By Shelly Webb

The Law of Cause and Effect states: Action and reaction are equal, in opposite directions. Focus on what you can give, not what you will get.

I lived in Castle Rock, Colorado, for exactly one year. We moved there as a family in late December 2017, and by late December 2018, I was moving back home to Utah with my children.
From June 2018 through November 2018, my then-husband and I were going through a divorce — but we were still living in the same house.
It was a crazy, difficult time. Looking back, I sometimes don’t even know how I made it through.
We had to pack up our house twice in the span of a year. The second time, my former husband was staying behind, so we didn’t have to bring everything.
Knowing we were about to be living in tight quarters back in Utah, I started thinking seriously about how to downsize.

With six girls, we had accumulated a lot of toys over the years.
By that point, my youngest was eight, and they weren't playing with most of them anymore.
So I decided to offer the toys for free on our church Facebook page.
We had a huge collection — My Little Ponies, Polly Pockets, Littlest Pet Shops, Strawberry Shortcakes, and Barbies.
I posted everything, and little by little, people started coming by to pick them up.
It felt good knowing these toys would be played with and loved again.

I believe the Barbies were the last to go — and we had a lot of Barbies and Barbie accessories.
The lady who came to pick them up was very friendly and talkative. She asked me about our situation and why I was giving everything away.
I explained that I was in the middle of a divorce and moving back to Utah with my kids.
I didn’t mention anything about our financial struggles — which were pretty severe at the time.
I was barely able to take cases for my work because I had so little daycare for my two-year-old.
Meanwhile, my husband had taken me off our joint account, which made it extremely difficult to get even the basic things we needed.
I was definitely struggling — but I didn’t tell her any of that.

She left with the Barbies, and a minute or two later, there was a knock at the door.
When I opened it, she was standing there, holding out a $100 bill.
She said she just really wanted to pay me for the Barbies.

I had no expectation of receiving anything.
But my acts of giving were repaid by a blessing — a blessing I desperately needed at that time.

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