Maureen Pratt, MTS, MFA, GIA GG, Gem-A FGA (Merit), is a popular speaker, the award-winning, bestselling author of 10 books and the executive director and founder of The Peace in the Storm Project. Her books include the award-winning titles Salt and Light: Church, Disability, and the Blessing of Welcome for All, Don't Panic! How to Keep Going When the Going Gets Tough, and the beloved devotional, Peace in the Storm: Meditations on Chronic Pain & Illness (2nd Edition - Galilee Road Publishing, LLC), which is the only devotional focused on chronic pain and illness to be granted the imprimatur. After graduating from UCLA with her Master of Fine Arts in the School of Theater, Film, and Television, Maureen began to write scripts, and her plays won several awards. She fully expected to be working in the heart of Hollywood, but God had other plans. From childhood, she had suffered with serious illnesses and chronic pain, and as she began her career in Tinseltown, while working and conducting a gospel choir at a Catholic church in Los Angeles, a life-threatening, disabling diagnosis of lupus derailed her plans and became the catalyst to turn her life and her writing in an entirely different direction. She first penned two health-based books to assist other patients in coping with difficult diagnoses. Taking Charge of Lupus: How to Manage the Disease and Make the Most of Your Life (New American Library/Penguin Random House) and The First Year: Hypothyroidism (First and Second editions, Perseus/Marlowe & Company/Hachette). Then, from her deep faith and reliance on God throughout her illness, Maureen began to write about the journey intertwined with illness, pain, and other challenges. These efforts resulted in Peace in the Storm: Meditations on Chronic Pain and Illness (first published with Image/Penguin Random House in 2005 and now published by Galilee Road Publishing) and Beyond Pain: Job, Jesus, and Joy (the Revised Edition is now available from Galilee Road Publishing LLC). During the pandemic, while caregiving with her mother in the last years of her life, Maureen earned a Master of Theological Studies from the Jesuit School of Theology at Santa Clara University. In 2021, immediately upon graduation, caregiving became, essentially, a full-time job, and there was no time for her to think of building The Peace in the Storm Project. However, the Holy Spirit was working - unbeknownst to her, a parish in New Canaan, CT, started a wellness ministry that used the book, Peace in the Storm..., as the basis for its reflections at group meetings. Shortly before her mother's passing, the leader of the group contacted Maureen, and a collaboration began. In 2023, the fruit of that collaboration was born - The Peace in the Storm Project. To help others on a broader scale, Maureen also established her own publishing company, Galilee Road Publishing LLC, with the intention of offering work to further encourage, inspire, and guide those navigating through the toughest of life's challenges. Maureen is a graduate of Georgetown University and is also a Graduate Gemologist (Gemological Institute of America) and a Fellow, Gemmological Association of Great Britain (FGA), with Merit. Maureen has presented workshops, retreats, and in-service seminars for medical professionals, religious education instructors, patients, businesses, parishes, and patient advocacy organizations throughout the United States and in Canada, in person and online. Although lupus and its effects are still a reality, Maureen continues to find much joy in her life and work and inspiration from others who are also living with serious challenges. Throughout all of her endeavors, Maureen's intent is simple: To show and encourage others that no matter how hard the crisis or sharp the pain, God loves each of us, we need not fear, and we should, most especially, never give up!