Hello everyone,

From 1999 when I published my first book, Riding the Roller Coaster, I’ve tried to persuade readers that living with mental illness is not the end of the world. Despite our struggles, we can have a life worth living. If we trust God and the person he made us to be, we can do more than just survive.

It’s common knowledge that low self-esteem is a problem many of us share. Stigma is probably the main cause for this. It’s hard to feel good about ourselves when the whole world seems to be looking down on us. It’s hard to face the world with confidence.

I’m concerned, realizing that many with such low self-esteem are accepting that this is all life holds for them. They feel they have no worth. They feel they don’t belong. They don’t have the courage to try new things.

But listen to this: You are of great worth to God, your Father. You are his child and he wants you to get the most out of life. This is something you need to believe.

I’m working on this series—A Voice of One Calling—with the hopes that it will inspire you to gain confidence. Through God’s leading I would like to help your level of confidence grow. I pray you will find things in my writings that will spur you on. If you already have confidence but are frustrated because of how the world is treating you, I’m hoping you’ll be encouraged to overcome the stigma that exists.

How can we lift ourselves up? How can we lift up the people we care about? Is it possible for a person who looks down on herself to change and become more confident?

The very fact that I’m writing this series, shows that I believe it is. Even when others don’t respect us, we can learn to respect ourselves. We can learn to think more positively about ourselves. I’ve been writing about great individuals whose lives can provide inspiration that will help us.

If you have read Gandhi’s story, you will have seen how he had a fear of speaking in public, yet became one of the greatest men in history. In Lincoln’s story you saw how he had precious little formal education, but became a lawyer by studying law books in his spare time. His leadership led to the abolition of slavery in the US. Mother Teresa’s story and Martin Luther King Jr’s story are equally amazing. I hope you read them. They’re earlier on in this series. Just scan A Voice of One Calling to find what you might have missed.

Yet to come, are inspiring stories from the lives of Nelson Mandela, Malala Yousufzai, and Ruth Bader Ginsberg.

When will this series come to an end? I don’t know. But at this point, I’m seeing a world of things to tell you about. And it’s all material that I think you will find uplifting. Stay tuned at  www.marjabergen.com to find the latest entries.

marja

This has been Part 11 of the series A Voice of One Calling. Read Part 12 Nelson Mandela