The Story of Activate the Cure

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord,

“plans to prosper you and not to harm you,

plans to give you a hope and a future.” Jeremiah 29:11

Joellen Putnam

The Story of Activate the Cure

by Joellen Putnam

There came a glorious time when cancer was in my past. I didn’t think about it anymore. If I did, it was fleeting, and my thoughts went to Jesus and the encounters I had with Him. Today, I am healthy and free, and cancer has no power over me.

After my recovery, I sensed God had a kingdom mission for me. Not a temporary assignment like I had received before, but something bigger. My prayer in that season was like that of Isaiah: “Here am I, Lord, send me!” (Isaiah 6:8). Isaiah was not responding to any specific call; the Lord merely asked without detail, “Whom shall I send?” (v. 8). Isaiah displayed massive faith by volunteering for the mission before he knew what it was. I’m no Isaiah, but in a similar way, I was ready and willing to do anything for the Lord. I kept my heart open, believing that if I continued to follow Him patiently, I would eventually arrive at my destiny.

Waiting patiently for God is what I call “active waiting.” I took every opportunity that came my way¾big or small¾because I knew God was preparing me for something, and I wanted to be ready. Even opportunities that were minor or unappealing, I said yes because I knew the stirring inside me was real, and I was willing to do whatever it took to activate it.

Then, one Sunday morning in church, the Lord surprised me. My pastor had just stepped into the pulpit and was about to begin his message when he told me to stand up. This man has a spiritual gift of releasing encouraging words to others. It’s exceptionally powerful to receive words publicly from someone like him who has been anointed by God. He told me that while I had managed other peoples’ projects, the Lord had projects for me. The Lord was giving me an entrepreneurial spirit and would marry my gifts of creativity and administration to bring forth projects from heaven. He prayed for the fulfillment of those projects.

I was blown away! I had never experienced anything like that before. The message confirmed and validated my heart, and I felt like I had just been strapped into the cockpit of a space capsule ready for lift-off!

For days, I was on a spiritual high—excited, attentive, expectant, ready for launch. But nothing happened. Life went on as usual. Apparently, I needed more preparation in the patience department. Reluctantly, I unstrapped the harness and stepped back into everyday life, resigned to another delay, but determined to stay on-the-ready. Then, after a five-year countdown (yes, five years!), I was finally commissioned.

My kingdom mission arrived in dramatic fashion. God spoke in a way that was clear and direct and left no question that it was Him. I was at a one-day conference for Moms in Prayer International (MIP), a ministry I had been part of for ten years. I was fully engaged in worship, and in a video message titled “A Call to Anguish” by Reverend David Wilkerson. The message was about Nehemiah from the Bible, whose passion to rebuild the wall around Jerusalem was fueled by his anguish over the ruined state of God’s city.

It was a call for action, and we were challenged to consider our own source of anguish. As I pondered the question, I said in my mind, Cancer. The moment I said the word, I received an instant download from the Lord. The whole vision came in a split second—not just the framework but all the details. I knew people who had received “downloads” from the Lord, but never had I gotten one myself. What a crazy-cool experience!

For several seconds I sat frozen in awe, unable to move or breathe. Energy ripped through my core and I realized what had happened. God had just given me my calling¾the thing I had been waiting for and pursuing for so long. I was overjoyed but bewildered; I never expected my calling to have anything to do with cancer.

Cancer was in my past. It was not my identity, and I worked hard to keep it that way. Honestly, I didn’t want to have anything to do with anything related to cancer. But God is wise and trustworthy. He knows how to refine the pain from our past into fuel that powers His kingdom. With it comes great blessing, healing, and joy.

My mission was to start a prayer ministry for cancer fighters. The structure of the ministry was to be modeled after MIP: one hour of prayer each week using the four parts of prayer. I had been a MIP leader for seven years, which gave me the heart of a prayer warrior and fully equipped me to lead prayer meetings.

I was to pray with cancer fighters and long-term survivors who came to our gatherings, but I was also to pray against the beast of cancer—specifically, to pray for local researchers and businesses working to find the cure. God is destroying cancer, and He’s using science and medicine to do it. But we need to invite God into the process or we will never get there. My mission was to partner with God through prayer to activate His plan to release the cure.

Since the impact of cancer crosses all denominational lines, the ministry was to be an expression of unity. Eradicating cancer is a mission we all can agree on. Unity is an unspoiled source of kingdom power, and we’re going to have to figure out a way to harness it if we want to impact our communities in God-sized ways (see Matthew 18:19–20). My previous involvement in statewide and regional prayer movements in New England had established my passion for unity (one of the many ways God prepared me).

Instead of hosting prayer gatherings at a church, the Lord directed me to hold them in local cancer centers and hospitals. He was breaking through the walls of the church to release His kingdom into the community, another long-standing passion of mine. It was indeed an entrepreneurial mission, a culmination of the words I received from my pastor years ago, and one that aligned with my passions and life’s work.

That night, I called my mentor and friend who had been praying with me and supporting me for years as I pursued my kingdom destiny. She believed in me, and she’s one of the reasons I never gave up. I told her simply, “I got it,” without any details.

For four months I didn’t tell another soul about my encounter with God. Not even my husband. I was afraid that if I said it aloud to someone, I would be committed. I was thrilled for the revelation of my mission, but it was intimidating. I didn’t know if I could do it -- if I wanted to do it. One of my mottos in life is “do it or don’t do it, but don’t do it half-way.” If I was going to say yes to God, it needed to be 100 percent wholeheartedly. So I took time to process my calling by studying the book of Nehemiah. (Leadership is one of the book’s major themes.)

In the spring of 2015, ACTIVATE THE CURE was launched at a regional cancer center in Waterbury, Connecticut. Six months later, we secured a second location in New Britain, Connecticut. The story of ACTIVATE THE CURE is another book, but I can tell you that at the time of this writing, thousands of prayers have been prayed for hundreds of cancer fighters, long-term survivors, families, doctors, healthcare workers, and scientists. We have watched God answer our prayers in big ways and small ways, and every prayer is significant and powerful. I have made lifelong friends, reconnected with old ones, and met many beautiful souls.

MIP is in every state in America and over 125 countries. If you recall, the Lord instructed me to follow the MIP model, and He didn’t mention cutting any parts. Talk about daunting! I don’t know if such broad ministry growth will happen through me or even in my lifetime, but it’s exciting to think about all the people who might experience the power of prayer through the ministry. It has started out small, but the Bible encourages us not to underestimate the significance of small beginnings (see Zechariah 4:10). What God says comes forth (see Isaiah 55:11). What He begins He completes (Philippians 1:6).

It’s a joy to serve God and to pray with other -- to be a spreader of encouragement and hope. It’s exciting to see people’s faith transformed when they discover a new way to pray. It’s a blessing to be part of something bigger than myself, and to know I am right where God wants me to be. I will never be thankful that I had cancer, but I will always be thankful that I have a God who not only brought me through it but chose me to be part of His plan to destroy it.