COURAGE TO OVERCOME – The piece below, was originally written in November 2015, just after release from hospital where I had been admitted in October, close to suicide. I had tried to take my life due to the heavy stigmatization I was receiving. I edited the writing today in 2024 because I still need that […]
Read More...MY TRAGEDY – I’ll tell it as briefly as I can, and then move on to sharing the positives that God has for us – his unconditional love and his hope. At the end of December 2013, and probably earlier, the friends I had were drawing away from me more and more. It was probably […]
Read More...ONE SUCH AS ME? One person’s response after reading my book, ONE SUCH AS ME: “I found it to be a very interesting read, in part because it is so factually grounded, from your own notes made over the years. The value of peer support, that led to Living Room, is well documented and explained, […]
Read More...A MULTI-FAITH LIVING ROOM? – What good would spiritual mental health support be if it were only given to people of one faith? How unfair it would be if people needing support were to be excluded from the Living Room experience. Excluded from the knowledge of the unconditional love Jesus has for us. Both in […]
Read More...The following piece was written from the perspective of a person needing care. Have you ever needed care in the way this person did? How would you like to have someone like the Samaritan looking after you? Can you imagine how good it would be to have someone like him—someone so much like Jesus—taking care […]
Read More...THROUGH HIS LOVE I woke up this morning to an extremely painful leg. But I took an Advil, with the promise that the pain should soon lessen. I also knew how good it would be to be able to share with my friends that after all the tests had been done, showing that nothing serious […]
Read More...WITH THE LOVE OF JESUS – Jesus said, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.” John 14:27 I first wrote about this Scripture at Christmas time in 2014. I told […]
Read More...AT A TIME OF GRIEF – I wrote this at a time I had just left my previous church—the place where I had grown so deeply, the place where I had birthed and led Living Room. I wasn’t sure what happened—will probably never exactly know why I was so badly treated there. But Jesus stayed […]
Read More...REVIVING LIVING ROOM Jesus said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” (Matthew 19:26) Have you ever invented something that has never existed before? Perhaps even drawing it up on paper or making a prototype? But maybe you thought it would be impossible to make it a reality, though you did […]
Read More...REVIVAL – In February 2009, I emailed my pastor. I quoted some of it in my book, at one point telling him how I had talked with a couple of influential people about the future of Living Room: “We talked about Living Room’s similarities to how AA developed. I think there’s much we can learn […]
Read More...© 2024 Marja Bergen
Theme by Anders Noren — Up ↑