Have you ever noticed how you “look” when you’re sick? Look at people in the doctor’s office sometime. Not too good. What about when you call in sick and stay home for the day? You hope nobody shows up at your house unexpectedly. No make up. Your hair isn’t washed. You’re wearing old sweat pants, a t-shirt, or some old baggy pair of pajamas! Your breath stinks. You stink. Your house stinks. Your bedroom smells like “sick”! You get the picture??? Pretty disgusting, isn’t it?

LOOKING bad makes us FEEL bad.

I want you to notice that there are times in the Bible when Jesus healed people, and they instantly got a new image AND they got rid of their old look.

In Mark 10:50, we see the story of Blind Bartimaeus yelling, “Jesus, have mercy on me! Disciples said: ‘Cheer up! On your feet! He’s calling you.’ Throwing his coat aside, he jumped to his feet and came to Jesus.”

One translation says, “He laid aside his beggarly clothes.”

Why? Those clothes represent his old life – the life of a beggar, the life of an outcast. They represent his past and his former image!

One article I read said, “The way we dress communicates a picture of our self worth.” What you wear can profoundly affect the way you feel about yourself.

The way you dress does affect your life, your attitude, your mood, and your choices.

It’s been proven that people will treat you with greater respect when you respect yourself…and the way you dress reveals how you feel about yourself.

Many of us who are wounded emotionally (and sick inside) are showing it in the way we dress and the way we carry ourselves!

•           we don’t care
•           we don’t care about ourselves
•           we don’t care how we look
•           we say everything is too expensive to dress nice
•           we say we don’t want to spend the money on ourselves
•           we just stopped caring…

A new look can help give you a new attitude about your future!

Think about when you get around a sick person that’s unclean, smells bad, looks weak – you don’t even want to be around them – not for any length of time anyway. Well, when we’re sick inside (emotionally), it shows on the outside. And it’s not a wonder why people don’t want to hang out with us – sickness STINKS! Who wants to hang around someone with no vision, no purpose, no goals, no passion?

Take a shower. Get a haircut. Shave those legs. Put some perfume on. Add a little more mascara (my favorite cosmetic)! Go buy a new outfit or a scarf or some accessories. You don’t have to spend a lot of money to look good. I’m one of the biggest bargain shoppers you’ll find. I recently bought a beautiful dress for $8.50! Yes, you read that right! Add a scarf to your outfit. Do something to feel pretty. Do something different physically. Start taking a walk for 10 minutes a day and watch that weight come off. Feeling good about yourself on the outside will also help you feel good about yourself inside (and vice versa).

I want to help you get a new image of yourself as beautiful, healthy, whole — someone with a divine calling on their lives. I’m not saying you have to get all dressed up every day. I’m not saying you have to wear as much mascara as me.

I want you to get a new image of yourself as healed. Do what you need to do to FEEL better about yourself! Lay aside those old clothes that represent that old you!