The Christian Narrow Gate?

Can a true Christian elaborate on this? My contention is that like Jesus proclaimed "few will find it" based on true repentance of sins, which is a part of the forgiveness He brings. I feel that by through God's word, our sins are revealed and then we must repent. I often debate a fellow Christian on this, she maintains that we all desire sin and in effect remain in this state (Romans 7) but does not understand that true repentance comes from being saved. It isn't a wishy washy proclamation to believe in Jesus that he died for our sins, if the Holy Spirit enters your heart and your proclamation is heart driven (internal) and God's knows the heart, taking the order of the Holy Spirit to be an obedient servant, I believe at this point you are actually saved and then we can pursue total righteousness instead of sin. Can anyone explain this better? Other words the born again sentiment as stated in the Gospel message.