Step Three
We made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood him.
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| Question 2: | All right, I’ve got a concept of a Higher Power that I’m OK with. Now, how do I go about actually turning my will and my life over? | |||
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Answers: |
Once I decided to turn myself
over to the care of God as I understood Him, I had to ask myself
what this meant that I was supposed to do. I was not used to accepting
guidance from anyone, let alone my newfound Higher Power. It occurred
to me that a good start would be listening to the people who were
trying to help me and maybe doing what they were telling me to do.
These people had, after all, been in the same mess I was and were
telling me I too could recover if only I would follow their instructions.
This was how I put into action “turning my will and my life
over” and it worked so well then that I am still listening
attentively to the suggestions of others today. Part of turning my will and my life over to the care of God meant
that I had to pay attention to my conscience, that inner voice that
told me what was right and what was wrong. I had been ignoring that
voice and just doing what I wanted to do for a long, long time.
It was through this inner voice, my conscience, that, I believe,
God had been trying to talk to me all along. If I listened to myself
I knew which was the right thing to do and what was wrong. Doing
the next right thing, that was doing God’s will. The Third Step prayer (Alcoholics Anonymous, p.63) helped me a
lot. Whenever I noticed that I was trying to shove God aside and
take back control I would say the Third Step prayer. This helped
me to relax and accept the suggestions of others who knew more than
me or to just be OK with the fact that this situation was not going
to turn out the way I wanted it to. The results of me mostly succeeding
at keeping my hands off the controls have been amazing. Work the rest of the steps. Immediately following the discussion
of the third step the Big Book (Alcoholics Anonymous, p.63)
says “Next we launched out on a course of vigorous action…”
Deciding to turn my will and my life over to the care of God meant,
for this alcoholic, committing to working the rest of the steps.
This was the best decision of my life, opening doors I could not
have even dreamed of. It is sad to see so many alcoholics reach
this point, all wrapped in a rosy glow after making a spiritual
decision, who then fail to act on that decision and re-enter that
hell from which they had momentarily been released.
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