Russell M. Nelson said: “Agency is really not entirely free, nor is it a self-preserving gift. It must be earned and it must be protected. In choosing one’s career, for example, one may choose any occupation one wishes in order to earn the right to act freely in that occupation. I am not free to be a concert pianist because I have not earned that right. (I forfeited that option at age ten, much to the dismay of my mother.) For many years I did the work of a surgeon because I had earned the requisite knowledge and certification on which that freedom was based.
Then, interestingly, with a few brief words from the prophets of God that I was to be sustained as a member of the Quorum of the Twelve, I was free to give up the earned choice to be a surgeon and exercise my agency to obey the new call. Each of us is free to be obedient, and that choice each freely and consciously makes as an individual. (“Obedience and Sacrifice Bring Forth the Blessings of Heaven,” (General Authority Training Meeting, October 31, 1984…From “Teachings of Russell M. Nelson” Deseret Book 2018 p. 13)
