Judging by her comments to reporters, I don’t think she’s “repented”.
To look at the other side of the equation, “The kindness of the Lord leads unto repentance.”
Sometimes the agent with the onus to show the kindness of the Lord, is His believer.
I can understand the “strict evangelical” take but that also makes them wooden.
This is also leads, not guarantees first time out of the box. It might take multiple such influences before she gets the picture. Just because Christ did it once as an illustration doesn’t make that the invariant human story. I’m glad God kept on persisting with stubborn ole me when most humans would have given up, because it finally, finally worked, after many griefs and many trials.
At any rate Cruz could have beckoned, even at the cost of the catcalls, but he pushed away, and that moment won’t come back to him. Oh he will keep an “image” intact but that might be the only thing that will hold together for him. This is part why people are seeing more substance in Donald Trump, open sinner as he is. He’s getting his Donald ducks in a row to defend America from some very real risks, and getting a consensus behind the need and the will to do it. This consensus is important because it will echo in other political races.