Alma 10:6

"Nevertheless, I did harden my heart, for I was called many times and I would not hear; therefore I knew concerning these things, yet I would not know; therefore I went on rebelling against God, in the wickedness of my heart, even until the fourth day of this seventh month, which is in the tenth year of the reign of the judges."
Alma 10:6


I think what strikes me about this scripture is that Amulek was like us.  Rebellious, proud, and pretty resistant to things that he couldn't understand.  But the Lord was persistent.  He kept at it, and Amulek finally listened, and understood, and changed.  It wasn't easy for him... he had to take a stand, and it made him incredibly unpopular with his community, and he lost a lot.  But he changed, and he was a better, more powerful, and more perfect man after the tests and the losses than he ever could have been otherwise.  We have times when we harden our hearts, and when we refuse to hear... but the Lord is still there, speaking.  And he never promises us that the trials that we will go through will be easy for us, or that they will be easy on the people around us... but that is what the refiner's fire is for.  To purify us, and to make us great and strong.  We just have to focus on listening, and on doing what we know is right... as little or as much as we can handle... and keep working on it, despite the trials.  One day, we will look at ourselves and be amazed at what we have become... only through listening, and doing the little that we can, every day.