Marja Bergen

author, mental health advocate, follower of Christ

Month: January 2025 (page 1 of 2)

All of us together

MY PASSIONATE DESIRE – This morning, I was thinking about what I’m trying to do with this unusual Open Door initiative. I’m sure that many must be thinking I’m bizarre to think I can do something as revolutionary as this. But I think that God is a God of possibilities and I believe that this […]

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Open Door meetings

  SPIRITUAL SUPPORT – At Living Room’s Open Door there is one thing we all have in common. We are all looking for support from our peers as we try to find relief from our mental health challenges. But it is different from other kinds of support groups in that our spiritual needs are also […]

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Stigma hurts

  UNCONDITIONAL LOVE HEALS – Please stop for a moment and think what it would feel like to be: looked down on, not understood, not believed to have credibility, shunned, rejected, excluded, made to feel ashamed, to have your abilities underrated, to have your opinions ignored, not to be taken seriously. In human terms, what […]

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The man who turned the world upside down

. . . WITH HIS LOVE – Along with the rest of the world I’m deeply distressed about what is happening in the United States—and the whole world. And some of the people who are most being affected are those I care about—people with mental and physical disabilities. They are people who are being cared […]

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For those who worship others

  HIS LOVE IS FOR ALL His unconditional love is extended to all, and it is this love upon which the Open Door is founded. Everyone is welcome to enjoy it. Followers of Christ should be the first to rejoice in seeing their Lord’s love spread out to all who need it, even to those […]

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Caring humbly

A DEVOTIONAL – A patient on a mental health ward was having a hard time, not able to cope. The staff couldn’t meet her needs. As a result, she was placed in a seclusion room where she would have a chance to calm down and not hurt herself. The room was uncomfortable, only containing a […]

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As they saw him

At Open Door it is not necessary for participants to accept the divine nature of Jesus as the Son of God. They most need to hear about the man he was 2000 years ago during his ministry on earth. Simply the man who did and said wonderful things—the man who was kind and spent time […]

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Introducing Jesus to other faiths

THE CHALLENGE How can we introduce Jesus as the healer he is to nonbelieving faiths? Can Jesus heal those who do not believe in his divine nature—the Son of God? Some will think this is impossible unless they were converted to Christianity. I believe that it is possible. I follow Jesus and believe all the […]

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SPIRITUAL MENTAL HEALTH SUPPORT

WHAT IS IT? Spiritual mental health support had its beginnings in 2006 when I founded the faith-based Living Room peer support ministry. This was at a time when the Christian Church knew very little about mental health and those with symptoms were often made to feel ashamed, told that there was a problem with their […]

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Caring – Jesus’ way

The following piece was written from the perspective of a person needing care. Have you ever needed care in the way this person did? How would you like to have someone like the Samaritan looking after you? Can you imagine how good it would be to have someone like him—someone so much like Jesus—taking care […]

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