Marja Bergen

author, mental health advocate, follower of Christ

Tag: suffering (page 1 of 4)

When we hurt others

FORGIVENESS August 2019 When they came to the place called the Skull, they crucified him there, along with the criminals—one on his right, the other on his left. Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” And they divided up his clothes by casting lots. Luke 23: 33-34 In […]

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The importance of our faith to mental health

JESUS WEEPS WITH US He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their faces he was despised, and we held him in low esteem. Isaiah 53:3   Never have I found myself so misunderstood. Never have I found Christ’s importance to people […]

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Church mental health – Awareness or care?

When talking about those in need of our help, Mother Teresa is probably the best example of compassionate love and care for the suffering. We would do well to study her thoughts about feeding the hungry and helping those for whom life is feeling hopeless. She did not wait for institutions to be established. If […]

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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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In the midst of tragedy

  At this, Job got up and tore his robe and shaved his head. Then he fell to the ground in worship and said: “Naked I came from my mother’s womb,     and naked I will depart. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised.” Job 1:20-21 […]

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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 […]

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Back to Jesus

  There was a long time when I did not take Satan seriously. Why worry? I thought that if I kept my eyes fixed on Jesus alone, I would be able to ignore what’s evil. It wouldn’t touch me. In later years I came to see my mistake. I came to see how naïve I’d […]

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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 […]

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Come, follow me

  “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.” Matthew 4:19   I believe that we too often consider following Jesus and being with him as something warm and fuzzy. Sometimes Jesus is presented as though he’s there for our personal sense of comfort alone. But we need […]

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Despite the pain

  This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so […]

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