Hope for a New Life
One day out of frustration I cried out to Jesus to be my best friend and for him to mold into the woman that he saw. I was lost in the life I had created for myself and felt empty inside. From that point I tried on my own to better my life. Years later what I had built on my own had fallen apart and I was struggling with the reason why. I asked for Jesus’ help and went right back to doing my life my way, I wasn’t surrendering. I struggled with asking for help because with help came conditions. I thought in order for Jesus to help me, I had to help him. Like I at least had to give him something to work with, but God revealed to me that He is God and He certainly didn’t need my help.
In Step 3 (Made a decision to turn your will and life over to the will of God as you understand Him). When coming into this step I learned that the principles are Surrender, Faith, and Acceptance. These three principles are what it takes to be successful with your step 3 in my opinion.
Surrendering is one of my biggest issues when it comes to the steps because I don’t want to admit that I failed or that I can’t handle things on my own. Surrendering in recovery is something you have to do everyday, it actually takes work from you to admit and accept that you need help and you can’t do things on your own. For me it took the Bible to help me further understand “In my weakness His strength is made whole” 2 Corinthians 12:9-10. With this scripture I came to the revelation that with surrender it doesn’t mean I failed, I am admitting to Jesus that I actually quite tired of trying to make a way on my own and letting him take control over things. Admitting my exhaustion to him lifts a weight off me and provides me with extra strength that I didn’t know I had until I surrendered to Jesus.
In Proverbs 3:5-6 it says to “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, lean not on your own understanding and in all your ways acknowledge Him and He will straighten your path.” By putting my trust in the lord it gives me not only a stronger faith but hope that turning my will over to him is a good decision. If I give him everything, soul, mind, and body he will straighten or correct my path. This scripture helps strengthen my faith that the Lord will not only correct my path but make it clear on what it looks like to follow his will for my life.
Practicing radical acceptance is a good tool to have in recovery. Acceptance over situations in our lives is not easy but with God in control and us walking in his will, we can be at peace knowing that he will not forsake the righteous (Psalm 37:25) and he is truly faithful in rescuing us in our times of need.
The scriptures I paired along with each principle of step 3 makes it a little easier to just let go and let God. Surrendering of my own will and having faith and accepting that He is God and when I give things to Him. He will take care of everything I need. This gives me hope for a new life.
Written By: Eureka Johnson March 2026
