What do you do when you are in the middle of painful trials and suffering afflictions? You cry mightily to God. If you are disobedient or living in sin, he may be slow to hear your cries, as he was with Limhi’s people, but if you persist, he will see your determination to return to him (that is, repent) and will eventually hear your cries. Don’t give up or despair; keep asking. As Joseph Smith encouraged, “Come to God [and] weary him until he blesses you.” 40 Alma said, “After much tribulation, the Lord did hear my cries, and did answer my prayers” (Mosiah 23:10). It is important to know that our sorrows and afflictions are purposeful. Alma also said, “The Lord seeth fit to chasten his people; yea, he trieth their patience and their faith.” And when we are struggling and our head is hanging down, Alma reminded us, we should remember that “whosoever putteth his trust in him [the Lord] the same shall be lifted up” (Mosiah 23:21–22).
After a time, the Lord caused the burdens of the people to be eased. And though he did not fully deliver them all at once, he blessed them bit by bit, and they began to practice true religion by looking after the widows and orphans (compare James 1:27). As a result of their increasing righteousness, Lamanite disruptions of their society ceased.