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FaithfulFin Talk Episode 52 – Made Alive: Grace Over Ground Zero

• Juantrell Lovette • Season 2 • Episode 52

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Are you ready for a true comeback story? In Episode 52 of FaithfulFin Talk, host Juantrell Lovette shares how grace can revive your spirit, your purpose, and your legacy—even when you’re starting from ground zero.

This episode dives deep into Ephesians 2, exploring what it means to be “made alive”—not just spiritually, but emotionally, mentally, and financially. Juantrell opens up about her own rock-bottom moments, the breakthrough that only grace can bring, and how we are each God’s masterpiece, not a mistake.

Key Topics:
• The real meaning of “made alive”
• Turning mess into a message
• Why you don’t have to hustle for healing
• Breaking cycles of poverty—in soul and in legacy
• How to step into your comeback season

Whether you’re on day one or starting over for the seventh time, this episode is for you.
Tune in for encouragement, real talk, and actionable steps for living a life of purpose and faith.

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FaithfulFin Talk:

Breaking the chain, feeling the gain. Now I'm rising. Open the gate, never too late. No hiding Wings open wide, trusting my God, ready to take off, ready to take off, ah, someday, someday. I know I'm moving in the right way. Oh, one day. I keep praying I keep praying.

Juantrell Lovette:

Hey y'all, welcome to faithful fin Juantrell ,Lovette, , and this is episode 52. You guys, I am, for some reason, nervous today, I don't know why. Like all week, I've been nervous. Pairing up for this episode Just been kind of out of my comfort zone and I really, really, really did not want to do this episode, but something kept telling me to push for it. So we're going to go into it. If you are taking notes, if you are new here, I like to welcome you to the best podcast you ever going to come across. Again, we are Faithful Fin Talk. If you are new here and you've never been here, you might want to check out some episodes before to see how this thing goes. If you are not new here, I like to welcome you back to the community, back to our third episode since resurrecting this thing and, like I said, I've been nervous, I've been not wanting to do this, but I showed up today and I showed up ready, ready to tackle today's episode, not just for you guys, but for more like myself, to push myself to go forward. So, if you are taking notes, if you have your Bibles and you want to take notes, that is more than welcome. Our title for today is Made Alive, grace Over Ground Zero, kind of like steeping in from episode 50 and 51, continuing on with the grace topic because that's something that I've been having to give myself over and over and over again is the grace to do this, the grace to be myself, to be authentically me, the grace to come into a space that's unfamiliar, to not look outside of myself, to not look into other people, to not look into other people, to not look into social media, and so what a great title. Made Alive, grace Over Ground Zero.

Juantrell Lovette:

Our scripture focus for this episode is Ephesians. I've been in and out of the book of Ephesians. If you do not know, the Bible has 66 books and I like to dive into certain books depending on where I am in life. Even though the whole Bible is super vital, I don't like to take away and just go scripture from scripture. So I like to study the entire chapter and, like I said, if you're taking notes and you want to make notes of these things, we are in chapter two.

Juantrell Lovette:

This is real stories, real scripture and real growth. You guys don't even know how much this means to me. Watching you guys see me make these videos is not like I'm scared or I'm not ready for this, it's just sometimes I don't want people to see me, I don't want people to go that far into my life. And so putting myself out there really doing these episodes, that ain't nothing but God. Y'all really Building this community, building Faithful Fan Talk, business, lavette, legacy, and everything that stands behind this, that ain't nothing but God. So what you guys see is just a representation of how I'm letting God use me. It's nothing nice. Nothing may look I mean, it may look pretty, but it's nothing nice. Every time when I have to go into my prayer closet, when I have to go into my one-on-one time with God and have to talk to him about what I don't want to do, what I do want to do and make sure that my plans align with his plans, it's not easy.

Juantrell Lovette:

So again, I'm your host, wontrella Vette, and our scripture, our chapter for today, is Ephesians 2. Okay, so, um, I'm still feeling the afterglow of episode 51 and episode 50. Episode 50 was the resurrection episode where I came back. Episode 51 just kind of brushed off from there where we talked about Galatians, and Galatians kind of woke me up. Even just dive into the book of Galatians you kind of want to see what God is talking to you about and not take somebody else representation for what they want to put God on you for. And this is why it's so vital that I tell my community whoever listened to this podcast that how it's very important and essential for you to dive into the Bible for your relationship with God. All of us will have a different walk, all of us will have a different talk, all of us will have a different saying from God, but we all have a creator who love us very, very much. So Galatians three woke me up some things in us. But today we're walking in Ephesians two and it's about being made alive, not just spiritually, not emotionally, not just mentally, financially, generationally, emotionally, not just mentally, financially, generationally, but everything Like.

Juantrell Lovette:

The truth is, I wasn't always alive. I know a lot of people who are not even alive today, who's walking like a walking dead. I used to be like a walking dead and that was one of the shows that used to come on TV and it had a few seasons and I remember when that show came out I wasn't really a big fan, because I'm like, why would they broadcast a show called like the Walking Dead? Well, you'll be surprised how many people walk around dead today, not living, just basically surviving, and they're like thriving to try to do something, but they can't make note of it. So I was one of those persons. I wasn't always alive. I was breathing, but I wasn't building. Building for me didn't come until after the fact when I started living and started to try to even find my purpose. So existing, but not thriving.

Juantrell Lovette:

Ephesians 2 reminds us that our new life doesn't start with effort. It starts with grace. Grace, grace, grace, grace, grace. I'm going to say that probably five episodes in on the way back here, because grace has been something that's just been opening a door for me time after time after time, something to focus on in Ephesians. If you're taking notes in Ephesians two scriptures, one through five this is in a new living translation in LT version. It says once you were dead because of your disobedience and many sins. I'm a sinner, you're a sinner, we all sins. I don't know how many people can go without being a sinner, but it's not natural. It's not normal. I think everybody was born into sin, but that's my opinion. I don't know. But God is so rich in mercy, he loved us so much that, even though we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead.

Juantrell Lovette:

I was dead. I was dead eight years ago, before I started my spiritual journey. I thought I was living. I thought that life, you know, had it good for me. I thought like I was living my best life and things just kept happening back to back, to back to back to back. And I remember just one day I just didn't feel alive. I felt like what was my purpose here? Didn't have a mom, didn't have a real dad in my life, I was depending more on my brother's dad. My grandmother passed away, didn't have anybody to look after me, literally grew up surviving the foster system, juvenile hall, jail, all of these things. And then, to top it off, I have kids on my own, not wanting to raise my kids by myself because I didn't have a family structure, a family to look after me. So, dealt with my baby dad's side, dealt with my daughter's family's side, dealt with everybody's side, and at that whole time I was dead.

Juantrell Lovette:

I was like a walking dead. I was not happy, I was not experiencing my joy, I wasn't doing anything and, um, I remember, like wanting to get in a relationship with Christ or wanting to get in a relationship with God, not even just so much in a relationship with Christ, cause I was kind of nervous and scared from coming into that walk, um, but I remember having that feeling of grace over my life like dang, look at all of this that I'm going through and God is still providing for me, he's still providing people around to help me, he's still providing for me to make sure that I work, just all kinds of things. And that made me realize that he loved us so much, no matter who we are, what we do, where we come from, like his love is so rich, no matter who we are, what we do, where we come from, like his love is so rich that you don't find that love anywhere else. And it was even hard to even identify and understand it because I couldn't even find that love inside of myself and I needed to pour that love into my kids but I didn't know what it looked like because I didn't come from it, don't, didn't understand it, didn't have any familiar ties to it. I was literally like a walking dead.

Juantrell Lovette:

So Ephesians two, you know. Scriptures one through five God is so rich in mercy. He loved us so much that, even though we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life. When he raised Christ from the dead, that's a whole nother story, because I didn't even understand what does it mean to raise Christ from the dead, how he died, this and this and that? But it is only by God's grace that you have been saved, that I've been saved, and so as I go into a rabbit hole, deep dive into my Bible study history and you know the functionality of what it means to study the Bible and get close to God.

Juantrell Lovette:

You go through so many loopholes and you try to stay away from looking like or sounding like everybody else. So I'm constantly asking God well, what do your grace look like? Am I moving in the right grace? Am I doing the right thing? Am I saying the right thing? Am I surrounding myself with the right people? You know and I'm like am I still a walking dead or am I living in my purpose? When I get up and I come and I do these episodes, I think that's me living in my purpose. When I overthink too much and I stay away from trying to do what God tell me to do, I think that's when I'm like walking in my sin because I'm too focused on. What do I look like? What do people see me as? Or am I doing the right thing? And God, be like, just look to me and come to me. That's the grace that I give you. Like, you're safe. I gave you that opportunity. Now come get this blessing right.

Juantrell Lovette:

So the real meaning of made alive took me to like it took me down a loop, because I'm like what does it mean? What does it mean to be made alive? What does that look like? Like are we alive because we're breathing? No, you can literally be sitting next to me, walking next to me, being next to me, and your whole mental can be dead. You can be literally a walking dead. So let's unpack what made alive really mean.

Juantrell Lovette:

Paul in the story is talking to people who had messed up people like me, maybe, people like you and he's saying you weren't just tired, you were dead. But then God in his love brought you back, and not just back to, okay, back to purpose, because grace doesn't just clean you up, it revives you. Pause that for a minute. You Pause that for a minute. Paul is talking to people who have messed up. I don't know if you ever messed up. But I messed up all the time and I'm always, always feeling guilty when I mess up.

Juantrell Lovette:

So when I'm hearing, okay, well, god loved us so much that he gave us the opportunity to come back to life, what does that look like? To be made alive again, back into the purpose? And I constantly tell myself well, if you're going to do something and you're going to work, then I hope that you're working for God. And no, probably God didn't tell you to work for him, but he did create you to be a masterpiece and we'll get into that. But grace puts purpose back into your bones and that's why this episode I'm still talking about grace is because I'm trying to make myself and other people understand that the grace puts purpose back into our bones. I am sitting here in studio Shout out to Chris, shout out to Taylor behind the scenes, who's really like helping me bring this to life, and anybody that I'm connected with, anybody that comes into connection with me. They're really helping bring this vision to life, this vision that I get with God, and I'm like all right, god, what do you want me to do? What do you want me to say? How do you want me to structure this episode, because I really don't have a clue what's going on. I'm not dead, I'm alive. But I really need your grace and understanding to push me through. So grace puts purpose in your bones. It brings peace into your mess. It calls legacy out of places that used to be broken.

Juantrell Lovette:

I don't come from a structured family. I don't come from riches, wealth or anything. I come from a mama who's on drugs and her drug is PCP, shrm. That is like dead people fluid. Ok, I don't have a dad, didn't have one. My stepdad stepped in for me as a two time felon, doing the best that he can.

Juantrell Lovette:

I was already a part of the world, like I'm already a sinner. I was already born into inequity. I was born into poverty. I was born into the worst right. So I'm at rock bottom. How do you go from rock bottom to the top that people say I meet you at the top or I see you at the top, which is everlasting? It keeps going. But how did I get from rock bottom to even being at this mid place?

Juantrell Lovette:

Now, you know, I remember when I look successful right now I'm a little bit successful but I remember when I looked successful but I wasn't successful. I felt spiritually lifeless. I didn't know what to do, didn't have a clue, and everybody around me they like, oh you look good, you listen, it's not like baby, I am moving off of pure strength and faith, you know. So at that point, like at one point, I didn't have success. I really didn't Bad credit, no money in my bank, shoot, I was like getting prepaid cards, you know, no bank cards, no business edict, no, nothing. Like I really come from poverty and so I want somebody to see me tune into this podcast, hear this podcast and be like that girl that I'm looking at, that. I'm listening to Wontra Lovett. She was at rock bottom before. She didn't have anything. She comes from nothing.

Juantrell Lovette:

She faced the child system like foster system. I faced juvenile hall. I faced grown up jails I'm talking county. I almost went to prison for like years for a full on fed case. I faced so many negative things that that could have brought me like down and could have made me stay walking dead. But it's something about God's grace, something about God's grace that really amplified my life to be where I am today. And this crazy thing is that I'm just I'm just beginning like this is just the beginning. This is not even a niche of the beginning of what God has prepared for me.

Juantrell Lovette:

So I was giving, pouring, walking, giving to people, smiling in people's face, doing all this stuff and I was still empty Yep, still empty. Imagine trying to pour into people from an empty cup. Imagine that you're constantly trying to fill your cup with all of these things and and all of these life choices and all of this wealth and all this stuff, just so that you can pour into other people and you end up empty. That's a lot of us. That's a lot of us today. That's a lot of us walking around dead today, making money but losing moments. That was. There were so many moments that I missed on trying to connect with family and trying to connect with certain things, because I was too busy trying to make money, making money that I couldn't even keep because it had to go back out, because I'm constantly pouring into other things and pouring into people, into other things and pouring into people. Does that sound familiar? Because that was my life, but it was the grace that gave me space to start over.

Juantrell Lovette:

Starting over was scary for me. To go from ground zero to glory what, what does that even look like? Ground zero to glory, like Ground zero to glory, starting over, taking everything that I thought I knew, place it into God's hands and then telling God I don't have a clue on what's going on. I don't know what's going on, so I surrender my thoughts to you, I surrender my life to you, I surrender my past to you, I surrender my future to you. I surrender everything that I have to you because you know and I don't. And since you know, I rather get with you because I don't got it figured out, but you do Right. So it was the grace that gave me space to start over from going to ground zero to glory. And here's something that I wrote down in that season I'm not rebuilding from scratch, I'm rebuilding from experience. Grace is the blueprint, and the moment I stopped pretending and started to let God revive the real me, that's when everything changed. That's why I'm sitting here in studio, that's why I'm connecting with people, because I stopped pretending, I stopped being somebody that I was not. I'm talking, I don't know.

Juantrell Lovette:

This could sound familiar to people. When you, when you meet people or when you go out, you know you give them a fake name. Somebody's meeting you. They like hi, how you doing? I want to buy you something. What your name? My little fake name, was Amber. Okay, amber, who is Amber? How can God give me what Juan Trill needs if I'm going around pretending to be Amber? It's not gonna work like so. Ephesians 2, verse 8 through 10.

Juantrell Lovette:

And just when I thought I was too far gone, god's word reminded me of this. God saved you by his grace when you believed, and you can't take credit for this because it is a gift from God. Now, that's a word by itself. Ok, how many people want to take credit for God's grace? He already gave it to us. He already gave us grace. He gave it to me, he gave it to you, he gave it to everybody. But do you know that you have God's grace? I didn't know that. I didn't know I have God's grace. I didn't even know what God's grace looked like.

Juantrell Lovette:

I was walking around, guilty, upset, mad, like why did you put me in this life, god? Why did I have to be born into this family? They so ghetto, they so ratchet, they ain't got no money, they don't do nothing. Like I was pissed that I was born into the family that I was born into, but at the same time, I love the family that I was born into, because they know how to come together, they know how to laugh and how to joke, you know. But we had no grace being extended to everybody or anyone, no grace Like.

Juantrell Lovette:

So I had to find that and I had to find that in God and I had to get with God to know that God's grace was available for me. And I had to study it and I had to understand and I had to ask God what does that grace look like? Because this preacher is saying grace, look like this. And this person is saying grace, look like this. No, god's grace is everlasting and it's a gift that nobody can take from you. Okay, for we are God's masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago. That word masterpiece, I am a masterpiece, you are a masterpiece.

Juantrell Lovette:

But I didn't know like I was a masterpiece, because how many of us have been made to feel like a mistake? I felt like I was a mistake. I'm like my mama, 15, my daddy, 26. The math ain't mathin', the math ain't mathin'. I'm the only girl. My mom had me 1986. I'm the only girl. She had me with a man that was 26 years old. You do the math I never met my dad. Maybe he was too afraid to come around because it was child molestation, I don't know.

Juantrell Lovette:

But I grew up feeling like I was a mistake, not that people didn't show me love or I wasn't surrounded by it, but just my whole position in life being born to a mother that was 15, who could not raise kids, who still wanted to go outside, having a father who was really older, who was never around. My grandmother, she was like a madam, so she kind of had like a big house of a bunch of people. She had her boyfriend, her husband, her baby, daddy, like everybody's staying there, aunties, uncles, because my granny has seven kids. So it was a lot of us in that one place and surrounded by roaches, rats, I mean, you name it. I grew up in Watts, I'm from Compton, and I didn't think like I didn't think I would be in this position today, right. So when I look back and I'm like, was I a mistake? Because why am I here? What am I doing?

Juantrell Lovette:

It was not until I had my own kids and I realized, you know, dang, god's grace, because, having my kids, I'm a stand-up mother, I'm going to show up for my kids, no matter what, despite the situations or whatever the case may be, and my kids being born into families that have fathers, that's God's grace. So that was the first like I think that I could see, like, okay, okay, god's hand is on me, I must not be too much of a mistake. But going through abuse with my son's father, you would think like, this is not the life that I asked for. I want to actually have a family, so why am I going to have a baby and then go through abuse? Right, you don't want that. You don't want your kids to see that. So that's the situation that I didn't stay around from. I never took my son from his father, but that situation I couldn't stay in because I didn't want my son to think that it was okay for his mother to see that.

Juantrell Lovette:

At that point I'm still thinking am I a mistake? Because why did I have to get this type of situation? Do I have to stay in a situation like this just so I can provide for my son? And God's like no, I'm going to extend more grace to you, you're going to be just fine. And then I have another kid and I get more grace. And my daughter's father. He's perfect, he's great, he's a great guy and his family's great, but we just I wasn't ready.

Juantrell Lovette:

I don't come from love, I don't come from a loving family, I don't come from a structured family. So to identify that, I'm constantly leaning on God. Like what is it? Am I a mistake? Is this wrong? Do I not deserve what I see the people have like marriage and stuff? Cause I'm not. I wasn't a marriage girly. I didn't talk marriage, I wasn't like, oh, I need to get married. Like my whole family probably has husbands, like all of my cousins and stuff they all have husbands and stuff like that. And going through this journey didn't make me want to be a marriage girly. That's not what it is. But to be a Proverbs 31 woman is something different and we'll talk about that on another episode.

Juantrell Lovette:

But just seeing my situations and seeing how God extended his grace time after time after time and it's not extending his grace, it's just available. So for me to have to open my eyes or open my heart or open my mind to see God's grace, it's like that's something that you have to initiate, you have to step into, you have to initiate, you have to step into. So, knowing that I'm not a mistake, that it says you're made as God's masterpiece. You're not a mistake, you're a masterpiece. I'm like what, what does that look like? And God's like a walking, breathing, rebuilding testimony from dead places to destiny. So if you're listening and you feel numb and you've been doing all the right things and you still don't feel alive, well, let me remind you this grace.

Juantrell Lovette:

This grace thing is real and you don't have to fake your joy. I did for years. I faked being happy. I faked, you know, being happy about situations and things. I had no joy, I was walking around dead. And eight years ago, when I started my spiritual journey, it wasn't because you know the world put God on you. It's not because of that.

Juantrell Lovette:

I've always been a God girl. But I'm a natural born sinner. Like I sin, naturally because I was born into the world that belongs to the devil. Like, let's keep it real, this is the devil's world, this is his playground. But God being the creator of both good and evil, god puts he's the father and mother of good and evil. So, even though we're born sinners, we have that opportunity and the option, as our natural human selves, to get with God. Baby, I didn't know. I didn't know that the reward would be me rebuilding from experience instead of from scratch. And that's why, for me, I should be here and I should be creating this platform even when I don't have it figured out, even though I don't know what to do, is because I rely on God so much and I don't have to perform for peace anymore. Like I'm there, you don't have to hustle for healing, because it's a gift and you already have access. You know, I didn't know that, but now you know because I didn't know that.

Juantrell Lovette:

So trying to clean yourself up before you return to God is like trying to wash your car in an thunderstorm. It doesn't work. You end up getting wet and more wet and frustrated than when you even started. It's not going to. It's not going to be up to your bar Right. God's not waiting for you to be polished. I may look clean here on camera, but trust me, I'm a sinner. I don't stray away from that.

Juantrell Lovette:

But knowing that I'm a sinner, I'm able to check myself, I'm able to be condemned by the Holy Spirit or, when I can't figure something out or I don't have something in my mind or I don't know, I'm able to go to God without feeling guilty. I'm able to go to God and be like I don't know what this is all about. I don't know what the situation is going to look like. I don't know if I'm going to be able to provide for this or make this. I don't know if I'm going to be able to pay this bill or whatever the case. I don't feel guilty going to God anymore. I don't know if somebody feel numb or feel guilty and I don't know why I'm saying this right now but I don't feel guilty going to God about anything, anything. And I go to God before anything is because I don't know, I don't got it figured out. So he's not waiting for you to be polished, he's waiting for you to surrender.

Juantrell Lovette:

So, before we go into legacy, he can pause and he will show you. Well, this is legacy and this is what I want you to have. But You're not going to have a legacy if you're scared to build from experiences, if you think that you have to build from scratch when you don't even know what tomorrow can bring. You're crazy, like you're crazy. So I'm telling myself that girl, all this experience that you got, that's your testimony. Somebody needs to see and somebody needs to hear that it's by the grace of God that you are made alive, that you don't have to live in your sin, you don't have to be guilty about it, you don't have to be guilty about going to God. So I'm going to pause and we're just going to say a prayer. God, thank you for calling us masterpieces, even when we feel messy. Thank you for your grace that reaches into the cracks of our souls and plant purpose there. It's huge. It's huge for anybody fighting anything or a battle or anything like that.

Juantrell Lovette:

So I talk a lot about legacy now is because that's something where I'm coming from, because I've seen what poverty feels like. I know what poverty looks like, not just financial poverty, but so poverty like so poverty where it's like you're dead in the inside. I've seen families that inherit fear instead of faith my family. But there's one thing that I learned from Ephesians 2. When God revives you, he doesn't just give you a new life, he gives you a new lineage. Right, and so Levet legacy is about that lineage. I don't come from legacy, but legacy is going to come from me, isaac and Peyton is going to inherit a legacy, something that I don't come from. So we don't just rise, we rebuild. We don't just believe, we become Right. So it's very important that you know.

Juantrell Lovette:

If these episodes are for you and you're like I don't know what to do or I'm dropping gems, I'm dropping scriptures, I'm dropping notes that you guys can take, that you guys can notate, that you guys can understand, and you have to do your own work. You have to do your own study, you have to go into relationship with God. Let's not talk religion, let's scratch religion, because you can be from anywhere in the world. You can be from any background in the world. You can praise whatever God you praise. Baby, I don't have no judgment, but it's very vital for you to walk in relationship with God on a daily.

Juantrell Lovette:

There is not a day for the past eight years that I don't get up and I connect with God, because I really don't know. I really don't have it figured out and I don't even want to have it figured out. To be honest, it's too much pressure to know what tomorrow bring. I might try to change the day. If God give me a glimpse of what I could do. I will literally try to switch some things up right. So to stay connected with us, and if this episode shook something in you, you know.

Juantrell Lovette:

Don't let it just stop here. Subscribe to Faithful Fin Talk, join the email list. Share with somebody who needs a resurrection, who needs an understanding, who needs a community in their life. This community is built for just that. So, whether you're on a day one or starting over for the seventh time, this is your comeback season. This is my comeback season. This is Faithful Fin Talk. Thank you for walking with me, thank you for growing with me, thank you for praying with me. Welcome back to the new Faithful Fin Talk. Until next time, you guys, this is real stories, real scriptures, real growth off ready to take off.

FaithfulFin Talk:

Ah, someday I know I'm moving in the right way oh, one day I keep praying, I keep praying.

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Juantrell Lovette

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