The Spiritual Principle of Step 3 – Faith
Faith has never come easily to me. Even though I grew up immersed in religion – from Catholic
primary school through religious college and graduate school – what I carried from that
upbringing was fear. My religious framework taught me that if I behaved badly, I would be
punished and possibly condemned. That fear-based belief system made me reject organized
religion altogether.
I also struggled with what I saw as hypocrisy. I would meet people who attended church every
Sunday yet behaved in ways I found deeply unethical, only to be “absolved” through confession
and a few prayers. Over time, cynicism replaced any trust I had in organized religion. I rejected
the idea of an all-knowing, all-powerful God. And still, beneath all of that, curiosity lived.
In my twenties and thirties, that curiosity grew. Many of my closest friends came from different
cultures, faiths, and traditions, and I was fascinated by their spiritual experiences. Being an avid
reader, I dove into books on religions from all over the world. The more I read, the more I began
to see similarities – humans sharing stories since the earliest communities, looking for
connection, meaning, and common ground. Over time, religious figures, messiahs, and spiritual
leaders evolved, yet the human need for belonging and guidance stayed the same. I started to see
religious traditions not only as belief systems, but as ways people create community in a world
that often feels isolating.
My search for faith eventually took me into science as well. I became determined to understand
spirituality from a scientific angle; consciousness, energy at the atomic level, the
interconnectedness of all things. I explored physics, philosophy, and ideas about universal
consciousness, trying to bridge the gap between the mystical and the measurable. Little by little,
that exploration helped me develop a personal understanding of faith grounded in both science
and spirituality.
Today, faith means something very simple and very profound:
I am not in control and I will be cared for by a Power greater than myself when I align with
that Power.
Sometimes that belief is supported by science or logic. Other times it requires a leap I can’t
explain. That leap is where faith begins for me.
To actually practice Step 3, I followed the suggestion from the Big Book. I started by placing
trust in my sponsor. When that became real, my trust expanded to the fellowship as a whole.
With time, faith grew into a sense of connection with the universe, with all its mystery, order,
and discovery. From there, I learned to trust my higher self, believing that my higher self was
connected to something greater.
That connection isn’t constant. There are moments when my higher self is cut off from my
Higher Power, and those are often the moments when I run into trouble. Step 3 reminds me to return to alignment: with my body, my inner child, my intuition, the universe, and my Higher
Power. For me, faith is formed in those connections – each part looping back to the other.
And so faith, once something I feared or resisted, has become a spiritual principle that anchors
me. It is not blind belief. It is relationship. It is practice. It is trust. Sometimes scientific,
sometimes mysterious, always evolving.
Val B
©2026 Experience Strength & Hope Newsletter,
All rights reserved. Proudly sponsored by OA Foot Steps VIG #09670.
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