Nephi’s soul is belabored with sorrow. The Lord comes to comfort him. How much greater assurance could be had than to hear God say: “Blessed art thou, Nephi”? Nephi might have been concerned that he had not done enough. He had just demonstrated tremendous prophetic power, and yet not all believed. He had converted Lamanites, but could not convert his own people. He had done his best, and it appeared that his best had not worked. Into this mental conversation comes the word of God, telling Nephi that not only is he blessed, but that he is blessed “for those things which thou has done.” God accepted Nephi’s sacrifice.
Part of that sacrifice was the continuation to declare the word even when it was difficult, or when there seemed to be little progress. Even without the constant reinforcement of success, Nephi continued with “unwearyingness” to declare the word; to do what God had asked him to do.
“Such steadfastness! Such selflessness! Such attunement to Divine will!
There is a phase line in our spiritual progress that, if crossed by means of “unwearied diligence” and righteousness, yields both renewal and reward. We will not even ask amiss in our petitions, and, therefore, our prayers will be granted even as we ask. (D&C 50:29-30; 46:30.) Others speak with justification of the efficiency of freedom, but we can also speak of the enormous efficiency of righteousness.
Successive, small, and connected steps can, with “unwearied diligence,” finally bring us where we wish to go, for God “regards men not as they are merely, but as they shall be; not as they shall be merely, but as they are now growing,... toward that image after which He made them... Therefore a thousand stages, each in itself all but valueless, are of inestimable worth as the necessary and connected gradations of an infinite progress.”
How vital it is that we patiently pursue His purposes for us? How necessary it is to allow for the advancement through accretion that occurs “in process of time”!
Clearly just as the accumulation of small things is, in fact, the foundation of the Lord’s great work, so also are the small steps that bring great blessings. The Lord has both tenderly and encouragingly reminded us of the following: “Wherefore, be not weary in well-doing, for ye are laying the foundation of a great work. And out of small things proceedeth that which is great.” This invitation from the Lord to trust Him enough to give Him our heart and our mind obediently should stir us to acceptance. (D&C 65:33-34.) (Neal A. Maxwell, We Will Prove Them Herewith [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1982], 101.)