29 Mar Are You Stuck On The 3rd Step?

This blog post was written by Recovery Help Now’s, Cindy Weathers, MFTi.

Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.

Have you started working the 12 steps of AA but find yourself stuck on the 3rd step? You are not alone.  Many people struggle with turning their lives over to a higher power or initially believe that this step has to do with prayer.  This step has less to do with faith and religion and more to do with the idea of letting go.

Newcomers to recovery often think they must first have complete faith before they can take this step.  No one begins the program with that sort of faith. Most arrive with little or no faith at all. It’s only by taking the 3rd Step, and then following through with the other Steps, that you begin the lifetime practices on which real faith is built. Step 3 is the beginning, not the end, of your journey.

If you are working the steps, then you have already admitted your powerlessness to overcome your addictive behaviors on your own.  You have acknowledged that there is a higher power that can restore you to sanity. Now you are ready to take the step of giving these matters over to this higher power, which in essence means letting go of control.

For me, my decision to turn my life and my will over to my higher power involves the simple and repeated daily acts of letting go. Letting go of the deep seeded but mistaken belief that I am in control of everything.  There is liberation in the act of turning your will over to a higher power.   Just know that your understanding of God — whatever it may be — is good enough to start. And don’t be surprised if it changes as you work the rest of the Steps . . . and continues changing throughout the rest of your life.