Marja Bergen

author, mental health advocate, follower of Christ

Month: October 2021 (page 3 of 3)

The right to speak

When I raised mental health awareness in the church from 2006 on, I spoke as a person living with mental health issues. It made a difference. People heard me. But today, people with such issues have no voice – are not given opportunities to be heard. Why not? Do they really think we don’t know […]

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Hold on – Is it as easy as that?

Reflection on October 2015 writing from Monday   Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death. 2 Corinthians 7:10   Looking back at Monday’s devotional where I suffered from a lot of mental anguish, feeling shame over my behavior, thinking it impossible that I could ever […]

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Through God’s grace

October 2015   For because of our faith, he has brought us into this place of highest privilege where we now stand, and we confidently and joyfully look forward to actually becoming all that God has had in mind for us to be. Romans 5:2 (TLB)   Do you ever feel that there’s so much […]

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With more than acceptance alone

  Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion,  then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. Do nothing out of selfish ambition […]

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Today’s outcasts

We who live with mental health issues are also looked down on, shunned, disrespected, excluded, not considered to have credibility. Is this situation so different from the treatment given to those who Gandhi and Mandela fought for? Isn’t it time we got angry about the unjust attitudes towards people with mental illness? Who can help […]

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Hope for our highs and lows

  The years 2016 and 2017 were some of my most difficult times ever. But, as some have said, it’s often in the suffering that we come closest to Jesus. It’s a mysterious phenomenon. I came close to Jesus by putting myself in the shoes of biblical characters and spending time with him as they […]

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But God is good

Adapted from July 2015   Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good. His love endures forever. Psalm 136:1   When you see beautiful things growing amid ugliness, not only surviving but thriving, doesn’t it amaze you? Doesn’t the picture above make you think of how that truth has at times been the same […]

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An act of trust

Adapted from September 2014   I will lie down and sleep in peace, for you alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety. Psalm 4:8   Do you ever feel like this cat while you’re trying to fall asleep? It’s pretty hard to be a cat, trying to get a nap out of doors. Constantly […]

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