The lunch is free... but, work we must!

I find that in the book of Alma, in the Book of Mormon, chapter 34, verse 31, the most mercy-filled and strengthening verse of scripture talking about forgiveness:

Yea, I would that ye would come forth and harden not your hearts any longer; for behold, now is the time and the day of your salvation; and therefore, if ye will repent and harden not your hearts, immediately shall the great plan of redemption be brought about unto you.

Now, when did that say I would be forgiven?  How long do I need to wait?  Is this a joke?

The scriptures and the Lord himself teach and testify to all that IMMEDIATELY the plan of redemption will be brought about in us!  Which is just to say that, we are bought (with a price) and now belong to the buyer/purchaser: Jesus Christ!  Being bought by Christ, we now are free from sin (and death, but we all were free from that even the sons of perdition, when we chose to come to and be born on this Earth...).

My question is: What does it mean to me once I've repented and the plan of redemption has been brought to me, but now it's been a while (maybe weeks, months, or years) and I just want that same feeling of forgiveness that I felt originally, after I'd repented, etc.?

...

Well, frankly brother or sister, it means that you're with the rest of us!  Nobody but Jesus Christ has or will live a perfect life without sin.  The rest of us rely on His mercy to get back with Our God and His God.   All of us, including Him, have to endure to the end!  It's not a free ride back for any of us.  His atoning mercy and power make it so that we can enter back into the presence of the Father AND His atoning enabling power gives us the strength to happily treck back through this life, but it's us--we have to follow His commandments (and remember that His way is easy and His burden is light!?!), have faith in Him, follow the Spirit, and endure to the end!

That's the only way back.  Anyone who says differently is probably selling something...  (Don't buy it!) Luckily for us, we've already won!  The final victory has been won.  Satan has lost.  Now, he's just trying to damn as many of us as he can in these last years (before we come to his final try, after the Millennium and his "loosing").  We just have to hold onto that faith and do His works.  In the words of Hugh Nibley, "The lunch is free...  but, work we must!"

JPS