Alice really hadn't intended to be late to the gospel meeting, but it was her birthday—her eighteenth birthday—and there were all her presents to open—and—well—she really didn't mean to be late! But when she opened the door very quietly and tried to slip unnoticed to her seat the speaker was already reading the Bible. The first words she heard were: Ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan hath bound, lo, these eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the sabbath day?
These words of the Savior went straight home to Alice's heart. Whom Satan hath bound, lo, these eighteen years, she repeated to herself. That's me! I am eighteen today, and I know that I don't belong to God. If not, I must be serving Satan!
She heard little of the rest of the service. She saw that she had spent all her life—those eighteen years of health, comfort and many other blessings which God had given her—in forgetfulness of Him. She remembered that He had often called her, and she had refused to listen. Yes, she realized now; she had been bound by Satan for eighteen years. She was still bound. How could she be "loosed"?
The meeting ended, and Alice returned home. Still those words filled her mind. She went to her room. Her presents, so much enjoyed a little while before, were ignored now as she knelt by her bed. Earnestly she prayed, Lord, I am all wrong—I'm bound. Oh, show me what to do!
Even as she prayed, a ray of God's sunshine shone into her soul. "Ought not this woman to be loosed?" she whispered. "Oh, that I might be!"
More and more God's light crept into her heart. It showed her that though she was a captive to sin, bound by sin for eighteen years, Jesus had come to preach deliverance to the captives, and... to set [them] at liberty.
When Jesus was upon the earth, He said to that poor woman, Woman, thou art loosed from thine infirmity. He laid His hands on her and she was made whole and well and glorified God.
How very simple and natural it all was, thought Alice. Why should He not set her free, too. She determined to trust Him, and in faithfulness to His word He delivered her from Satan's bondage. She too was "loosed" that very day!