Exactly 13 years after undergoing a chilling kidnap ordeal that shocked the nation, Elizabeth Smart now says that she has been able to overcome that dark past thanks to the joy that comes with being a mother, according to Today Parents.

While giving a speech last week in Oklahoma City, Smart called the birth of her 9-month-old daughter, Chloe, "the best thing ever." Smart also spoke about how motherhood has changed her life.

In July 2002, Smart was kidnapped from her bedroom by a religious fanatic, Brian David Mitchell, and his wife Wanda Barzee. Mitchell, who was armed with a knife at the time of the kidnapping, would go ahead and rape Smart for 9 months, before she was rescued on March 2003.

In 2013, the 28-year-old Smart tied the knot with her husband Matthew Gilmour after the two met on a Mormon mission, according to The Daily Mail. And although she has given several speeches against trafficking children for sex since her release, her speech last week in Oklahoma was the first time she spoke of motherhood and about her daughter.

Smart also told the gathering that her mother gave her invaluable advice some time back, urging her to live well and leave the painful past behind her, according to the New York Daily News.

"What she said was... 'Elizabeth, what these people have done to you is terrible, and there aren't words strong enough to describe how wicked and evil they are," Smart told an attentive audience.

"They've stolen nine months of your life from you that you will never get back. But the best punishment you could ever give them is to be happy, is to live your life, is to move forward and do all of the things that you want to do. Because by feeling sorry for yourself and holding onto the past and reliving it over and over and over again, that's only allowing them to steal more of your life away from you, and they don't deserve that. They don't deserve another single second more of your life."