A convicted murderer thought the only way out of prison was to commit suicide until he heard God speak to him and now he's sharing the gospel with anyone who will listen.

Raynard Dugger from Washington, D.C. is sharing his testimony with Delafé Testimonies on YouTube of encountering God while he was in jail for murder. 

"My cell was rigged a certain way so that it would close, but won't lock," says Dugger in the video. "And then, when the officer made his last rounds, I was going to leave and go hang myself. I had everything prepared. I was sitting on my bunk and I started just contemplating, seeing it in my head."

According to their page, Delafé Testimonies is a global project with the mission to create the world's largest archive of Jesus testimonies. Their goal is to save souls, build community, and set people free, through the testimony of Jesus.

"I just felt inside there has to be another way. I don't even know where that came from at the time. But, I promise, the moment I said that I heard the voice of God in my cell, 'try me.'"

Dugger grew up in with a mom and dad plus two sisters. While the family went to church on Sundays, Dugger claims he never knew Jesus. He also shares in the video that he didn't feel any warmth or care from his family. 

"It was always about my dad trying to survive, my mom trying to be content with her situation, my sisters trying to make it out here as females, and me, now I'm in the streets."

At the age of 12, Dugger started selling drugs in his neighbourhood and started carrying around a gun regularly. 

"When you're carrying guns, you either get locked up with it, or you have to use it. And in my case, there was a situation where I used it." 

Dugger was 22 years old when he used that gun to end someone's life. 

"In those times and in those moments, where you feel like I just have to do this, I wish somebody would have told me, 'no, you don't.'"

From the moment the bars shut behind him, locking him away as a convicted murderer, Dugger felt hopeless. 

"It made sense because I still wanted to be in control to the point where I was willing to take my own life just so I could still stay in control of my destiny."

Moments before he tried to take his own life Dugger felt God move.

"This voice was so familiar. I just knew it. And it brought so much freedom and joy to me in that moment. [I remember] literally transitioning from crying to about to take my life to hearing God's voice and just immediately feeling loved." 

After this life-saving experience, Dugger felt he couldn't help but preach the good news of what happened to him to everyone in prison. 

Everyone at that time knew me for serving the Lord. They knew me for praising God. They knew me for being a witness for Jesus, even around the whole entire jail."

Dugger shares that it's by the grace of God he was released early and now he has a job, wife, and child. 

"I realize that when you are called by God and when He calls you, it don't matter what nobody got to say. It's His voice that matters. Sometimes I look back and think, 'Somebody lost their life so I could be saved.' I don't get that. But it's not really for me to get because I'm here, and it happened. I accept it. I pray for everyone that I have ever crossed paths with. But I know God called."