After reading the transcript of what Ashley Smith said to reporters yesterday, I think she does.

Smith was held at gunpoint for several hours by Brian Nichols – the man who killed four people after escaping from guards before his trial in an Atlanta courthouse Friday morning.

Authorities had no clue of his whereabouts until early Saturday morning when Smith called police after Nichols let her walk free from her apartment.

Why did he not harm her after killing others? Why did he even choose to approach Smith at her apartment complex in a very populated area? And why did he let her go – knowing she would call police – and then surrender himself without incident?

My pure opinion says that only God could bring such an amazing end to such a violent beginning.

According to Ashley, Nichols become very calm after several hours with her. Not that she wasn’t scared to death, she did want to gain his trust, so she engaged him in conversation. She stated, “But after we began to talk, he said he thought that I was an angel sent from God. . . .And that he was lost and God lead him right to me to tell him that he had hurt a lot of people. And the families — the people — to let him know how they felt, because I had gone through it myself.“ Ashley Smith’s husband had died four years earlier from stab wounds – himself brutally murdered. She spent much of the time sharing her own story with Nichols. Obviously the Lord used her story to impact him.

And, check this out: She also read him passages from the Bible and a devotional book called The Purpose Driven Life!

Ashley Smith said, “He needed hope for his life. He told me that he was already dead. He said, “Look at me, look at my eyes. I am already dead.”
And I said, “You are not dead. You are standing right in front of me. If you want to die, you can. It’s your choice.”But after I started to read to him, he saw — I guess he saw my faith and what I really believed in. And I told him I was a child of God and that I wanted to do God’s will. I guess he began to want to. That’s what I think.”

That’s what I think too, Ashley.

The full transcript is online at CNN.com. It’s pretty amazing.