Donna L. Bechthold was raised in Western Canada, and she lived in Oregon with her husband and young family before moving to Tennessee, Florida, West Texas, and back to Oregon. During this time, she and her husband both became registered nurses and worked at their professions for over thirty years; her last twenty-four years before retirement were spent as a hospital vice president for patient care services. Donna wrote the first edition of The Colors of Prayer in 1991 after her own search for a more fulfilling prayer life, and has presented her study across the Western United States and Canada in churches and at retreats and conferences.