In 1979, a group of students occupied the United States Embassy in Tehran, Iran, and took 52 hostages.

It was one of the most memorable chapters in the Islamic Revolution in Iran.

For many months, right in the midst of that revolution, Tat Steward and his family continued living and pastoring in the city of Tehran.

Their family back in the US didn't know what was happening to them, but Tat and his family watched God provide in so many ways.

One example happened that Thanksgiving.

Two of the American TV reporters from CBS and NBC were in Iran, and they called me and said, can we film your Thanksgiving service?

Well, in my congregation, there were only 12 Americans. The rest of them were from, you know, Brits and Finland and Nigeria and Japan and everywhere else.

We had like 11 different nationalities in that church.

And so on Thanksgiving Day, we met in the German church and we had a little service, and they came and they filmed this.

So here's the thing. Our family had not heard from us.

This was before, of course, internet after the hostage were taken and actually cut off phone connection to the West for several weeks.

So we had no way of talking to our family. So, you know, you'd imagine what they're thinking.

So on Thanksgiving Day, when they turn on their televisions, in the morning services, they see glimpses of us, the kids running around, having a good time in Tehran.

And they see Walter Cronkite brings us on that evening and that there were other Americans in the city that were not hostages, they were having Thanksgiving gatherings.

So all these things began to add up that the God totally had his hand on us and he was even taking care of small things like that.

Jesus never promised his followers an easy path. In fact, he told his disciples that the world would hate them. He sent them out as sheep among wolves.

Jesus' words came true in the life of the Apostles and they're still coming true today in the lives of his followers around the world.

Join host Todd Nettleton as we hear their inspiring stories and learn how we can help right now on the Voice of the Martyrs Radio Network.

Last week we heard part one of my conversation with Tat Stewart. He was the pastor of an international congregation in Tehran during the early days of the Islamic Revolution in Iran.

And he and his family continued to minister there for many months, even during the hostage crisis, during the diplomatic standoff.

To hear last week's program, you can go to our website, vomradio.net. You can also find vom radio wherever you listen to podcasts.

When we ended Tat and his family were finally being expelled from the country, they were being told you have to leave and getting ready to say goodbye to the believers they had invested so much in.

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