I firmly believe that Jesus shines his light on us through the people he brings into our lives. God needs us to be his representatives on earth. He made us to show each other who he is and what he’s like. He needs us to show his love, to support each other in lives […]
Read More...I just finished reading through one of my journals from 2006 and was amazed at what I found. Encouragement and support as I started my Living Room ministry. Accolades. I had many friends. Such joy! I suffered from a lot of depression in the midst of the Living Room work, as well as the […]
Read More...Our pastors as supporters Ministry leaders are often the most affected by the needs and demands of people with mental health issues in the church. They tend to be kind-hearted with great willingness to help those who are suffering. For them setting boundaries in the spiritual care of these people is especially important. Someone I […]
Read More...Caring for our caregivers Lord, I know that, despite the illness I struggle with, I’m a caring person, like so many of us. We help others whenever we can and many of us have made contributions to our communities. Even then we run into problems with depression and other kinds of emotional distress. It becomes […]
Read More...Respecting boundaries Lord, this morning I emailed a brief note to a friend. I thought I was getting pretty good about respecting her boundaries, trying not to email more than every couple of days or so. We had not formally discussed that this should be a boundary, yet it’s what seemed to work best. But […]
Read More...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 […]
Read More...I confused them with God himself My Monday devotional from December 18th explains how badly I need God in my life. How very badly I need his love! How very badly many of you need his love! It’s at http://marjabergen.com/archives/he-watches-over-us if you’d like to have a look. Lord, I see your love shining through the […]
Read More...Seeing beyond our own needs: a prayer Lord, I feel dreadful – ashamed that my needs overtook my reasoning. It was not until after the damage was done that I realized my grave mistake. It was not until later that I learned, with great difficulty, to stop myself from writing so many emails […]
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