Though Alma the Younger had to wade through much tribulation, the end result of his repentance was exquisite and exceeding joy (see Alma 36:21). The following chart helps illustrate the effect of Alma’s repentance:
Elder Jeffrey R. Holland explained we must realize that the price of sin is high and that though repentance can be difficult, the end result is always worth much more than the cost:
“We learn that repentance is a very painful process. By his own admission Alma said he wandered ‘through much tribulation, repenting nigh unto death,’ that he was consumed with an ‘everlasting burning. … I was in the darkest abyss,’ he said. ‘My soul was racked with eternal torment’ (Mosiah 27:28–29). …
“For three seemingly endless days and nights he was torn ‘with the pains of a damned soul’ (Alma 36:16), pain so real that he was physically incapacitated and spiritually terrorized by what appeared to be his ultimate fate. No one should think that the gift of forgiveness is fully realized without significant effort on the part of the forgiven. No one should be foolish enough to sin willingly or wantonly, thinking forgiveness is easily available.
“Repentance of necessity involves suffering and sorrow. Anyone who thinks otherwise has not read the life of the young Alma, nor tried personally to repent. In the process of repentance we are granted just a taste of the suffering we would endure if we failed to turn away from evil. That pain, though only momentary for the repentant, is the most bitter of cups. No man or woman should be foolish enough to think it can be sipped, even briefly, without consequence. …
“We learn that when repentance is complete, we are born again and leave behind forever the self we once were. To me, none of the many approaches to teaching repentance falls more short than the well-intentioned suggestion that ‘although a nail may be removed from a wooden post, there will forever be a hole in that post.’ We know that repentance (the removal of that nail, if you will) can be a very long and painful and difficult task. Unfortunately, some will never have the incentive to undertake it. We even know that there are a very few sins for which no repentance is possible. But where repentance is possible, and its requirements are faithfully pursued and completed, there is no ‘hole left in the post’ for the bold reason that it is no longer the same post. It is a new post. We can start again, utterly clean, with a new will and a new way of life” (However Long and Hard the Road [1985], 83–84).