12 Steps in 12 Days: A Look at Step 3 of Alcoholics Anonymous (A.A.)
General Service Conference approved literature lists Step 3 of the 12 Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous as follows:
“3. We Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.”
The main action during step 3 is a decision. Certainly, the idea of making such a big decision (such as turning our will and lives to a higher power) is something that may terrify us at first.
During step 3, it is important to understand that the decision we need to make may be too big to make in one leap. Another challenge in step 3 is that each one of us will have to come to a conclusion about what “God” means. However, it is important to understand that our understanding of “God” or a higher power doesn’t have to be complex or complete. The only thing that is essential is that we begin a search that will help us understand “God” as our recovery continues.