The Third Step Decision is Just That, a Decision

3.
Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God
as we understood Him

“Being convinced we were at Step Three, which is we decided to turn
our will and our life over to God as we understood Him.” (page 60 in The Big Book).

This is a lofty goal for alcoholics and addicts. We have been living only
to benefit us and our addictions. Turning our will and life over to a
God that we may or may not have a relationship with is far from easy.
We have made many decisions — time and time again we decided to
stop drinking or using for good. We made a decision to only drink or use
so much before we would stop and go home. We made a decision that if we
did certain things we would go to a treatment center. We made decision
after decision and never followed through with the action required to
consummate these decisions.

It has been our experience that while working the steps, individuals are
in and working Step Three when they start writing inventory. They have
done the first two steps, the reading, and the writing, and they see how
they have been consumed with selfishness and self-centered fear. They
have prayed The Third Step Prayer earnestly in whatever fashion suits
them and launched on a course of vigorous action. A rocket launches, and
that is how we like to see individuals approach step work, with the same
explosive intensity. In the work lies a conscious contact with God so
much better than any high we could ever imagine. All of us have spent
years and enormous amounts of money searching for the perfect chemical
mixture that would relieve us from the bondage of self. Just like everything
that is truly priceless, you do the work and It shows up. The action taken
in steps 4-9 turns our will and lives over to the care and direction of
the God we discover when we follow up our decision with a course of deliberate
action. The step work confirms our Third Step Decision.

– Anonymous