Marja Bergen

author, mental health advocate, follower of Christ

Tag: support (page 2 of 7)

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, […]

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Social distancing and loneliness

  Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. Lamentations 3:22-23   Many of us are feeling pain right now, whether it be physical or emotional. Pain of our own or the pain of others. We need each others’ […]

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Is God enough?

  The Lord your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, He will rejoice over you with singing. Zephaniah 3:17   A long time ago, as I was reading Traveling Light by Max Lucado, I noted how he said […]

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Brothers and sisters all

    Those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.  Romans 8:29   Just before he passed away, Narayan Vaman Tilak (1861-1919), a famous convert to Christianity in India,  wrote the following to a missionary friend: “Cease […]

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Intimacy with God

  The Lord your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, He will rejoice over you with singing. Zephaniah 3:17   A long time ago, as I was reading Traveling Light by Max Lucado, I noted how he said […]

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Was this why the anger? (2019)

I need people. Always have. Many of us, including me, wouldn’t survive our emotional distresses without the support of friends, counselors or the crisis line. Without having someone stay close to talk us through the pain, we might not survive. I might not have survived. It often takes another person to help us look at […]

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My great shame

LIVING ROOM MEMORIES  268 (March 11, 2010) I’ve come to a place where I haven’t been before, at least I don’t recollect having been here before. I hate having this disorder and lacking the control I would like to have over my feelings and subsequent behaviour. Last week I was hard on a person, blaming […]

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Following a friend’s example

LIVING ROOM MEMORIES  247  (August 29, 2009) The holidays I had this spring and summer showed me how good it is for me to take time out to relax. They showed me how important it is to keep my life in balance. I decided to try not to get overly stressed again. I need to […]

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Coming alongside God

LIVING ROOM MEMORIES  245  (August 11, 2009) One thing that contributed to the depression I’ve recently recovered from was that I felt overwhelmed by all that Living Room brought me: people to support, interest by others from far and wide to start a group. A few weeks ago I even heard from someone in Pretoria, […]

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Unstable, but I can still write (2019)

Looking over the previous blog from 2009 I see how the degree of wellness I had during my Living Room days had not been as great as I remembered. I had a lot of instability. Long periods of depression and then highs when I started planning and organizing far more than I could manage. Today […]

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