WHEN GOD "intrudes" into our lives to call us to some task, our response is often like Mary's--disturbance and confusion. We come with self-reliant hearts and eyes focused on our weaknesses instead of His strength. The root problem is fear (v. 30).

Fear isn't always obvious. Fear of failure can drive us to achievements that are fueled by the fires of frenzied self-reliance instead of quiet confidence in God. Or it can cause us to withdraw into inactivity--frozen by another form of self-reliance that says, "I can't!" The latter is obviously a faithless response, but so is the former.

God brings us to the end of our proverbial rope by placing something impossible in our pathway. It's a place that's painful but necessary because that's where we meet God and come face-to-face with the truth that "nothing is impossible with God."

With self-reliance broken, God's power is free to flow in and through us. Welcome His "intrusions" into your life; let Him break you of your self-reliance, and give you a strength not your own!