“Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood him.” How many times have we sat in our puddle of confusion thinking how did I get here, again! Turning our will over to God suggests we are not alone in all the decision making. What does turning our will over really mean?
Just yesterday I emailed my therapist saying how did I do this again! You and I talked about it, worked out a plan and my brain still went splat at the exact moment I needed it to remember to act differently.
My green venomy slime oozed out at the people I care about the most. I made a split second decision to act against my integrity. To act nasty to a loved one and take backmy life from the care of God as I understood him. Yuck! Yuck! Yuck!
The Real Work Begins
The real work starts in Step 3. Step one is the admission of powerlessness and the realization of unmanageability. The renewing of hope is gifted in Step 2.
Step three requires a decision to place ourselves in the care of another. Something greater than ourselves.
Decision is a risk rooted in the courage of being free. – Paul Tillich
Step One begs the reality that your life is not working with your will in charge. Coming to terms with that fact, gives you some narrow choices. Like squeezing toothpaste through a tube. Continuing to squeeze and empty the tube only splatters the remnants on the wall. Or worse, the tube runs dry becoming useless.
Exhausted by running your own show Step 3 offers the option to try it another way.
How Free Do You Want to be in Your Life?
Finding the courage to change wells up inside us from desperation not good intentions. Something in us says, Enough! My choices exhaust and frustrate me. How do I change?
Turning your will over to a Higher Power instead of screaming “me, Me, ME” all the time, begins the process of change.
Do you have the courage for that? Daily, hourly, minutely?
The real work begins when Step 3 becomes a daily confession. One of the 3 most famous AA prayers is the Step Three Prayer
God, I offer myself to Thee To build with me & 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 & Thy way of life.
Made a Decision For Freedom
Deciding to trust in God for Jerry and I did not mean we gave up who we were and became puppets. The opposite was true. With a concrete base of scripture as our yardstick, we no longer had to make all the decisions on our own. We choose to come under the authority of a loving God.
This decision released us to be more fully ourselves. When we each made a decision to turn our lives over to the care of God our lives went from closed and scared to open and large.
Freedom requires faith and courage–courage to trust in something bigger than yourself. As Jesus walked the earth he marveled at the faith of a Centurion who understood turning his will over to the care of another.
5 When Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him, asking for help.6 “Lord,” he said, “my servant lies at home paralyzed, suffering terribly.”
7 Jesus said to him, “Shall I come and heal him?”
8 The centurion replied, “Lord, I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. But just say the word, and my servant will be healed. 9 For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and that one, ‘Come,’ and he comes. I say to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”
10 When Jesus heard this, he was amazed and said to those following him, “Truly I tell you, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith.
13 Then Jesus said to the centurion, “Go! Let it be done just as you believed it would.” And his servant was healed at that moment. Matthew 8:5-13
Courage to Change
Courage takes action. “Made a decision to turn my will and my life over.” Are you ready? Do you have to be “ready”?
Nope.
This is a daily decision–no one and done here. Do it daily, just as the Serenity Prayer says,
Living one day at a time
Enjoying one moment at a time.
Many of us have lived without making any decisions for ourselves–living at the whims of our desires or living at the whims of other peoples desires. We were blown around in the wind like a small sailboat in a squall.
Throwing up our hands in exhaustion we said, “why bother?”.
The daily training starts now. Just like the Centurian, we make a decision to come under the care of God daily.
Want to Practice Your Step 3?
Pin this Step 3 Guide somewhere you will see it daily. Chew on the prayer and the slogan while brushing your teeth. It only takes a little effort to squeeze the toothpaste out. Put that much effort each day into saying the Step 3 slogan.
Made a decision. Made a decision. Made a decision. Make the decision as often as you need to find freedom.
Download and print the Step Guide. Pin it up to help you keep making the decision. Get all twelve guides in your inbox with videos. Go on now make a decision!

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