Looking back and reaching forward

Today I have had some time to read back in many of my old journals. If you aren't a journaler, I would highly encourage it. I have found that journaling is a beautiful way to write out my thoughts and prayers to the Lord. I like to keep track of the things that He is teaching me each day and what He is doing in my life.
I have kept a journal since before high school, so I have quite a few. It has been interesting to see how much I have grown over the years and see what God was doing at particular times in my life.
I want to share a poem that I found in an entry at the end of 2003. I believe that my knowledge of God at the time was mainly head knowledge. I understood a lot of the Bible having been raised in a Christian home, as well as having attended 2 years of Bible college, but my heart wasn't yet completely His.

journal entry 12/28/03:
I can write on these pages so easily and freely. I can't talk to anyone this way. I don't know if I ever will.

I feel as if I'm just existing.

EXISTING AM I

Existing am I
Here on this earth
Knowing how little
My life has been worth
Not much was accomplished
As years have flown by
And that's just it
Existing am I

Only God can prove to me
Why I'm on earth
Only God can truly show
How much I am worth
He did in fact already
By sending His Son
That I could exist
May His will be done

At the time of writing this I can remember just being "stuck" in habitual sinful patterns and feeling depressed.
We are here on earth more than just to exist. It has taken me years to understand what this really means...and I am still learning every day. I thank God that there is more to life than merely "existing" or just surviving from one day to the next. I also thank Him for saving me and giving me eternal life. To think that Jesus Christ came to die that I might be saved truly does show me how much I am worth to God! Now, by His grace and with His strength, I am able (among many other things) to love Him, live for Him, serve Him, praise His name, and give Him glory!
The old has gone, the new has come.(2 Cor. 5:17)
"One thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead."(Phil. 3:13b)

If you don't yet know Him,
come to Jesus Christ. He is everything and all you will ever need.
Today is the day of salvation!(2 Cor. 6:2)

"That if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved." Romans 10:9
"If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." 1 John 1:9