3rd Step
Three
03/June/ Filed in: 3rd Step
Step Three suggests that I put my will and my life in to God's care. God loves as I am, in spite of who I am, and accepts me with compassion. In this Step I become receptive to His guidance; I become willing to be cared for by Him.
I don't need to earn God's care. I don't need to work for it. He offers it freely if I will just accept it. I continue to have my own freewill, but I now choose to let God care for me.
—Anonymous
The Third Step Prayer
14/May/ Filed in: 3rd Step
Some of the best help that I ever received came from my sponsor when he got me to promise to say the Third Step Prayer every morning before my feet hit the floor—and at night, before I went to sleep, to say thank you to God for the gift of sobriety one more day.
He didn't actually extract a promise from me. He didn't come to me and say, "OK, here's what I want you to do." No, it was something I asked. "HOW??? can I do this being sober thing?" I asked how he did it, and what I could do to have what he had, peace and sobriety. So he told me that I could try getting my knees to say the Third Step Prayer every morning before my feet hit the floor—and at night, before I went to sleep, to say thank you to God for the gift of sobriety one more day. In the beginning, I had to write out the prayer and tack it to the wall near my bed. I know it by heart now; I've been saying it every day for sixteen years.
The Third Step Prayer (from AA's Big Book, p. 63)
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!
—Robert P.
Came, Came To
Here's a good summary of the first three Step: "I came. I came to. I came to believe."
I came. When I admitted my powerlessness, I came into the beginning of recovery.
I came to. When I realized that there was a Higher Power who could restore my sanity, I began to awake from my clouded thinking.
I came to believe. When I decided to turn control over to God's and place myself in His care, I began to believe that Jesus really did love me.
—Anonymous