Marja Bergen

author, mental health advocate, follower of Christ

Month: December 2018 (page 5 of 15)

At the age of 42…and by following God

LIVING ROOM MEMORIES  110  (November 5, 2007) I need to explain something that has been of utmost importance in my life. At the age of 42, after spending most of my life up to that point not believing in God, I decided to give him a try. I was going through a particularly horrendous time […]

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Anger about my article

LIVING ROOM MEMORIES  109  (November 3, 2007) Tonight I found an awful comment to my article about Finding Meaning in a Life with Bipolar Disorder. The person had lost her home and her family and had some pretty mean words about my views. And it made me think: am I being far too positive in […]

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“I’ll love you anyway”

LIVING ROOM MEMORIES  108  (October 29, 2007) Yesterday our pastor ended his sermon by talking about a beautiful Hebrew word for which there is no single English word. “Hesed” can be variously translated as “loving kindness”, “steadfast love”, “loyal devotion”, “mercy.” Hesed is descriptive of God’s relationship with his people as well as relationships among […]

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Why the increased stability?

LIVING ROOM MEMORIES  106  (October 22, 2007) My husband says that he has never seen me so emotionally stable in the 42 years he has known me. This has been a very good year for me, with only two months of true depression. This depression was relatively mild. I continued to function and Living Room […]

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TV interview coming

LIVING ROOM MEMORIES  105  (October 18, 2007) I’m excited, but a bit worried too, about an upcoming interview I’m doing with the national Christian TV show, 100 Huntley Street. They approached me a while back about discussing my life and my ministry with them. The reporter found me through the articles I had published on […]

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Closer to God through thankfulness

LIVING ROOM MEMORIES  104  (October 13, 2007) The ladies’ group I attend is examining prayer. We want to learn how to pray better. I know there’s no right or wrong way to pray – after all, it’s only talking to God. Being yourself with him is the most important thing. But I do have trouble, […]

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Overwhelmed and exhausted

LIVING ROOM MEMORIES  103  (October 1, 2007) I’ve been feeling overwhelmed and exhausted lately, into a space where I’ve been doubting myself, not able to see how I could possibly manage all the work I’ve taken on. I’ve felt like I might be on the brink of another depression. My friends have comforted me with […]

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Living Room is not depressing

LIVING ROOM MEMORIES  102  (September 26, 2007) I was delighted today to receive an email from one of our Living Room members which she had sent to a bunch of her friends. I’ll share a portion of it here: “When I told a friend about my support group for mood disorders and what a blessing […]

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Understanding people who don’t understand

LIVING ROOM MEMORIES  101  (September 19, 2007) In the last post I talked about how my congregation learned to understand and support people with mental illness. I think one important thing that helps me when I try to educate and help people understand mental health issues – whether it’s through writing or meeting with them […]

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Helping a church become supportive

LIVING ROOM MEMORIES   100  (September 15, 2007) In their comments a couple of blogging pals say how they wish they could find a place of worship like mine. I’m hoping that this post will help you understand that this support has only grown gradually, over time. I had to educate members of the congregation and […]

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