Christian Woman Stops Robbery With Faith

July 30, 2010— -- Held up at gunpoint, a store clerk invoked her faith to turn the desperate thief into a repentant gunman.

When a man tried to rob a MetroPCS cell phone store at gunpoint in Pompano Beach, Fla., store manager Nayara Goncalves, 20, calmly talked to the man about Jesus and her faith until he left without taking any money.

Goncalves said she doesn't know why she began to talk to him about Jesus.

"I believe it was the Holy Spirit of God that really made me want to tell him about Jesus," Goncalves told ABCNews.com.

"I would never be able to do that myself. I would never think that God could use me the way that he did," she said. "[God] impressed me."

A store surveillance camera captured the whole exchange between Goncalves and the would-be robber.

The man entered the store and made small talk about the rainy weather. He asked to see a phone, and then showed Goncalves a gun and nervously asked for the money in the register.

"I really hate to do this," the gunman told Goncalves.

She slowly walked towards the register and started to speak to the man, who told her not to be afraid.

"I'm not," she said. "I'm just going to talk to you about the Jesus I have."

"May God Bless you for that," the robber said in return. "Just know in mind that I absolutely hate doing this... I'm embarrassed I have to do this and I have no choice."

Goncalves continued to talk to the man about God and it started to work. Already nervous and reluctant, the man slumped onto the counter and looked more and more defeated.