Topic for the week: Step 3
We are all invited to share on Step 3. The steps are our blueprint for living sober lives
*** Step 3 ***
“Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood God.”
This step is listed in Chapter 5, How it Works, from the book, “Alcoholics Anonymous” (affectionately known as the Big Book) (see p. 59). There’s more in Chapter 5, starting on p. 60. And there’s even more about it in the book, Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions.
*** Where to get the books, Alcoholics Anonymous and Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions ***
You can find these books at many f2f AA meetings; you can order them online from many places. And they are available from the AA General Service office, to read online, in English, French, and Spanish. See www.aa.org/
Step 3 is for me the most powerful of all the Steps, particularly when I was new to sobriety. I fought it long and hard, fearing that the God of my misunderstanding wouldn’t handle whatever it was the way I wanted it done. That got easier the more I thought about my life before sobriety. Seems like the harder I pushed to get my way, the worse things went for me. After a while, I figured out that what I wanted had seldom been what I needed. Learning to give it all to God was a slow process. But the more I practiced letting go, the better things went. After a while, it became natural to give my life and my will over to a power much greater than me. I learned to trust that my Higher Power really did know better what I needed. The more I turned it over, the sooner serenity came.
The third Step prayer became a very important part of my days: “God, I offer myself to Thee – To build with me and to do with me as Thou wilt. Relieve me of the bondage of self, that I may better do Thy will. Take away my difficulties, that victory over them may bear witness to those I would help of Thy Power,Thy Love, and Thy Way of life. May I do Thy will always!”
Step 3 is a powerful foundation upon which to build a sober life – and to complete the rest of the steps. For me, life got easier because I don’t have to fix anything. I can leave it to a Higher Power with a lot more insight than I have. I don’t have to make other people behave the way I want them to. I can let them be who they are and follow the will of the God of their understanding. All I have to do is continue to work the program and let my God take care of results.
How does Step 3 manifest in your life and your sobriety? Please share on your experience with this Step – or on anything you need to talk about this week.