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The Footprints are only visible when you look back

Writer: Satu-Marianne Piispa
Satu-Marianne Piispa
Jul 30
6 min read

Blog series: One Place of Service That Opened Up the Whole World

In this four-part series, I tell how God led me step by step from "The Wedding of the Lamb" to Israel, Pakistan, and eventually also to the birth of Living Faith.


In this series:

  • Part 1 – What If the Vision Makes You Wait?

  • Part 2 – Israel – The First Door

  • Part 3 – Pakistan – The Second Door

  • Part 4 – The Footprints Are Only Visible When You Look Back


In this four-part series, I've shared how God led me step by step from The Wedding of the Lamb to Israel, Pakistan, and ultimately to the birth of Living Faith.

As I look back on this journey, I realize something I had never even thought about before: you truly only see the footprints when you look back.


Baptism of Fire


Before my trip to Pakistan, I had preached my very first Sunday sermon at a Portuguese-speaking Baptist church in London around 2005. After that, I preached only one or two more Sunday sermons. That was it.


So how was it possible that, in January 2026, I boarded a plane alone and headed to Pakistan for a two-week preaching mission?


God's plan is sometimes beyond our understanding. From the very first moments after I came to faith, I somehow knew that Finland was not the place where I would ultimately serve. I was aware of it from the beginning, and I never doubted it. Everything I have done professionally since then has been preparation for the day I would serve in missions.


was convinced that my entire life was leading toward missionary work in sub-Saharan Africa. At no point was I interested in any country in Asia or the Middle East. And yet, what did the Father do? He sent me to my "Bible School of Hard Knocks" in Pakistan.


Heavenly Teamwork


Since then, people have asked me many times what kind of team I traveled with. I always give the same answer: my team was the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.


In truth, that was all I had. As soon as I learned about the trip, I began asking the Lord what He wanted me to speak about there.


Even before I left, I knew I was about to face my baptism of fire in the calling God had placed on my life—a calling I had been walking in, one way or another, since the very beginning of my faith: to proclaim His Kingdom.


27But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. 28God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, 29so that no one may boast before him. (1.Cor.1:27-29)

In Pakistan, I preached in one or two churches almost every day. The only exception was one day of rest. I had the privilege of preaching to the poorest of the poor. I preached to church leaders, pastors, and evangelists.


Day after day, I experienced again and again that the Holy Spirit never left me on my own. Sometimes I was so afraid that I cried before leaving for the meeting. At times, it felt impossible that I could have anything new to say to people who had been preaching the Word—often at the risk of their own lives—for decades. Yet not once did God let me down.


Nearly 200 came to faith, some were healed, and I was told that in at least one church, twenty-four people wanted to be baptized. Only God can do that!


God's Recommendation


When a person invites you, they usually do so based on your résumé.

God works differently. He calls the person whom He Himself will equip for the task He is calling them to.


I have often said that God's recommendation carries more weight than any letter of recommendation written by a human being. When He opens a door, it opens. And when He sends someone, He also takes responsibility for the person He has sent.


The Brickmakers' Church


The most moving moment of the trip was visiting the village of the brickmakers and their church.


In Pakistan, many Christians work in brick kilns as bonded laborers, actually we can talk about modern time's slaves. Families become trapped in debt that is, in practice, impossible to repay. As a result, the same work and the same debt can be passed down from one generation to the next.


There, in a very humble church, I had the privilege of preaching the gospel to people who, by the standards of this world, had very little. But in God's Kingdom, their value was no less than anyone else's.


Preaching to the brickmakers was especially meaningful to me for another reason. I hardly knew anything about this poor group of people except that they were called "brickmakers." Yet while I was still in Finland, God led me to prepare a message about how a potter shapes clay and why each stage of the process is necessary. I had no idea that I would be standing before this particular group of people, or even that they existed specifically in Pakistan!


The message was very detailed, and I had to study many practical aspects of a potter's work and the properties of clay that I had never known before. You can imagine how grateful I was when I was able to tell these dear people how God shapes us with His loving hands in the same way that they themselves shape clay into a form from which bricks can be made. I believe they understood the message completely because they had a very special connection to the subject.


The funniest moment?


The following conversation took place almost by shouting, yet no one could hear anything while the worship was going on. My interpreter and I were sitting on the platform after the message. I complimented my young interpreter and told him he was easy to work with.


He thanked me warmly, saying that he had never interpreted before.

I held my hand in front of us as if I were about to tell him a secret, and replied, "Amen! And I've never preached before either!" We gave each other a high five.


Why Did the Waiting Take So Long?


In Pakistan, I also came to understand something I had wondered about for nearly twenty-three years. Why hadn't the mission field opened up earlier?


I came to faith in 2003, and almost immediately I became convinced that God was calling me to sub-Saharan Africa, where I even spent three months on one occasion. I was certain of it. But I was wrong...


I do not doubt for a moment that God used those years in my life. On the contrary, I have been privileged to be involved in many things, for which I am deeply grateful to Him.


But only very recently did I realize that He could not send me into the mission field any earlier. Not because I wasn't ready to go, but because I was heading in the wrong direction! I was on my way to Africa, while He was preparing me for Asia...


He never needed my qualifications. Humanly speaking, there was hardly any to begin with. He was waiting for me to let go of my own plans and allow His plans to take their place. And I can say with all my heart:


Nothing in my life has been more worthwhile than giving up my own plan and allowing the Father to accomplish His own plan in my life!

My Encouragement to You


Perhaps you, too, are waiting for something you believe God has promised you. Perhaps the waiting has lasted far longer than you ever imagined.

Don't give up.


But at the same time, be willing to give God permission to change your plans. His purposes are not always fulfilled in the way we expect.

But they are always better.


Lord willing, I will be traveling to Pakistan again toward the end of 2026.

But this time, I am no longer trying to guess what He will do next.

I have learned that my task is simply to take faithfully the step He shows me today. Tomorrow will come in its own time, and there is no need to worry about its steps today.


This concludes the blog series One Ministry Opportunity That Opened the Whole World. Thank you for following the journey! You can browse some photos from my trip to Pakistan in the gallery below. Unfortunately, they are not in any particular order—but then again, neither is life. You never know what good thing awaits you around the next corner!


In this series:

  • Part 1 – What If the Vision Makes You Wait?

  • Part 2 – Israel – The First Door

  • Part 3 – Pakistan – The Second Door

  • Part 4 – The Footprints Are Only Visible When You Look Back



CONTENT:

Satu-Marianne Piispa
satu-marianne.piispa@outlook.com

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