Dancing on Shattered Glass

By Jade Ulatoski

This is the author's true story of her journey through loss and the twin companions of grief and sorrow ..from the car accident, the loss of her home, the long farewell to her dying father and the journey of her beloved mother's critical illness and her decision to take her off life support. It is a story of hope and healing and the many gifts wrapped inside the shattered glass.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Jade Ulatoski
• Release date: Mar 27, 2024
• ISBN: 9798224473465

Book preview

DEDICATIONS

If we’re honest—we all have people who change our lives—and our destinies.For me, those people are Chad—the man I gave my heart to long ago who is God’s gift to me. Then there is my precious, beloved mother (nicknamed Pookie), the woman whose extraordinary gifts—and my life with her—changed me forever. For my precious sister, nicknamed Prissy Britches"—who is the best sister and friend a girl could ever have. For Shirley—sister and friend!

And this book is for Debby—the little girl who made homemade mud pies—whose friendship and generosity touched my heart forever. She knows I call her ‘Daisy Mae’—love you forever, too.

I danced on shattered glass, those broken shards that cut to my soul and into the depths of my pain but nonetheless, I kept dancing on shattered glass to find the truth of my today and to learn how to become broken and set free".

Grief and sorrow wear many faces—sometimes it’s the loss of the person you love and at other times, it’s the loss of your health, your home—your whatever". Grief and sorrow are twin companions and often it is a solitary road—a road that only you can travel. Perhaps my story will change your story—and if it does, then my story has been worth the journey."

BROKEN KNEES AND STORM WATERS

Every story begins somewhere and as I’m often fond of saying—every story has its beginning, its middle and its end.

So, in order tell you the truth of my story, I must start somewhere and for me, it begins in 2004, a year that redefined me and reshaped the course of my destiny.

I have also often said that God brought me back to a place where there was nothing to give me everything. How so?

²⁰⁰⁴ was a difficult year for me—a year of change, but also one that, at the time—was what I referred to as the year from hell, although in retrospect I now know that God was working quietly behind the scenes to change my life—and my destiny.

Why was 2004 the year from hell?

For starters, on August 9th of 2004 I was seriously injured in an auto accident and six weeks later, on September 16th of that year, Hurricane Ivan ripped through the Gulf Coast not caring who its victims were and as a result I lost my home and almost everything I owned.

When the car accident happened, I was driving my tiny (old) Ford Festiva down the street nearest my subdivision. Quietly, I was driving toward a destiny I couldn’t see.

I have always been an avid walker and several months prior to my accident, God directed me to change the direction and the pathway of my walking, and to walk every day in front of a certain privacy fence and when I did, to say, I plead the Blood of Jesus, Psalm 91 and your Archangels, your holy angels, your legions of angels and your ministering spirits, stretching my hands towards that fence as I did so.

On August 9th at three o’clock that afternoon in a split second, my life changed. I was directly in front of that privacy fence when a kid