"...the Spirit of the Lord had ceased striving with them,..."

I have heard many authorities say something like - It is never too late to repent. True, but...

This is one of those scriptures that let you know that a person can divorce themselves so completely from the Lord that:

But behold, the Spirit of the Lord had ceased striving with them, and Satan had full power over the hearts of the people; for they were given up unto the hardness of their hearts, and the blindness of their minds that they might be destroyed; wherefore they went again to battle. 

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/bofm/ether/15?lang=eng&id=p19#p19

We can go so far away from the Lord that the Spirit will stop working to save us.  I tie this to my axiom of "don't count on it", that someone tests Christ's ability to overcome a pretty slimy and unrepentant personal nature.  We all need to do our best to come to Jesus humbly and fully repentant, not to challenge him like some sumo wrestler for how hard we can make it for him to redeem us. What an idiotic concept.

Any of us can go beyond the Lord's willingness to save you, irrelevant of his ability to do it. We would all do better to work to make our redemption worth Christ's while.

Accepting Suffering and Sacrifice in Service to a Better Future

I looked back at my working life and I saw that for the most part, I have always worked for either a government entity or a government contractor.  I am currently yet again a government contractor so the Donald Trump-pushed DOGE efforts have every chance of affecting me and my income directly. I am going to suffer a bit if efforts at "government efficiency" eliminate my employment.

Regardless, the work of DOGE is absolutely essential to the government downsizing that needs to happen and that politicians have never brought themselves to do.  As long as government is ruled by the puerile desires of those who want to profit of the labors of others, it will continue to lead in the destruction of societies, families, and individuals. 

Everyone accuses the adults of today for continuing the ruination which children will have to live with as they grow older.  Young social justice warriors love to scream this at their elders. I say this is the way to silence such obnoxious voices. Trump and DOGE is working to fix the worst of the systemic problems that make life miserable, practically untenable, and offer little hope for more widespread personal success, all especially for those with lower capacity. Of course, this angers SJWs, for they do not authentically want a fix for these things, nor do they want the hated Trump to be a part of any fixes - it seems that their ten seconds of fame and their "righteous" hatred is all such people seek. It is a mark of corruption at the personal level, if you are marching in the streets and demanding that governments remain large and grasping so that you may profit off of this situation. I was once a professional "do-gooder" and I saw quickly that this wasn't a good thing, both for me as a government worker and for those I was supposed to be helping.

I, for one, am trying to prepare for the economic fallout of lower taxes and the provision of fewer government services upon which I have relied for a living most of my life. There are other jobs to do and service to others should be done outside of structures of force and inescapable government manipulation.

Standards vs. Exemptions

Standards: a level of quality or attainment.

Exemption: the process of freeing or state of being free from an obligation or liability imposed on others.

There are two basic sorts of people, those who measure themselves against standards and those who work to exempt themselves from standards, usually by eliminating measurement. These sorts tend to gravitate to the brightest light or the grossest darkness.

James 4

17 Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.

It is far better to find the best standard by which you can live your life, especially one patterned after the life and teachings of Jesus Christ, rather than the fruitless search for exemptions from responsibility for those around you.