Marja Bergen

author, mental health advocate, follower of Christ

Tag: friends (page 2 of 2)

Where did my friends go? (2019)

In the previous post on coping I wrote, “My friends and my church are very important to me though. They’re my support system and I stay in close touch with them.” Throughout this story about me and Living Room you will have read how much I valued my friends – three in particular. I received […]

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Difficulties coping

LIVING ROOM MEMORIES  195  (October 7, 2008) I feel a bit like a nun – have felt like that for quite awhile now – tied to the work I do, paying little attention to the world around me. I never watch TV. Don’t keep track of the news – not via radio, TV, or newspaper. […]

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Comment on friends (2019)

The person in the previous post is one of many individuals I befriended while leading Living Room for nine years. I often wonder how they are. I grieve having had to step down from my Living Room group three or so years ago. But loss of the group is not all I grieve. I very […]

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Comments on receiving love (2019)

I have spoken much in the blog posts from these early years about the warmth and care shown to me by church friends. They helped me experience what God was like through the love they gave me. Through them I was able to truly “feel” God’s love. You have seen my happiness expressed throughout my […]

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Loyalty

LIVING ROOM MEMORIES  160  (May 20, 2008) With my husband away I have a lot of freedom, yet I’m kind of at loose ends as well. Nothing to tie me down…floating from one little activity to another…trying to talk to some friends every day to stay in touch with the world. It will be good […]

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Beer and a pickup truck

LIVING ROOM MEMORIES  158  (May 12, 2008) And you all thought I was a prim and proper old church lady in her sixties, did you? I was just thinking tonight about how I probably wouldn’t at all fit the image you might have of me. My son has the car for a couple of weeks […]

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Struggle for other-centeredness

LIVING ROOM MEMORIES  36  (December 19, 2006) Several days ago I noticed myself dumping all my feelings on my friends. I’m the kind of person who doesn’t lie easily. When someone asks me how I am, I let them know – sometimes in great detail. Not a good idea. But a day later I realized […]

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4. Healthy relationships with our supporters

Always lesser than Lord Jesus, I know it’s hard for those who don’t have mental illness to understand: I, and many of us, feel small next to our supporters. I don’t think they consciously set themselves above us, yet we feel lower. We feel inferior. For me it was like my supporters were father and […]

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I love you

I’ve been up since 2am, not so unusual for me. But what did set the last twelve hours apart from the norm was the misery that filled me, together with some very ugly thoughts. My good friend called and, sometime during our conversation, I couldn’t resist saying “I love you.” And how good that made […]

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