Linda Hiles
Q & A
Did you run? Were there many battles?
Yes, I ran. Sometimes I ran without realizing I had been missing. Yes, there were many battles. The very first battle I went through was learning how to let go and let God. It wasn’t until I learned that the fire wasn’t going to burn me that I was able to spend more time leaning on God and learning from him. I had to change my focus and take myself out of the equation before I could become his fingertips.
What do you mean by missing?
Not participating in worship. Not belonging to or fellow-shipping with others. I spent so much of my time hiding my past even from myself, so that I could learn to be who God birthed me to be, instead of becoming the person I always believed I should be. I was missing, the real Linda, the one God created and told to write.
Now that you have studied with God, what is the hardest thing you have learned?
Staying on course. Remaining teachable is something I do regularly, but in order for me to allow it to permeate my being, I need to stay on course. I can’t expect others to learn from me if I don’t spend myself following the very words I speak. I am quick to repent, but I should be able to stand in a place where no repentance is required. Learning it and doing it and never departing from it.
If you had to do it all over again, would you pass the project on?
Never. I love my time with God. It is the most intimate relationship I have ever had. I would do one thing differently though, I wouldn’t have waited so long to write the book. It wasn’t as scary as I thought. The lessons were only hard because I didn’t know how to lose myself in order to gain his character.
What do you hope your readers will gain from the pages of “Arise, O Sleeper?”
I pray that they will allow themselves to learn from God the best way that they can. To trust in no man but to lean on what God is saying as truth. Have the Holy Bible next to them whenever they read the book, so that if they have any questions they can get the answers from God’s written word. That’s what I did. I read what he said, instead of what I was taught he was saying. Pastors’ start out wanting to please God, but the majority of them fall away from their first love. They fall into that “deep sleep” forgetting what they were taught or why they even became a pastor of a church. God calls us to his side for a specific reason, and we should never question that. But if we find ourselves falling asleep, we need people around us to help wake us up. Believe in God’s word, lean on it as truth and keep yourself involved in it.
Possible Interview Questions continue . . .
Where did you get your most inspiration from as a young child?
I say I got it from my best friend’s father who was a churchgoer, but I really believe that I didn’t gain true inspiration until I was 27 years old. My husband, my three daughters and I lived in Fresno, California. We lived in a rental house owned by a wonderful Christian woman, who invited me to her church home for ladies Bible study classes on Thursdays. I went at first because I needed to get out of the house, but later I learned that I really loved being a good person and I found out that being surrounded by good people helped me reach that goal. The pastor’s wife taught that class and she said something that inspired me for all time. She said, “Every morning when you wake up instead of putting on glamorous clothes and fine jewelry, making up your face and setting your agenda, instead take a blank piece of paper and write your name at the bottom and ask God to fill the page with your daily agenda.” I thought that was so profound. She was my inspiration. Her name is Knar Guekguezian.
Is there anything else you might want to say to your readers?
Do not allow Jesus to come back and find you sleeping. Lean on God to keep you awake, let him remind you who you are and what your purpose here on earth is. If you are surrounded by good people, they will help you stay awake, but it’s required of you to help them as well. Trust God, he’s faithful.
All photography by Linda Hiles
Many blessings . . .