Born in 1925 to a family of sharecroppers in small town Texas, Walter Allen grew up with a first hand knowledge of poverty. Losing his mother at age two, Walter found himself the youngest of many siblings, scraping to survive, both economically and educationally. Enduring the Great Depression, Walter's next hurdle was to survive as a Marine during the Second World War. These early challenges Walter now sees as having been good preparation for what would turn out to be his life work. After some trying years of seminary training and rural church pastorates, Walter and his wife Billie went on to serve for twenty-two years as career missionaries in East Africa. Their work included church planting and evangelism, medical aid, and small business initiatives. The Allens also found themselves regularly responding to crises locally and nationally as friends faced personal tragedy and as countries were overturned by turmoil. Looking back on both tragedies and triumph, Walter sees the hand os a sovereign God, lovingly working out His plan. LIVING LIFE IN REVERSE is one man's journey through his past to illuminate the present and give hope for the future.