The pastor husband of Amanda Blackburn, who died after being shot in the head at her home by intruders last November, has said he has forgiven her killers and wants to share his faith with them.
In an interview with his former pastor Perry Noble, Davey Blackburn said in the aftermath of his wife's death, "What I realised was that forgiveness isn't an emotion."
"I wasn't ever going to feel like forgiving them [Amander's killers]. Just point blank: You're never going to feel like forgiving someone for doing something to you that is irreparable... What I realised is that forgiveness is a decision. And it's not just a one-time decision. It's a daily decision.
"Everyday I have to wake up... and I have to decide to forgive. And here's why I decided to decide to forgive: it's because bitterness and unforgiveness is going to be a cancer to no one else except for me. And it's going to eat me up inside if I hang on to that."
He continued: "At the end of the day, the Lord said is 'Revenge is mine'. On this side of eternity, who knows what's going to happen. But on the other side of eternity, Jesus is going to restore and make all things bad completely untrue, and so he's going to take care of vengeance, all I have to do is trust that he's got all this in control.
"The cross was a verse for a moment: The valley of the shadow of death. Where all of Jesus' disciples could have raised up and said: 'We've got to get revenge, we've got to have retribution'. The resurrection shows us that God is a much better avenger than we are. And he brings life into it, he doesn't bring death into it."
Blackburn, who leads Resonate Church in Indianapolis, added: "I know this sounds crazy, and I honestly don't know how I'm going to do it outside the grace of God, but I really hope I get the opportunity to share the gospel with these guys," Blackburn added. "Imagine if these three guys met Jesus. Imagine the kick in the nuts it would be for the enemy."
Amanda was 12 weeks' pregnant when she was shot on November 10, and died in hospital. Three men – Larry Taylor, Jalen Watson and Diono Gordon – are facing charges for her murder.
