There are two parts to recovery: getting clean, and staying clean. Getting clean is comparatively easy because we only have to do it once. Staying clean is more difficult, requiring attention every day of our lives. Yet both draw their power from faith.

We got clean on faith. We admitted that addiction was more powerful than we were, and we stopped trying to fight it on our own. We turned the battle over to a Power greater than ourselves, and that Higher Power got us clean. We stay clean each day the same way: on faith. Just for today, we surrender. Life may be too big for us to tackle on our own power. When it is, we seek a Power greater than ourselves. We pray, asking our Higher Power for direction and the strength to follow it. By exercising and renewing our faith on a daily basis, we tap the resources we need to live clean, full lives.

There is limitless strength available to us whenever we need it. To grasp it, all we need to do is keep faith in the Higher Power that got us clean and keeps us clean.

As newcomers, many of us struggle with the aspects of twelve-step recovery that we don't easily understand. Sure, spirituality is practical around here, but that doesn't mean it's straightforward. We describe our spiritual awakenings to newer members, but the explanations often make for more head-scratching. With most things in life—and count Step Three among these—we can't know the outcome before having the experience. The meaning of our decision to turn our will over to a caring Higher Power is lost on many of us. Instead of applying our brainpower, we need to nurture hope, faith, and trust.

Hearing about the changes in the lives of other addicts gives us something to go on as we begin to develop some trust in NA. We listen to other members talk about trusting in a Higher Power they don't completely understand. We hear from people of faith, people who eschew religion, and everyone in between. According to one member, "Working Step Three is a decision to open a door. I may not know what's on the other side, but I've gained a measure of trust in that decision because I know my life hasn't fallen apart whenever I've cracked open that door."

Trust is a conscious decision we put into action daily in some way or another by sidelining fear and taking a risk. We do our best, but some days acting as if we trust in a Higher Power is all we have to go on. Lots of us abide by a "fake it 'til ya make it" attitude. Along with faith, we take a leap of trust. Sometimes we fly; sometimes we flop. Growth can be a bruising process. We experience rejection or not getting what we'd planned for so carefully. "Sometimes the gifts we receive in recovery come wrapped in dirt," a member teased. But we're okay because we're learning to trust the process. We'll turn it over again tomorrow.