Pastor of Murdered Pregnant Wife Says He Chooses Forgiveness: 'Bitterness Will Destroy My Soul'

A worshipper holds a prayer book at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina, in 2013 | (Photo: Reuters/Randall Hill)

The husband of a woman recently shot and killed during a home invasion has spoken out regarding forgiveness of the perpetrators who carried out the heinous crime against his wife.

Davey Blackburn, a pastor and husband to deceased wife Amanda Blackburn, recently said in an interview that he chooses forgiveness for his wife's murderers because "going down the path of bitterness" would "destroy my soul and it will destroy everybody around me."

Blackburn returned home from the gym in the early morning hours of November 10 to find his 28-year-old pregnant wife, Amanda, had been shot in the head and raped during a home invasion.

Three suspects have been arrested in connection with Blackburn's murder, and an additional two suspects are being held on suspicion of their involvement in the crime.

Davey, who is the pastor and founder of Resonate Church, added in an interview with "Fox & Friends" that he is going to make the "daily decision" to forgive the men who took his wife's life.

"If you wait to feel like you're ready to forgive, then you're never really going to be able to forgive," Blackburn said.

"We're going to have to wake up every single day and face that decision over and over and over for the rest of our lives," the pastor continued, adding "So today, I choose forgiveness, and I pray that tomorrow I can wake up and choose forgiveness by the power of Jesus Christ."

The pastor also released a statement saying "Today I am deciding to love, not hate. Today I am deciding to extend forgiveness, not bitterness. Today I am deciding to hope, not despair. By Jesus' power at work within us, the best is still yet to come."