step 3, turn over your will

We’re in the third month of the year so all this month we’ll focus on Step 3 of the 12 Recovery Steps.

Step 3 is, “We made a decision to turn our wills and our lives over to the care of God.” The catch phrase for Step 3 is “I’ll let Him.” As a reminder, the Step 1 catch phrase is “I can’t.”, the Step 2 catch phrase is “He can.”

If we were to be honest about our personal motives—the reason why we do anything we do—we would discover we’ve been following an idea. And the idea could have come from any place: our family, our society, our upbringing, something we heard, read, or witnessed. An idea planted itself in our mind and we started acting on that idea. Often, the idea is acting out in our lives at a subconscious level, i.e., we don’t realize what we’re acting on.

Step 3 is about acting on a new idea. The idea that God can take over our life and direct us according to His Will. And what is His will for us? Ultimately, it’s to love. But it’s also to do something to help other people.

The obstacles of the spiritual realm, our self-will and grandiosity, have held us in the clutches of addiction. They have created the illusion that we are in control. The message and task of Step Three is to face the fact that our control is not real. We may have thought we had control, but God has the ultimate authority and power. When we accept this, then our dependence upon him for the solution to our addiction and any other life problem becomes clear.

Project HEAL Christ-centered Recovery Lessons, p. 11.

It’s clear to those of us in recovery that we must do something else to break from our addiction. We have reached a point that we’re willing to let go of being “in control” and allow God to show us what to do. When our heart is aligned with God’s Will for our lives, we will do something that helps other people. It’s inevitable, because God’s love is circular and someone is always in need of love.

Our surrender is a gift to God, that we may be used by Him however, whenever, and wherever.

Reflections by the Old-timers, Our A.A. Legacy, p. 26.

#stepthreerecovery #ProjectHealSac