Hey, this is Amber, and today I am owning something I kept quiet for a very long time. I had an eating disorder. And just like many of my sisters, I still struggle with body image — every single day. I have to shake it off myself, continually. I'm saying that out loud because someone needs to hear someone else say it first.

We're talking about your big but today — the thing hiding behind your purpose — and mine was my body. For years. From the little girl put on her first diet before she even had the words for it, all the way to a grown woman sneaking to bathrooms and stepping on scales three times a day and letting a number decide whether she was worth anything.

When I ended up in the psych ward for something completely separate, the medication they put me on changed my body in ways I couldn't control. And every single day I had to make the hardest choice — is my stability worth more than a number on a scale? I chose sanity. Every day I chose it. And I'd choose it again.

But I still ended up crying in a makeup chair before my first book headshots thinking if my face was pretty enough maybe nobody would notice the rest of me. And I sat across from my speaking coach and said out loud — I don't think anyone would want to listen to me because of how I look. If any part of this podcast description hits close to home, tune in.

If this is your story too, please reach out to the National Alliance for Eating Disorders at 1-866-662-1235.

Amber Weigand-Buckley is an Amazon #1 bestselling and multi-award-winning author, podcaster, and the founding editor and art director of the multi-award-winning Leading Hearts magazine. She's the #shortyellowpencilgirl living in a neurotypical world — navigating life with a beehive brain, a lot of sticky notes, and an unwavering belief that God wired her exactly right.

Host of #RandomDevoThoughts — where she unpacks the Jesus heart from the ADHD mind — Amber brings raw, relatable, and often hilarious insight to faith, mental health, and neurodivergent life. She's also co-host of Coffee Chat with Amber & Lisa.

Her newly released book, #SisterhoodoftheShortYellowPencils: Mental Health Mayhem, One Sticky Note at a Time, is out now — a humor-packed, gut-punch honest look at her own mental health journey that's equal parts laugh-out-loud and life-changing.

Follow her @barefacedgirl and @shortyellowpencilRX for the real, the raw, and the ridiculous.

This is the official kick-off of Season 2 — celebrating the release of #sisterhoodoftheshortyellowpencils: Mental Health Mayhem, One Sticky Note at a Time. Today I just happened to be doing some normal book promo stuff — digging through old photos — when I found a picture from May 2012 and my whole body just went weird. Dizzy. Like the floor shifted. Because I almost didn't recognize her. Not because she looked different. Because I am different.

This episode, I'm taking you somewhere that doesn't have a punchline. No jokes today. Just the real stuff — where I was, what God did with it, and why in 10 days I'll be standing in Times Square in complete awe of how far this story has come.

If you've ever walked through something that broke you and wondered whether God could actually do anything with it — this one's for you.

In this episode:

• The photo that stopped me cold
• A mountain, a cliff, and the truth about where I was in 2012
• A roommate I'd just met who changed everything without even knowing it
• What "not staying silent" actually costs — and why it's worth it
• Psalm 139:16 and why every single day was already written, even that one

⚠️ This episode talks honestly about mental health and crisis. If you or someone you love is struggling right now, please call or text 988. Licensed counselors are there 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

📖 Sisterhood of the Short Yellow Pencils is available now on Amazon.

Amber Weigand-Buckley is an Amazon #1 bestselling and multi-award-winning author, podcaster, and the founding editor and art director of the multi-award-winning Leading Hearts magazine. She's the #shortyellowpencilgirl living in a neurotypical world — navigating life with a beehive brain, a lot of sticky notes, and an unwavering belief that God wired her exactly right.

Host of #RandomDevoThoughts — where she unpacks the Jesus heart from the ADHD mind — Amber brings raw, relatable, and often hilarious insight to faith, mental health, and neurodivergent life. She's also co-host of Coffee Chat with Amber & Lisa.

Her newly released book, #SisterhoodoftheShortYellowPencils: Mental Health Mayhem, One Sticky Note at a Time, is out now — a humor-packed, gut-punch honest look at her own mental health journey that's equal parts laugh-out-loud and life-changing.

Follow her @barefacedgirl and @shortyellowpencilRX for the real, the raw, and the ridiculous.

Hey friends, this week we're doing something different. It's launch week for my brand new book #sisterhoodoftheshortyellowpencils: Mental Health Mayhem, One Sticky Note at a Time and I am reading straight from Chapter 4 — "You Meet the Most Unstable People in Lockdown (Then You Realize You're One of Them.)" From red scrubs and sporks to sticky note poetry on a psych ward floor, this chapter will make you laugh, wreck you a little, and remind you that the line between us and them isn't just thin — it's imaginary. This is the Breakfast Club for the Unstable and I saved you a seat. Special edition. Real talk. No filters. Let's go. ✏️💛

Amber Weigand-Buckley is an Amazon #1 bestselling and multi-award-winning author, podcaster, and the founding editor and art director of the multi-award-winning Leading Hearts magazine. She's the #shortyellowpencilgirl living in a neurotypical world — navigating life with a beehive brain, a lot of sticky notes, and an unwavering belief that God wired her exactly right.

Host of #RandomDevoThoughts — where she unpacks the Jesus heart from the ADHD mind — Amber brings raw, relatable, and often hilarious insight to faith, mental health, and neurodivergent life. She's also co-host of Coffee Chat with Amber & Lisa.

Her newly released book, #SisterhoodoftheShortYellowPencils: Mental Health Mayhem, One Sticky Note at a Time, is out now — a humor-packed, gut-punch honest look at her own mental health journey that's equal parts laugh-out-loud and life-changing.

Follow her @barefacedgirl and @shortyellowpencilRX for the real, the raw, and the ridiculous.

What does it actually mean to be strong? Because if I’m honest… I didn’t learn it from a book. I learned it in a kilt.

In this episode of #RandomDevoThoughts, I’m going back to a place that started building me long before I had language for what it was doing—a sisterhood of girls, the Central High School Kilties Drum, Bugle and Bagpipe Corps from Springfield. Missouri, who showed up, stood shoulder to shoulder, and kept going… even when everything in us wanted to stop. This weekend we're celebrating 100 years of that legacy passed down.

This isn’t just a story about high school.

It’s about:
– the people who bring you in when you don’t have what you need 
– the friendships that shape the rest of your life 
– the things you don’t think you can do… until you do them anyway 
– and the kind of strength that gets built quietly, over time 

If you’re a Kiltie (past or present), this one will feel like home.

If you’ve ever been part of something that pushed you, carried you, and didn’t let you quit… this is your story too.

Because here’s the truth: You don’t stop being part of something that built you like that. 

And maybe the strength you’re looking for isn’t something you have to go find…

maybe it’s something that’s already been built into you.

Press play and come sit with me for this one.

00:00 — These Are Not Two Separate Stories 
01:20 — The Moment I Didn’t See Coming 
02:40 — This Was… Different 
03:50 — I Wasn’t Supposed to Be There (But I Was) 
05:10 — The Friend I Wasn’t Letting Go Of 
06:20 — I Picked It Up… and Something Happened 
07:40 — My Brain Didn’t Know… But Something Else Did 
09:10 — Apparently, I Was Yellow the Whole Time 
10:20 — The Part Nobody Prepares You For 
11:15 — The Words That Stayed With Me 
12:00 — You Don’t Stop When You Think You Should 
13:10 — I Heard It Again… Years Later 
14:10 — This Shouldn’t Connect… But It Does 
15:10 — This Is What Actually Builds You

Amber Weigand-Buckley is an Amazon #1 bestselling and multi-award-winning author, podcaster, and the founding editor and art director of the multi-award-winning Leading Hearts magazine. She's the #shortyellowpencilgirl living in a neurotypical world — navigating life with a beehive brain, a lot of sticky notes, and an unwavering belief that God wired her exactly right.

Host of #RandomDevoThoughts — where she unpacks the Jesus heart from the ADHD mind — Amber brings raw, relatable, and often hilarious insight to faith, mental health, and neurodivergent life. She's also co-host of Coffee Chat with Amber & Lisa.

Her newly released book, #SisterhoodoftheShortYellowPencils: Mental Health Mayhem, One Sticky Note at a Time, is out now — a humor-packed, gut-punch honest look at her own mental health journey that's equal parts laugh-out-loud and life-changing.

Follow her @barefacedgirl and @shortyellowpencilRX for the real, the raw, and the ridiculous.

What happens when God unlocks you at 50-something and you realize the key was there the whole time — and you're both laughing and crying? That's exactly where we're landing today. This is the finale of the Revealed in the Making series, and honestly? It's the one I didn't know I needed until I said it out loud.

We're talking about the difference between healing and unlocking. Because some things weren't broken — they were just waiting. We're talking about a prophetic word I held for years that I couldn't decode until I started living it. And we're talking about why you don't have to wait for the end-of-life highlight reel to finally see what God has been doing in you all along.

"Coming into agreement with what God says about you is not pride. It's obedience."

What we get into

01

The kind of proud that's actually obedience

I say something I've never said in my entire writing life — I am genuinely proud of this book. Not the "I did something great on my own" pride. The "I am proud of the girl God made me to be" kind. There's a difference, and we're going there.

02

Healing vs. unlocking — and why the word matters

Healing implies something was broken. But some things were never broken — they were just locked, covered over, sitting in the dark. A wound needs to be cleaned and closed. A lock just needs a key. God wasn't only healing me. He was unlocking me.

03

The prophetic word I held for years

A woman in a prayer meeting — didn't know me, didn't know my story — said I'd be "one of the most influential journalists of our time." I thought she meant journalism. She didn't. It took years of living it before I understood what it actually meant.

04

Getting over myself (with a nudge, not a slap)

I went into this book season done. Deflated. The quiet kind of deflated that doesn't make noise — it just goes silent. And then God basically said: are you ready yet? Because freedom doesn't release you until you get out of your own way.

05

Seeing the pattern now, not at the end

Everybody talks about seeing it all line up in that tunnel-of-light moment at the end of your life. I don't wanna wait for that. I want to see it on this side of heaven — the stones lining up in real time, while I'm still being made.

Amber Weigand-Buckley is an Amazon #1 bestselling and multi-award-winning author, podcaster, and the founding editor and art director of the multi-award-winning Leading Hearts magazine. She's the #shortyellowpencilgirl living in a neurotypical world — navigating life with a beehive brain, a lot of sticky notes, and an unwavering belief that God wired her exactly right.

Host of #RandomDevoThoughts — where she unpacks the Jesus heart from the ADHD mind — Amber brings raw, relatable, and often hilarious insight to faith, mental health, and neurodivergent life. She's also co-host of Coffee Chat with Amber & Lisa.

Her newly released book, #SisterhoodoftheShortYellowPencils: Mental Health Mayhem, One Sticky Note at a Time, is out now — a humor-packed, gut-punch honest look at her own mental health journey that's equal parts laugh-out-loud and life-changing.

Follow her @barefacedgirl and @shortyellowpencilRX for the real, the raw, and the ridiculous.

What if the thing you've been calling humility is actually just fear in a really cute outfit? Yeah. We're going there.

I spent years handing the mic to other people and honestly? I was really good at making it sound noble. Servant-hearted. Humble even. But God has a way of pulling back the curtain on the stories we tell ourselves, and this episode is about the moment He pulled back mine.

We're talking about stage nerves, hating your own voice, the enemy's favorite trick when women start stepping into their calling, and why the Holy Spirit doesn't show up where you think He does. There's a moment in here that changed everything for me and I have a feeling it might do something in you, too.

This is part three of the Revealed in the Making series. If you haven't started from the beginning, go back — it'll hit different if you do. But if you're ready, friend, press play. This one's for the woman who's been sitting on something and keeps telling herself she's just not ready yet.

Spoiler: you're more ready than you think.

00:00 — Welcome Back to the Chaos
00:44 — The Episode That Started With Almost Throwing Up
01:51 — The Story I Told Myself for Years
03:04 — Where the Holy Spirit Actually Shows Up
04:15 — What Happens When Women Stop Being Quiet
05:06 — Why You Are Not in Competition With Her
07:50 — The Real Reason We Keep Handing the Mic Away
08:46 — Okay But Seriously — Take It
09:37 — A Prayer for the Woman Sitting on Something
10:24 — One Last Thing Before You Go
11:07 — The Book Is Coming and I Want You In on It
11:41 — Go Share This With Her

Amber Weigand-Buckley is an Amazon #1 bestselling and multi-award-winning author, podcaster, and the founding editor and art director of the multi-award-winning Leading Hearts magazine. She's the #shortyellowpencilgirl living in a neurotypical world — navigating life with a beehive brain, a lot of sticky notes, and an unwavering belief that God wired her exactly right.

Host of #RandomDevoThoughts — where she unpacks the Jesus heart from the ADHD mind — Amber brings raw, relatable, and often hilarious insight to faith, mental health, and neurodivergent life. She's also co-host of Coffee Chat with Amber & Lisa.

Her newly released book, #SisterhoodoftheShortYellowPencils: Mental Health Mayhem, One Sticky Note at a Time, is out now — a humor-packed, gut-punch honest look at her own mental health journey that's equal parts laugh-out-loud and life-changing.

Follow her @barefacedgirl and @shortyellowpencilRX for the real, the raw, and the ridiculous.

No motivation? Same.

I’ve been in a fog lately—the kind where your get up and go doesn’t just slow down… it disappears. And if I’m being honest, sometimes it dips into something heavier—like putting up the shutters on life itself and closing out everything of light on the other side.

And the tricky part?
 Sometimes, it doesn’t feel like giving up.
 Sometimes we think we are getting the time out we need...when in reality, what we’re calling “mental health days” can quietly start burying us deeper and deeper.

In this episode of Revealed in the Making, I’m talking through that space—where burnout, mental fog, and faith all collide… and where it’s hard to tell the difference between actually resting and quietly staying stuck.

Because the cave is real.
 But don’t stay in the dark cave of your mind… you weren’t meant to live there.

I’m not coming at this from the other side.
 I’m walking this out in real time.

00:00 — Welcome to Random Devo Thoughts
Setting the tone + what this space is

00:40 — When Your Get Up and Go Leaves Without You
That fog where everything feels optional

02:10 — When “Rest” Starts Lying to You
Why staying stuck can feel like self-care

03:30 — The Cave Is Real (But It’s Not Home)
Bible moment: David, the cave, and the call to move

05:00 — Your Feelings Aren’t Always Fighting For You
The quiet shift no one warns you about

06:45 — What This Looked Like for Me This Week
Walking, windows, small intentional choices

08:30 — Finding the Crack in the Pavement
How tiny movement starts everything

10:15 — Don’t Stay in the Cave of Your Mind
Truth + tension + turning toward the light

11:30 — Prayer for the Fog

12:45 — Outro + Where to Find Me

Amber Weigand-Buckley is an Amazon #1 bestselling and multi-award-winning author, podcaster, and the founding editor and art director of the multi-award-winning Leading Hearts magazine. She's the #shortyellowpencilgirl living in a neurotypical world — navigating life with a beehive brain, a lot of sticky notes, and an unwavering belief that God wired her exactly right.

Host of #RandomDevoThoughts — where she unpacks the Jesus heart from the ADHD mind — Amber brings raw, relatable, and often hilarious insight to faith, mental health, and neurodivergent life. She's also co-host of Coffee Chat with Amber & Lisa.

Her newly released book, #SisterhoodoftheShortYellowPencils: Mental Health Mayhem, One Sticky Note at a Time, is out now — a humor-packed, gut-punch honest look at her own mental health journey that's equal parts laugh-out-loud and life-changing.

Follow her @barefacedgirl and @shortyellowpencilRX for the real, the raw, and the ridiculous.

In this episode, I’m kicking off a new series called Revealed in the Making, because I couldn’t shake the question: what happens when the thing God carefully wired in you feels like it gets broken? I talk about what life felt like after my season in the psychiatric facility—how I came out feeling like a stranger in my own skin, grieving the silence after being a writer whose words used to pour out nonstop. That quiet middle felt like rotting, but I’ve learned it was more like a seed cracking open underground—breaking that had a purpose. God didn’t hand me back what I had; over time, He grew something new, and I eventually became a book designer with no formal training. I’m also owning the way I notice God in the small, random details, and I’m reframing “seeing through a glass darkly” as an invitation to trust what’s still being revealed.

00:00 Welcome to the Podcast

00:43 Episode Title and New Series

02:14 After the Psych Ward

04:39 Quiet Season Like a Seed

05:36 Becoming a Designer

06:40 Counseling and God Signs

08:42 Owning My Wiring

09:07 Seeing Through Glass Darkly

11:11 Prayer and Sendoff

Amber Weigand-Buckley is an Amazon #1 bestselling and multi-award-winning author, podcaster, and the founding editor and art director of the multi-award-winning Leading Hearts magazine. She's the #shortyellowpencilgirl living in a neurotypical world — navigating life with a beehive brain, a lot of sticky notes, and an unwavering belief that God wired her exactly right.

Host of #RandomDevoThoughts — where she unpacks the Jesus heart from the ADHD mind — Amber brings raw, relatable, and often hilarious insight to faith, mental health, and neurodivergent life. She's also co-host of Coffee Chat with Amber & Lisa.

Her newly released book, #SisterhoodoftheShortYellowPencils: Mental Health Mayhem, One Sticky Note at a Time, is out now — a humor-packed, gut-punch honest look at her own mental health journey that's equal parts laugh-out-loud and life-changing.

Follow her @barefacedgirl and @shortyellowpencilRX for the real, the raw, and the ridiculous.

You thought parenting would feel different by now. Like somehow, by the time you were the responsible adult in the room, you'd have it figured out. But what if you're not standing above your kids' struggles — what if you're right there in the playground with them, just with 20 more years of coping mechanisms and a driver's license?

In Episode 3 of I Fear How Much I'm Wonderfully Made, Amber gets honest about what it really looks like to raise neurospicy kids when you ARE the neurospicy parent. From potty training guilt to dorm rooms that didn't work to the diagnosis that finally gave her daughter language for her own life — this one is for every parent who has ever made their kid's struggle mean something about their own worth.

Real stories. Real daughters. Real mess. And a whole lot of grace.

Part of the "I Fear How Much I'm Wonderfully Made" series on Random Devo Thoughts.

IN THIS EPISODE

• Why neurospicy parents are often parenting from the inside of the same struggle — not above it
• The potty training story nobody wants to admit out loud (but everyone needs to hear)
• What Imogen said on a rainy morning in junior high that changed everything
• Why Saffron thrived in an apartment when she couldn't in a dorm — and what that taught Amber about fitting the mold vs. understanding the pattern
• The truth about labels: it's not about an excuse — it's about a lighthouse
• When Penelope finally got her autism diagnosis and said "I finally understand myself"
• Why "potential is unlimited" is only true when the fish is actually in the water
• How to tell the difference between accepting your kid and giving up on your kid
• Psalm 139:13 (Amplified) — knit together with intention, not manufactured for conformity

QUOTABLES FROM THIS EPISODE

"You cannot teach someone to be a different kind of fish. And when a fish spends all its energy trying to ride a bicycle, it never discovers what it can do in the water."

"She said — I finally understand myself. That is why the labels matter. Not as an excuse. As a lighthouse."

"Sometimes we're not standing above our kids' struggles. Sometimes we're right there in the playground with them. And that's the most honest kind of parenting there is."

"Mom, I can only hold one thing at a time." She wasn't defying me. That was truth.

"We're not broken. We're still being shaped."

SCRIPTURE REFERENCED

Psalm 139:13 (Amplified Bible) "For You formed my innermost parts; You knit me together in my mother's womb."

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE

• #SisterhoodOfTheShortYellowPencils: Mental Health Mayhem One Sticky Note at a Time — Amber's upcoming book, releasing May 2026 from Abundance Books
• Updates and pr

Amber Weigand-Buckley is an Amazon #1 bestselling and multi-award-winning author, podcaster, and the founding editor and art director of the multi-award-winning Leading Hearts magazine. She's the #shortyellowpencilgirl living in a neurotypical world — navigating life with a beehive brain, a lot of sticky notes, and an unwavering belief that God wired her exactly right.

Host of #RandomDevoThoughts — where she unpacks the Jesus heart from the ADHD mind — Amber brings raw, relatable, and often hilarious insight to faith, mental health, and neurodivergent life. She's also co-host of Coffee Chat with Amber & Lisa.

Her newly released book, #SisterhoodoftheShortYellowPencils: Mental Health Mayhem, One Sticky Note at a Time, is out now — a humor-packed, gut-punch honest look at her own mental health journey that's equal parts laugh-out-loud and life-changing.

Follow her @barefacedgirl and @shortyellowpencilRX for the real, the raw, and the ridiculous.

In part two of my “I Fear How Much I’m Wonderfully Made” series, I’m talking about the ADHD “curiosity engine”—that thing in my brain that locks onto an idea, digs until I know everything, and then pushes me to chase the next rabbit hole before I’ve finished what I started. I share a few of my most unexpected hyperfocus trails (yes, including the ones that make no practical sense), what they’ve cost me, and how some of them have surprisingly turned into real purpose. I also wrestle with why my curiosity can feel like both a superpower and kryptonite, and what it looks like to steward that wiring with God instead of letting it run my life. If you’ve ever felt pulled in 17 directions at once, this one’s for you.

00:00 Welcome to Random Devo Thoughts

00:43 What We're Talking ABout

01:36 The Curiosity Engine Explained

03:15 Rabbit Holes and Random Skills

04:43 Life as a Reptile Hoarder

06:36 I Want to Play That (NOT)

08:36 Excavator Brain Just Keeps Digging

09:46 Superpower and Kryptonite

12:06 Stewarding Talents Not Seeds

13:42 Prayer and Closing Charge

Amber Weigand-Buckley is an Amazon #1 bestselling and multi-award-winning author, podcaster, and the founding editor and art director of the multi-award-winning Leading Hearts magazine. She's the #shortyellowpencilgirl living in a neurotypical world — navigating life with a beehive brain, a lot of sticky notes, and an unwavering belief that God wired her exactly right.

Host of #RandomDevoThoughts — where she unpacks the Jesus heart from the ADHD mind — Amber brings raw, relatable, and often hilarious insight to faith, mental health, and neurodivergent life. She's also co-host of Coffee Chat with Amber & Lisa.

Her newly released book, #SisterhoodoftheShortYellowPencils: Mental Health Mayhem, One Sticky Note at a Time, is out now — a humor-packed, gut-punch honest look at her own mental health journey that's equal parts laugh-out-loud and life-changing.

Follow her @barefacedgirl and @shortyellowpencilRX for the real, the raw, and the ridiculous.