After God's Own Heart

I'm still studying the life of David. Last night I was reading about when Absalom was killed. Of course just a couple chapters back was his sin with Bathsheba. Here's a man who the Lord through Samuel called a man after God's own heart. Yet David failed miserably. He committed adultry. He had Uriah murdered. He was a lousy parent, not correcting his children even when their wrong was as serious as Amnon raping Tamar. Sometimes he saw his wrong soon after his sin, and he repented right then. Sometimes it took a very long time before he realized how he had sinned, but then he repented. I think that's part of the key. He was no better a person than any of us. He sinned, and he sinned big. But he humbly threw himself upon the mercy of God and begged for forgiveness. He realized that God was the one in charge, and that it was only by God's work in his life that he held the position of king and had success in life. This seems to be a theme that I'm picking up through Judges and the books of Samuel. God kept taking sinful people and using them to bring glory to Himself. I guess there's a lot of hope there for us all. If I want to be a woman after God's own heart, then when I sin again I must humbly repent and throw myself on God's mercy. It's then that God will be strong in my life, and others will know Him through me.