DavidRixNelson.com

• I got a random ping from Brian back in February

  • Disappointed I was out of town
  • Finally got pinged again
  • Then heard the topic
    • “How am I comforted in knowing that God does not change?”
    • Looked at the verses
    • Not changing == perfection

• I grew up military

  • Life is all about change
  • Never knew what was next
  • Motto “Live life by ear”
  • Learned to like the chance to start over every few years
  • Continued to move around a lot
    • Feels weird to have been here so long

• How can I feel comforted with an un-changing god?

  • Just before I started the 3rd grade my grandparents retired to Mesa AZ
  • At the time it really did not mean anything to me
  • Lived with them the first few months of 4th grade
    • Became home
  • Few years later lived with them again
  • Their home became the unchanging anchor in my life
  • I went to their home more often in college than I did my parents
    • Did not help that parents moved while in MTC
  • It was devastating when my grandpa died 2017
    • Grandma moved in with Aunt
    • After 30 years Mesa was no longer my unchanging home
    • The house stayed in the family
    • But not my home

• How I am then comforted with an un-changing god?

  • I was comforted for all those years knowing I had an anchor in Mesa
  • Not changing because he is perfect
    • Small distinction with large implications
  • Looked at the 3 verses provided again

James 1:17 - Good gifts

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.

• What is the greatest gift of all?

  • Pres. Thomas S. Monson

    One of God’s greatest gifts to us is the joy of trying again, for no failure ever need be final.

  • Elder Boyd K. Packer

    Had agency come to man without the Atonement, it would have been a fatal gift.

• Pre-mortal life we were given the gift of free agency

  • Heavenly Father knew we would make mistakes
  • Made a plan for an atonement
  • Asked for a volunteer
    • Lucifer
      • No choice
      • All the glory
    • Jesus Christ
      • Free choice
      • Glory to the father
  • Followed through and allowed death
  • The gifts of
    • Free Agency
    • Atonement

Mosiah 2:22 - blessings and prospering

And behold, all that he requires of you is to keep his commandments; and he has promised you that if ye would keep his commandments ye should prosper in the land; and he never doth vary from that which he hath said; therefore, if ye do keep his commandments he doth bless you and prosper you.

• Eric Hoffer

  The hardest arithmetic to master is that which enables us to count our blessings.

• Many blessings in my life

  • Seriously hard to count them all small and big

• Mission blessings

  • Came home
    • Spent few days in Flag with parents
    • Spent few days in Mesa of course
    • Went right to school
  • Arranged for an apartment
    • Barely enough to cover moving into an apartment
    • No money left over
  • Started back at pre-mission jobs
    • Bookstore
      • First morning did not have enough for breakfast
      • Boss said she felt inspired to give me $20
    • Finished shift and went to McDonald’s
      • Hired on the spot
      • Closing manager gave everyone dinner
      • Sent home with left overs
  • First summer was very hard but made it

Mormon 9:9-10 - miracles

For do we not read that God is the same yesterday, today, and forever, and in him there is no variableness neither shadow of changing?
And now, if ye have imagined up unto yourselves a god who doth vary, and in whom there is shadow of changing, then have ye imagined up unto yourselves a god who is not a God of miracles.

• Albert Einstein

  There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.

• Story of Emma

  • Noticed behavior that matched Neurologist description of a seizure

    • Ambulance ride to ER
    • Nothing found
    • Sent home with meds and go see Neurologist again for next steps

  • Appointment with Neurologist setup

    • Continued to see seizures
    • Shawna caught an episode on video

  • Neurologist sent me right to Stanford

    • This is urgent!
    • Had the week off

  • Diagnosed with Infantile Spasms

    • Rare, not a lot of data
    • Very low chance of good results

  • Miracles?

    • Leigh Ann Henion

      What is a miracle if not the manifestation of light where darkness is expected?

      • Already had neurologist
      • Shawna recorded a video
      • Neurologist recognized problem
      • Caught very early
      • Week off from work already scheduled
      • First round of medications worked
      • No side effects

Comfort of an Unchanging God

• James taught us about perfect gifts

• Mosiah King Benjamin Blessings and prosperity when I keep commandments

• Mormon Moroni wrote about Miracles

• Sheila Walsh

  In these uncertain times, I know 100 percent that I can stake my life on the unshakeable, unchanging promises of God!

• Testimony I can always count on Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ