Agency

"Agency allows us to be tested and tried to see whether or not we will endure to the end and return to our Heavenly Father with honor. ...Agency permits us to make faithful, obedient choices that strengthen us so that we can lift and strengthen others."Robert D. Hales To Act for Ourselves: The Gift and Blessings of Agency

"You have agency, and you are free to choose. But there is actually no free agency. Agency has its price. You have to pay the consequences of your choices." Diether F. Uchtdorf On the Wings of Eagles

"Because the eternal principle of agency gives us the freedom to choose and think for ourselves, we should become increasingly able to solve problems. We may make the occasional mistake, but as long as we are following gospel principles and guidelines, we can learn from those mistakes and become more understanding of others and more effective in serving them." M. Russell Ballard O Be Wise

"The fundamental purposes for the gift of agency were to love one another and to choose God." David A. Bednar Did You Know?

"Our agency, given us through the plan of our Father, is the great alternative to Satan's plan of force. With this sublime gift, we can grow, improve, progress, and seek perfection. Without agency, none of us could grown and develop by learning from our mistakes and errors and those of others." James E. Faust The Forces That Will Save Us

“Though He ‘was in all points tempted like as we are,’ with every choice and every action He exercised the agency to be our Savior-to break the chains of sin and death for us. And by His perfect life, He taught us that when we choose to do the will of our Heavenly Father, our agency is preserved, our opportunities increase, and we progress.” Robert D. Hales Agency: Essential to the Plan of Life 

"If pain and sorrow and total punishment immediately followed the doing of evil, no soul would repeat a misdeed. If joy and peace and rewards were instantaneously given the doer of good, there could be no evil-all would do good and not because of the rightness of doing good. There would be no test of strength, no development of character, no growth of powers, no free agency...There would also be an absence of joy, success, resurrection, eternal life, and godhood." Spencer W. Kimball From the Life of Spencer W. Kimball

"Agency-our power to choose-is fundamental to the gospel plan that brings us to earth. God does not intervene to forestall the consequences of some person' choices in order to protect the well-being of other persons-even when they kill, injure, or oppress one another-for this would destroy His plan for our eternal progress (compare Alma 42:8). He will bless us to endure the consequences of others' choices but He will not prevent those choices (compare Mosiah 24:14-15)." Dallin H. Oaks Love and Law

"We were given our agency. We must use it wisely and remain closer to the Spirit; otherwise, we foolishly find ourselves yielding to the enticements of the adversary." Boyd. K Packer Prayer and Promptings

"Scarcely an hour of the day goes by but what we are called upon to make choices of one sort or another. Some are trivial, some more far-reaching. Some will make no difference in the eternal scheme of things, and others will make all the difference." Thomas S. Monson The Three Rs of Choice

"Sometimes the Lord reveals truth to you when you are not actively seeking it, such as when you are in danger and do not know it. However, the Lord will not force you to learn. You must exercise your agency to authorize the Spirit to teach you. As you make this practice in your life, you will be more perceptive to the feel that come with spiritual guidance." Richard G. Scott To Acquire Spiritual Guidance

One of the greatest blessings we have been given is the blessing of agency, the ability for us to be able to make choices. Without the blessing of agency, we would not be able to learn here on earth and be able to grow to truly become more like our Heavenly Father. Although we become imperfect beings through our agency because of our mistakes, we can also become perfected beings through this same agency. Because of our agency, we are able to choose to follow the Savior and accept His Atoning sacrifice for us. Because of our agency, we are able to repent and come unto Jesus Christ in order for Him to help make us perfect. We will sin, and we will be affected by the sins of others, but I know that more blessings will come from the knowledge and the ability to become better from those sins that if we had never been able to sin at all. I am so grateful for the blessing of agency in my life and the power that comes when we make decisions that lead us towards our Redeemer.