LIVING ROOM MEMORIES 4 (September 9, 2006) I have lived with bipolar disorder as a person who didn’t believe in God. And I’ve lived with bipolar illness as someone who learned to have faith in Jesus Christ. And, though my faith did not “heal” me, I have become a stronger person because of it. Trusting […]
Read More...LIVING ROOM 3 (August 30, 2006) If only we did not feel such shame. If only it were safer for us to speak and tell others. If only there were no stigma… I can’t let this topic go. I first decided to come out in the open when I read the following by Dr. John […]
Read More...Revised introduction: 2019-01-22 WHY IS MY STORY IMPORTANT? When I was in the ER on November 12, wishing I could die, I realized I couldn’t die until my story was told. I wanted to talk about some of the work I had done, raising mental health awareness in the church and founding Living Room. I […]
Read More...LIVING ROOM MEMORIES 2 (August 28, 2006) One of the main goals in my mental health work has been to reduce stigma. Recently I concluded that stigma was perhaps more responsible for depression, hopelessness and suicide than the illness itself. In my young and zealous “voice” back in August 2006, I wrote the following in […]
Read More...LIVING ROOM MEMORIES 1 (from A Firm Place to Stand: Finding Meaning in a Life with Bipolar Disorder (2008), by Marja Bergen) Only months after the Good Friday service in 2006, God gave me an idea that wouldn’t lie down. I saw a need to start a faith-based support group for people with mood […]
Read More...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 about […]
Read More...Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom. He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and […]
Read More...“Meaningless! Meaningless!” says the Teacher. “Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless.” “ I have seen all the things that are done under the sun; all of them are meaningless, a chasing after the wind.” Ecclesiastes 1:2 and 14 What on earth could Solomon, the writer of Ecclesiastes, have meant when he said this? Were you […]
Read More...…to keep me from becoming proud, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger from Satan to torment me and keep me from becoming proud. Three different times I begged the Lord to take it away. Each time he said, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” […]
Read More...I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win […]
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