Start Here: Kissed by Death

By Dylan Verdun Sullivan

As I sit with my morning coffee, with my two study buddies Ninja and Ember this space exists for a reason.

This is not just a blog.

This is where everything connects.

I am Dylan Verdun Sullivan an Australian author and founder of Refined by Fire Press. My work, including Kissed by Death and Refined by Fire, is indexed in the National Library of Australia.
What you’ll find here is not polished religion or surface-level reflection.
This is lived experience written from the middle of trauma, addiction, survival, and faith.
Kissed by Death is the backbone of it all.
It tells the story of what happens when life breaks you and what it means to be rebuilt.

👉 Read the memoir Kissed by Death→

From here, the writing carries on.
Some pieces are reflections.
Some are wrestlings.
Some are written in the quiet places where God meets us when nothing else makes sense.
If you’ve ever walked through darkness this space is for you.

About the Author
Dylan Verdun Sullivan is the founder of Refined by Fire Press and an Australian author indexed in the National Library of Australia. As a Level 7 Local Guide with over 1.7 million views on Google Maps, he documents the intersection of faith, recovery, and the light found in ordinary places.

📖 Read the Memoir: Kissed by Death on Amazon
📍 Explore the Journey: Follow Dylan on Google Maps

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From the Fire

A Week Ignited: Brotherhood, Openness, and the Quiet Work of God

By Dylan Verdun Sullivan
Wow  what a start to the week. I’ve been sitting with Saturday for a couple of days now, letting it settle, letting it breathe, letting it speak in its own way before rushing to put words around it. There are moments in life that are better written immediately, while the emotion is still raw and close to the surface. But there are other moments that need time time to process, time to reflect, time to understand what was actually taking place beneath what we could see. Saturday felt like one of those moments. Kings Church connect group at Paradise Point . A simple setting on the surface. A lunchtime barbecue. Men gathered. Food cooking. Conversations unfolding. Nothing overly structured. Nothing forced. But what took place in that space carried far more weight than what it looked like from the outside. And I think that’s what has stayed with me the most. Letting the Moment Settle I was going to write on Saturday. I really was. I felt it stirring in me as I left. Tha...
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Trauma Hidden in Plain Sight

By Dylan Verdun Sullivan
As I reflect back on the amazing day I had today with my Fiancée Bianca at Robina Town Centre , I was on the highway and we had 3 Doors Down playing on Spotify and I felt my mind and heart start to think through some things. There is a strange thing about trauma .It does not always announce itself. It does not always look dramatic. It does not always wear visible scars. It does not always arrive with tears, collapse, or public breakdown. Occasionally trauma puts on a uniform and goes to work. Sometimes it smiles in the lunchroom. At times trauma laughs at the right moments in conversation. Sometimes trauma pays bills, answers emails, makes coffee, drives to appointments, posts online, and says, “I’m good mate.” Often trauma is hidden in plain sight. That truth has been on my mind deeply lately. Because many people move through ordinary days carrying extraordinary internal weight. They function. They show up. They contribute. They keep commitments. They hold conversations. They attend ...
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Jesus is enough

By Dylan Verdun Sullivan
This morning I’m sitting here with my coffee any two rescue cats Ninja and Ember and I know I had to stop. I have not written for days because there was too much happening underneath the surface. Too much noise. Too much pressure. Too much I did not want to touch too quickly, because I know what happens when I try to write before I’ve actually faced what is going on. I end up circling the truth. I end up softening it. I end up sounding more put together than I actually am. So I stopped. And the silence was not kind at first. Silence has a way of dragging out what noise keeps buried. Things I did not want to face. Thoughts I did not want to name. Weight I did not want to admit was still sitting on me. Yesterday at King’s Bible College at Reedy Creek , something shifted. Not in a dramatic way. Not in a clean way. But in a way that got under my skin and stayed there. Pastor Tom was teaching through Philippians , and the way he handled the text hit differently. There was no performance i...
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His Throne Does Not Move

By Dylan Verdun Sullivan
God's Sovereignty in the Quiet Hours As I get ready for church tomorrow at King’s Church Runaway Bay , my reflections tonight are on the sovereignty of God . It is late. The house is quieter now. There is something about the night that can make deeper thoughts rise to the surface. During the day there are errands, movement, noise, responsibilities, messages, conversations, and the constant traffic of life. But at night, when things slow down, truths you have been avoiding sometimes come and sit beside you. Tonight one of those truths is the sovereignty of God. I sit quietly listening to the audiobook by John Piper on Spotify  Desiring God: Meditations of a Christian Hedonist. In one breath I am challenged by it, and in the other hand I am deeply encouraged by the subject. That is often how truth works. It wounds pride while healing fear. It confronts what is crooked while steadying what is anxious. And as I listen, I cannot help but think through my own life and testimony. I have ...
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