Al-Matalib al-'Aliyah 3255 — Repentance and seeking forgiveness

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Abu Musa al-Ash'ari (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Allah Almighty is more pleased with the repentance of His servant who has wronged himself excessively (by committing sins) than a man whose mount was lost (during a journey), who then ran about right and left in the effort to search for it until he became exhausted, or despaired completely of finding it; and when he had come near to perishing (from intense thirst and hunger), suddenly his eye fell upon it, and he found his mount in a place where he had no hope at all of finding it. So Allah, the Mighty and Majestic, is more pleased with the repentance of His sinful servant than that man was at finding his mount."
Imam Abu Ya'la narrated it; all the men of its chain are thiqat (trustworthy) and narrators of the two Sahihs.