Marja Bergen

author, mental health advocate, follower of Christ

Category: Day by Day (page 1 of 27)

Spiritual? YES – Religious? NO

LIVING ROOM’S OPEN DOOR I know that in working out this Open Door concept that I’m talking to people of all different backgrounds—culturally and spiritually. And I wonder how this man Jesus with his unconditional love would fit in with your background? It would be wonderful if all of us could come to understand who […]

Read More...

Living room: a pioneer in spiritual mental health support

THE BEST WAY TO OVERCOME THE PAIN OF STIGMA The original faith-based mental health support group was founded in 2006 at a time when the Church was in the dark about mental health, many believing that mental illness was a spiritual problem. People with mental health challenges were being shamed out of their churches, left […]

Read More...

Faith-based peer groups

LIVING ROOM’S OPEN DOOR – Living Room’s Open Door is a faith-based peer ministry offering group support for individuals who share struggles with mental health challenges. The groups recognize the connection between spirituality and mental well-being and the two are addressed together as part of the meetings. Members of such groups have found great comfort […]

Read More...

Who was this man?

CAN WE BE AS RADICAL?  Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people. News about him spread all over Syria, and people brought to him all who were ill with various diseases, those suffering severe pain, the demon-possessed, those having seizures, and the […]

Read More...

In the midst of a broken mess

When you see beautiful things growing amid ugliness, not only surviving but thriving, doesn’t it amaze you? Does the picture above make you think of how that truth has at times been the same for you in your life? Do you sometimes feel like that flower growing in the midst of a broken mess, maybe […]

Read More...

Responding to hard times

In his book, The Land Between, author Jeff Manion uses the story of the Israelites’ forty-year journey through the Sinai Desert as a metaphor for being in a time of testing, a trial. After generations of slavery in Egypt, the Israelites travel through the wilderness (the land between) toward the Promised Land. They crave the […]

Read More...

It is well with my soul

God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging. Psalm 46:1-3 At the last Living Room meeting in Burnaby, someone […]

Read More...

How much land does a man need?

Jesus told the following parable: “The ground of a certain rich man yielded an abundant harvest. He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’ Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store […]

Read More...

The door is open to all

SPIRITUAL SUPPORT I’ve focused a lot on the needs of people with mental health conditions for spiritual support via Open Door groups. But today I realize that in the situation the world is experiencing today, there are far more people who could use such support. Open Door could offer opportunities for all of us—to voice […]

Read More...

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 […]

Read More...
Older posts

© 2025 Marja Bergen

Theme by Anders NorenUp ↑