The result of asking Jehovah for assistance was answered through the director. New words were written upon the ball. Nephi doesn’t tell us where they were written, or what they said. Nephi specifically notes that that the pointers, or the spindles, worked according to faith. This is the first time he provides us with that understanding, although it is probable that the family understood that prior to his time.
Nephi’s point is that Lehi takes his position as mouthpiece for Jehovah, and receives divine guidance through the medium of the divinely-provided ball, or director.
After Nephi mentions that there was new writing, he briefly leaves his temporal narrative and adds information that came from later experience. Even though he has been telling the story in basically chronological sequence, from time to time he will step out of that strict chronology. He does that here by noting that what was written changed from time to time. That statement required experience he had not yet had at this point in the story.
Nephi ends that very short aside with a moralization, “and thus we see that by small means the Lord can bring about great things.” As miraculous as it sounds to us, Nephi considered the workings of the director to be a small thing.