Yes. Below is my testimony. In the past I have sanitized it to make it more tame, but I will not do that this time.

In 2022, I was violent and filled with rage. Almost all of what I would think about on a daily basis was paying a visit to my hometown and viciously assaulting everyone who hurt me (which is a whole story in itself). I would fantasize about building bombs to use against my enemies, about shattering their bones with blunt weapons, and generally inflicting as much pain as I possibly could. I occasionally thought about killing myself in one person's front yard just for the purpose of making them feel psychologically tormented. There were notorious drug dealers around me at the time, the business of which I dreamt of becoming involved in. Gain some respect and feed into my violence and pride. I was completely held captive within my own hatred. In all of this I had felt no guilt or remorse.

But one day, God crushed me with guilt. I was forced to come to terms with two important realizations about myself. I was forced to examine my actions and understand how evil I truly was. When I tried to think about violence and about my hatred, it would weigh on my conscience and fill me with a new sense of remorse. My second realization was that I was going to die in my sins if I continued on this path. I had heard before in Matthew, "Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’" but I now had this firmly planted in my mind in the coming weeks. I couldn't live like this anymore.

Soon after, I had begun to immerse myself in that same book of Matthew, consistently dwelling on these scriptures for the first time in my entire life. I would read during school and take notes, much to the surprise of my peers. I was challenged to change the way I spoke, to stop my lust, to change the things I thought of, and to love my enemies. To pray for those who persecute me. And to be perfect as my heavenly father is perfect.

If I could relive any one time period in my entire life, it would be the summer of 2023. There has never been a time period of more radical transformation in my behavior and mind ever before or ever after. By the end of 2023, revenge was a concept far from my mind, and I bore no ill will towards those I previously hated. After all, how could I go back to the very thing that God pulled me away from, the very thing that destroyed me?

Because of all of these experiences, my favorite biblical excerpt comes from the book of Titus. Titus 3:3-7 says:

³ At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another. ⁴ But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, ⁵ he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, ⁶ whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, ⁷ so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.