Marja Bergen

author, mental health advocate, follower of Christ

Category: Our voices (page 3 of 5)

Our voices – Have you forgotten his love?

Why do you despise us so? What have we done? Was it our physical appearance? Was it the way we act? Was it that you had forgotten we were people like you? Like others you knew? Like the people you could understand and love? But you don’t stop long enough to know us. To spend […]

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Why are people with mental illness not heard?

That’s the way it is when you have a mental illness. No matter how good a person you are or how much good you’ve done, you’re not considered to have credibility. Many like me have things to say: to protect ourselves, defend ourselves, explain ourselves. But we’re not listened to, not heard. Not like “regular” […]

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Talk with us, not about us

Bored? William Wilberforce, the British slave trade abolitionist, once said, “It is inconceivable that we could be bored in a world with so much wrong to tackle, so much ignorance to reach and so much misery we could alleviate.” I’m certainly not bored. I only wish I were younger so that I would have more […]

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Give us a voice of our own

Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves; ensure justice for those being crushed. Yes, speak up for the poor and helpless, and see that they get justice. Proverbs 31:8-9 NLT “Speaking for the poor and helpless.” Is this what God really means? I think we need to be careful and think about that […]

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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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The voices of today’s outcasts

More than anything, people with mental health challenges need to have support from those who will listen to them and learn what their life is like. This is especially true for those living with borderline personality disorder (BPD). As a mental illness it’s probably the most stigmatized of all, causing 10% to die by suicide. […]

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No one listens anymore

What happened to those voices that did the initial work of raising mental health awareness in the Church? Stories of what it feels like to be discriminated against are not heard because those who are affected are shunned when they want to tell about their pain. No one listens anymore. Why do the powers that […]

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Could Job Help Being Job?

Anyone who withholds kindness from a friend     forsakes the fear of the Almighty. Job 6:14 It’s all about love, isn’t it? It’s about forgiving others for who they are and what they’ve grown to be. It’s how we follow God. Can anyone who’s hurt by others help it when they’re no longer able to be […]

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Does truth stop being truth?

  But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God. John 3:21   Does truth stop being truth when no one wants to hear it or believe it? Who chooses what is truth? There’s […]

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BPD – like a child – not hiding the truth

What you have said in the dark will be heard in the daylight, and what you have whispered in the ear in the inner rooms will be proclaimed from the roofs. Luke 12:3  I’ve been called a child, because I say everything that comes to mind. Transparent, not hiding anything. I suppose that’s what has […]

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