The pastor husband of Amanda Blackburn, the pregnant woman who died after being shot in the head at her home by intruders last November, has said he has forgiven his wife's killers and hopes to someday share the Gospel with them.
Speaking out for the first time since his wife's death in an interview with his former pastor Perry Noble, Davey Blackburn said that following Amanda's brutal murder, he realized that forgiveness "isn't an emotion."
"I wasn't ever going to feel like forgiving them [Amanda's killers]. Just point blank: You're never going to feel like forgiving someone for doing something to you that is irreparable... What I realized 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."
As reported by The Gospel Herald, Amanda was viciously beaten and shot during a home invasion on Nov. 10, just a few hours after Davey left her alone with their young son Weston to work out at the gym.
An autopsy conducted on Amanda, who was 12 weeks pregnant at the time, revealed: "(She) sustained a gunshot wound to the back of her head. She also had a gunshot wound to the lower left arm which traveled up to her biceps. She also had a through and through gunshot wound that entered and exited her upper back."
The young woman also reportedly suffered "scratches to her left cheek, a split lip, and a lower tooth knocked out."
Their cases still pending, authorities believe Larry Taylor, Jalen Watson and Diano Gordon broke into the Blackburns' home, stole Amanda's ATM card and shot her three times.
Pastor Blackburn told Noble that while he's still grieving, he is trusting the Lord with his family's future: "At the end of the day, the Lord said the '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."
He added, "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, said he hopes to share the good news of the Gospel with the killers: "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...Imagine if these three guys met Jesus. Imagine the kick in the nuts it would be for the enemy."
