Marja Bergen

author, mental health advocate, follower of Christ

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Responding to hard times

In his book, The Land Between, author Jeff Manion uses the story of the Israelites’ forty-year journey through the Sinai Desert as a metaphor for being in a time of testing, a trial. After generations of slavery in Egypt, the Israelites travel through the wilderness (the land between) toward the Promised Land. They crave the […]

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It is well with my soul

God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging. Psalm 46:1-3 At the last Living Room meeting in Burnaby, someone […]

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How much land does a man need?

Jesus told the following parable: “The ground of a certain rich man yielded an abundant harvest. He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’ Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store […]

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The door is open to all

SPIRITUAL SUPPORT I’ve focused a lot on the needs of people with mental health conditions for spiritual support via Open Door groups. But today I realize that in the situation the world is experiencing today, there are far more people who could use such support. Open Door could offer opportunities for all of us—to voice […]

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All of us together

MY PASSIONATE DESIRE – This morning, I was thinking about what I’m trying to do with this unusual Open Door initiative. I’m sure that many must be thinking I’m bizarre to think I can do something as revolutionary as this. But I think that God is a God of possibilities and I believe that this […]

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Open Door meetings

  SPIRITUAL SUPPORT – At Living Room’s Open Door there is one thing we all have in common. We are all looking for support from our peers as we try to find relief from our mental health challenges. But it is different from other kinds of support groups in that our spiritual needs are also […]

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Stigma hurts

  UNCONDITIONAL LOVE HEALS – Please stop for a moment and think what it would feel like to be: looked down on, not understood, not believed to have credibility, shunned, rejected, excluded, made to feel ashamed, to have your abilities underrated, to have your opinions ignored, not to be taken seriously. In human terms, what […]

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The man who turned the world upside down

. . . WITH HIS LOVE – Along with the rest of the world I’m deeply distressed about what is happening in the United States—and the whole world. And some of the people who are most being affected are those I care about—people with mental and physical disabilities. They are people who are being cared […]

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For those who worship others

  HIS LOVE IS FOR ALL His unconditional love is extended to all, and it is this love upon which the Open Door is founded. Everyone is welcome to enjoy it. Followers of Christ should be the first to rejoice in seeing their Lord’s love spread out to all who need it, even to those […]

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Caring humbly

A DEVOTIONAL – A patient on a mental health ward was having a hard time, not able to cope. The staff couldn’t meet her needs. As a result, she was placed in a seclusion room where she would have a chance to calm down and not hurt herself. The room was uncomfortable, only containing a […]

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