An angel of God, indeed!

For those who seek proof of the miraculous the story of Ashley Smith should be this week's Exhibit A.

ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) -- The woman held hostage by Atlanta courthouse shooting suspect Brian Nichols gained his trust by talking with him for hours and spoke of her 5-year-old daughter in a bid to win his sympathy, she told reporters Sunday.
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Smith said she asked Nichols if she could read. She retrieved a Bible and a copy of "The Purpose-Driven Life." She said he asked her to repeat a paragraph "about what you thought your purpose in life was -- what talents were you given."

Smith said she asked Nichols why he chose her.

"He said he thought I was an angel sent from God, and that I was his sister and he was my brother in Christ," she said. "And that he was lost, and that God led him to me to tell him that he had hurt a lot of people."

Nichols eventually let Smith leave the apartment. She called 911 and Nichols surrendered peacefully to law enforcement officers.

Here is a situation in which two very different people share at least one common belief: that Divine Providence has arranged to bring them together, not as a random act, but for a purpose that they must discern.

The results speak for themselves.

It would be easy to say that Ashley had no alternative but to rely on her faith, but this doesn't explain (1) why her reliance on God paid off, and (2) why so many other men and women fail to call upon their faith in times of crisis. Ashley's witness was the critical difference. Her faithfulness was rewarded.

Not yet convinced? Read a bit more:

"I talked to him about my family -- things that had happened in my life. I asked him why he did what he did. And his reason was because he was a soldier."

Smith said: "He asked me what I thought he should do, and I said, 'I think you should turn yourself in. If you don't turn yourself in lots more people are going to get hurt.'"

After 6 a.m., Smith said she followed Nichols so he could hide Wilhelm's truck and then took him back to the apartment in her car. She said that Nichols did not bring any weapons on the trip, and that she had her cellular phone but did not call police.

Smith said Nichols was "overwhelmed" when she made him breakfast and that the two of them watched television coverage of the manhunt.

"I cannot believe that's me on there," Smith said Nichols told her.

"He told me, 'Look at me. Look at my eyes. I'm already dead,'" Smith said. Smith said she told him that it was a "miracle" he had survived.

"You need to go to prison and share the word of God with all the prisoners there," Smith said she told Nichols.

We're sure that some educated nit-wit is going to come up with a theory like a "reverse Stockholm syndrome" or some such to explain what happened in that apartment, refusing to accept the possibility that greater events were taking place than the wise of this world are capable of understanding.

We prefer to believe that Ashley, indeed, was an angel, a messenger, of God's wisdom. She didn't volunteer but then again, she didn't refuse the assignment once it became hers.

Wonderful.