The pastor husband of Amanda Blackburn, who died after being shot in the head at her home by intruders last week, has said that God will bring good things out of the tragedy.
Davey Blackburn, who leads Resonate Church in Indianapolis, told Fox News that his wife used to restore broken furniture, and would always see the potential in people that they couldn't see themselves.
"What Jesus has been showing us in the process of all of this is that... Jesus Christ takes what the world says is a tragedy, what the world says is trash, and in time he makes it beautiful. And I love the fact that now she's in heaven with Jesus, she sees that end result, because she was always the one that could see the end result in the furniture, and in people, before anyone else could," he said.
"That's where we get hope in this whole situation. It's a hope that doesn't make sense, it's a peace that doesn't make sense, even to us and I know to the world. But we know that she loved Jesus, we love Jesus, and we have that perspective that has really helped us to derive strength through this whole thing."
Blackburn said that Amanda was "loved by everyone".
"She was absolutely in love with Jesus Christ. She loved Jesus, and because of that – because Jesus had changed her heart, and Jesus was living inside of her, he was living through her – she loved everybody around her."
Amanda was 12 weeks' pregnant when she was shot, and died in hospital last Wednesday morning. Three men were taken into custody today in connection with the incident, and a surveillance photo of a possible suspect has also been released. Davey has been cleared as a suspect.
"I certainly understand that that's always the first place that they're going to investigate, and so I guess that was to be expected on some level," he told Fox.
"We don't have anything to hide, and we trust the investigation that's going on. The detectives have been extremely gracious throughout this whole process to us."
Moving forward, Davey said he didn't know what was next for his family – he and Amanda have a 15-month-old son, Weston, and were planning on naming their second child Evie Grace. In a letter to his church in the aftermath of the shooting, he said he would be taking some time to "focus on being a great follower of Jesus, dad, family member, and pastor to our growing church."
He also said that God "takes our tragedy and turns it into triumph", and reiterated this in the interview with Fox.
"We're hopeful in the fact that really throughout this tragedy the best really is yet to come," he said.
"Everything good in my life has been given to me by a gracious God, and so everything good moving forward the Lord is going to provide...But we're trying to figure out what that looks like – what's the new normal for us? How do I father Weston and grow him up to be a man of God as well? That's exactly what she would have wanted in this process."
