followers, see what he’s doing and join him in it! Simply partnering with God—him the leader.

Do you feel the way I do? Do you have memories of a wonderful past that you were sorry to leave behind? Maybe God still has work for you—work that would be just right for where your life is now.

Talk to God about it. Allow him to be present with you as you consider where your gifts and passions lie today. It’s very possible that you will see him doing work that you could join him in. God doesn’t change. He is still at work and needs someone like you to join him.

marja