Didge,
I was probably a year or so of working closely with my sponsor before I even knew any specifics about his concept of a higher power. It was irrelavent. He knew that it was essential for me to relate with my own concept, not his. As it turned out, his didn't match mine at all. But that was OK. He showed me how to use and develop my own concept.
Page 47 (1st Ed.) says something about 'Do I now believe or am I even willing to believe that there is a power greater than myself?" Then it says that it has been repeatedly proven that upon this simple cornerstone, a wonderfully effective sprititual structure can be built.
It doesn't say anything about the particular concept or make-up of that conerstone. The conerstone is belief or willingness to believe. Well, that's what I needed. A wonderfully effective spiritual structure. OK, I can be willing to believe, but how do I build the rest of the structure? Well, there were 10 other steps that built that.