In Surrounded by Mystery, Ruth Senter invites us to behold with her "the glory of life"-the mystery that is resident in the heavens and in every creature, circumstance, and event of life Through the simple things like kites, bridges, fences, and measuring sticks-she shows us. vividly, the paradoxes that exist in a life of faith.

Ruth Senter first became keenly aware of such paradoxes when she watched her children stabilize a soaring kite with the strings that tied the kite to earth. The sight, representing fulfillment, power, and freedom to her, also brought the realization that "Power comes in being dependent. Freedom comes in being restrained." These are powerful paradoxes, and throughout the book she deftly teaches us that:

* The strength of intimacy, the joyful mystery of intimacy is that when you lose your life to another person, you actually find it.

* To understand God we would have to unravel His mysteries, but so doing would reduce Him to our finite level of understanding.

* Freedom is not an absence of limits but a healthy respect for restraint.

In order to find our lives we must first lose them.

Each of these devotional readings is a short poetic essay in itself.

They beckon us to examine seeming contradictions of life and faith originated by Someone who is greater than we are, and who gives us freedom and stability to live godly lives.

Ruth Senter is a popular speaker and writer, and the author of Startled by Silence, So You're the Pastor's Wife, and Seasons of Friendship