"And now Alma and those that were with him fell again to the earth, for great was their astonishment; for with their own eyes they had beheld an angel of the Lord; and his voice was as thunder, which shook the earth; and they knew that there was nothing save the power of God that could shake the earth and cause it to tremble as though it would part asunder.
And now the astonishment of Alma was so great that he became dumb, that he could not open his mouth; yea, and he became weak, even that he could not move his hands; therefore he was taken by those that were with him, and carried helpless, even until he was laid before his father.
And they rehearsed unto his father all that had happened unto them; and his father rejoiced, for he knew that it was the power of God.
And he caused that a multitude should be gathered together that they might witness what the Lord had done for his son, and also for those that were with him.
And he caused that the priests should assemble themselves together; and they began to fast, and to pray to the Lord their God that he would open the mouth of Alma, that he might speak, and also that his limbs might receive their strength—that the eyes of the people might be opened to see and know of the goodness and glory of God.
And it came to pass after they had fasted and prayed for the space of two days and two nights, the limbs of Alma received their strength, and he stood up and began to speak unto them, bidding them to be of good comfort:
For, said he, I have repented of my sins, and have been redeemed of the Lord; behold I am born of the Spirit."
Mosiah 27:18-24
This is a pretty dramatic conversion story, and there are a few similar ones in the scriptures, though this level of drama is rare, and as we know from Laman and Lemuel, even an angel doesn't always make a difference.
My question on this topic though is, does the drama change anything? I think sometimes we see Alma's conversion as some sort of shortcut, and thinking about it today, I don't think it was. Sometimes we get overwhelmed by angels and sometimes we don't, but is the conversion process really different? We still need to learn to see ourselves in a different way, to want to change, to realize that God is real and that we desperately need him in our lives. Like Lamoni's father, we need to ask "what shall I do that I may be born of God, having this wicked spirit rooted out of my breast, and recieve his Spirit?" (Alma 22:15). We have to become new, and that is painful, and a long-term process, whether it is triggered in this dramatic way, or only triggered by our own consciences. Indeed, it might be worse in this compressed period of time, because later Alma (talking to his son) explains part of what was going on, and he says "for three days and for three nights was I racked, even with the pains of a damned soul" (Alma 36:16). We need to have those same realizations that Alma did, knowing that we have "rebelled against [our] God, and that [we have] not kept his holy commandments" (Alma 36:13), but maybe those realizations over time are less dramatically painful than the "sin coma" that Alma seems to have fallen into.
Today, let's repent and change... whether it is a dramatic moment or not... and then let's follow through with that change over time. Alma needed to live differently over the course of his life, even after his dramatic conversion, and so do we. Conversion is ultimately pointless if it doesn't last... if we wander off the path and go back to living without God, then the conversion didn't reach as far into our souls as it needed to, and we haven't fully realized our standing before God as Alma did. And if it is hard, and we feel like it is too much and that we're just not good enough, then that's when we should turn back to God for strength. He will give us the power to stay true to him if we ask for it, and really want that... let's trust in that promise, and in the joyful eternity that God offers us (as an alternative to the crappy eternity that we always end up building for ourselves when left to our own devices).
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