Marja Bergen

author, mental health advocate, follower of Christ

Month: March 2019 (page 3 of 4)

Our new song

  I waited patiently for the Lord; he turned to me and heard my cry. He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand.  He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of […]

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My church history – 2005-2016

  I’ve spent much time trying to write my Living Room history. There’s a lot I haven’t covered and, as I’ve said, I would like to move on. But I do want to leave this capsulated form of my history. It offers a clearer overall picture of how things went for me. 2005 or so […]

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He came for the lost

  When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.” So he came down at once and welcomed him gladly. Luke 19:5-6   The Bible tells us that Zacchaeus was a chief tax collector. Wealthy – almost certainly because he had […]

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Another sermon – more to share

  It must have been God at work today. Of all things, the sermon was on Lamentations and the speaker spoke a lot about how much art, writings, etc. has come to us as the result of trauma in people’s lives. I can totally understand why that is. If you’ve been reading here you will […]

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Re-building

  Rudyard Kipling wrote a poem – IF – that has been important to me since the age of nineteen when I was admitted to Riverview Hospital. Such encouragement! Almost as good as the Bible. Especially since I hadn’t become a Christian yet. The lines that stood out for me this morning were these: If […]

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May I share?

          I’ve been told to distract myself a bit from stresses. And – as usual – I find photography of flowers to be one of my favourite distractions. There’s the actual photography – using the many qualities of light that appear throughout the day. There’s the  various ways in which the […]

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Never-ending trauma

    You never completely lose the memories of trauma, they say. And I know that to be true. Triggers come at the most unexpected times, even during a sermon at church. There’s not anything particularly different about the sermon. But at times it does lead one’s mind to reliving experiences in your life – […]

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The good in rapid cycling

LIVING ROOM MEMORIES  279  (May 7, 2010) You know, I’d rather be into rapid cycling than in a solid depression, as I was at this time last year. The lows I go through now only last a few hours. The depression only got alarmingly low one day. That was followed by a high the next […]

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Being different for God

  My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it.  Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, I have sent them […]

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Crucified

  I know I wasn’t going to write any more of my story. I claimed that I had recovered. However, traumatic memories don’t go away so easily. Writing whenever I felt bad was helpful. But yesterday bad memories – especially one – came back, leaving me weeping in church. And I had nowhere to go […]

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