Marja Bergen

author, mental health advocate, follower of Christ

Tag: healing (page 1 of 4)

Why do we need living room?

The devotional below shows why Living Room is such an important ministry. It’s a sample of the kind of messages people at Living Room hear. We are reassured of the great love and compassion of Jesus. We need this kind of reminder, because for many of us the world is not a friendly place.   And […]

Read More...

Let the Church be the Church

THE CHURCH, MENTAL ILLNESS, AND US Jesus came to love and to heal those who are sick. And that should be the Church’s role. Teaching about mental illness is good, but it does nothing to remove stigma or discrimination. It does the opposite. It only serves to point out how our disabilities make us different […]

Read More...

BPD – A sense of our humanity

We sense our humanity most fully when we walk with someone through their pain. There’s something about encouraging a troubled person to peel back the layers to find their healthy self again. It’s a privilege to be allowed to accompany them on their journey. We experience our humanity most when we can be a friend […]

Read More...

BPD – Loving the unlovable

As mentioned earlier, borderline personality (BPD) has greater stigma attached to it than any other mental illness. Those with the disorder are feared and avoided to such an extent that it’s been referred to as “the leprosy of mental illnesses”. We know too that in his day, Jesus did not avoid or fear the leper […]

Read More...

No longer alone

December 2016  As Jesus approached Jericho, a blind man was sitting by the roadside begging. When he heard the crowd going by, he asked what was happening. They told him, “Jesus of Nazareth is passing by.” He called out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” Luke 18:35-38 In his book, Love Walked Among […]

Read More...

Ashamed no longer

When we tell the truth, a truth that needs to be known but that no one wants to hear, we’ll most likely lose friends—possibly a lot of friends. We’ll be ostracized. That’s what happened to Jesus. And that’s what happens to people who call out for Jesus’s truth to be heard today. With pain I […]

Read More...

By his wounds we are healed

  I think a lot of us suffer more from how we have been hurt by others than we do from our mental illness. And how hard it is to find a friend who will understand. How often we lose friends because our need for them is more than they can bear.   Pain like […]

Read More...

Untouchable

  When Jesus came down from the mountainside, large crowds followed him. A man with leprosy came and knelt before him and said, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.” Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” Immediately he was cleansed of his […]

Read More...

When connecting is difficult: Helping our depressed friends

  Some men came, bringing to him a paralyzed man, carried by four of them. Since they could not get him to Jesus because of the crowd, they made an opening in the roof above Jesus by digging through it and then lowered the mat the man was lying on. When Jesus saw their faith, […]

Read More...

Untouchable

  When Jesus came down from the mountainside, large crowds followed him. A man with leprosy came and knelt before him and said, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.” Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” Immediately he was cleansed of his […]

Read More...
Older posts

© 2023 Marja Bergen

Theme by Anders NorenUp ↑