Lyrics

I used to think a faithful woman
Had to stay through anything
So I swallowed every question
And called suffering commitment
You would leave me with the silence
Then return when you felt lonely
I kept treating your attention
Like it meant that you still loved me
But love should not require
One heart to carry two
I learned that from the nights
I spent defending you
Chorus
The hurt taught me
What your words never could
That loving somebody deeply
Doesn’t make their treatment good
The hurt taught me
I can miss you and still leave
I can mourn what I was hoping for
And honor what I need
Every tear gave me an answer
Every scar corrected me
The hurt taught me
How to finally choose me
Verse 2
You said time would make you different
But time only made it clear
You were comfortable receiving
What you never gave me here
I kept waiting for your actions
To resemble your regret
But apologies without correction
Only deepen every debt
I don’t hate you for the damage
I don’t need revenge to heal
I just stopped calling it devotion
When devotion wasn’t real
Chorus
The hurt taught me
What your words never could
That loving somebody deeply
Doesn’t make their treatment good
The hurt taught me
I can miss you and still leave
I can mourn what I was hoping for
And honor what I need
Every tear gave me an answer
Every scar corrected me
The hurt taught me
How to finally choose me
Bridge — Gospel Responses
Lead: I gave you more than you protected
Background: More than he protected
Lead: I stayed longer than I should
Background: Longer than she should
Lead: But the woman walking out today
Knows everything she couldn’t
I know love can ask for patience
But it should not ask for shame
And forgiveness does not mean
I have to let you hurt me twice the same
Final Chorus
The hurt taught me
I was never hard to love
I was asking the wrong person
For what he was empty of
The hurt taught me
Leaving does not mean I failed
Sometimes saving your own spirit
Is the strongest love available
Every tear gave me an answer
Every scar returned my name
The hurt taught me
And I will not hurt that way again
Outro — Restrained Ad-libs
I learned, baby
I learned the hard way
I can still remember you
Without returning to you
What broke my heart
Opened my eyes
And what I know now
Won’t let me stay blind