How Living Vertically Changed My Whole Life—for Good
From the age of six until eighteen, I was raised in a foster home—not out of love, but as part of a financial arrangement between adults. Love was withheld. Abuse was allowed. Guidance and protection were absent. I learned early how to survive—but not how to be nurtured.
By the grace of God—and through circumstances unrelated to spiritual intent—I was taken to church. It was not a vibrant congregation, but there was one teacher who truly believed in the saving grace of God. That mattered. A seed was planted, even if the soil was thin.
When I left the foster home, life did not become peaceful. I lived in constant fight-or-flight, operating almost entirely on what I now understand as a horizontal plane. My focus was survival, self-protection, validation, and control. I believed in God, but my life was directed by fear rather than trust.
Horizontal living looks outward for stability. It seeks meaning through relationships, accomplishments, distractions, or approval. When peace is tied to circumstances or people, it is always fragile. I spent years chasing a life that never delivered what it promised.
That way of living led me through repeated trauma and loss. Again and again, I found myself empty—still searching, still striving, still wounded. I believed God existed, but I had not yet learned how to let Him lead.
Eventually, life stripped away every illusion I relied on. At rock bottom, there was nothing left to manage, perform, or control. That was the moment everything shifted.
I began to live vertically.
Vertical living does not ignore pain or pretend life is easy. It simply changes the reference point. Instead of measuring life against circumstances or emotions, it becomes anchored upward—rooted in God rather than outcomes.
✝️ CONTINUED IN COMMENTS ⬇️⬇️⬇️
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