A Reminder from Romans

Romans 8:28 states, "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose."  Some choose to misconstrue this verse and assume that God only provides good things in our lives.  This of course is not true.  As a whole, all events and struggles work together towards good, but that does not mean that we will escape hardship.
I have been doing my best to remain focused on this verse this week because I currently have a cold.  Some may think that this isn't a big deal and in the grand scheme of things, it isn't.  But when training for a marathon, it tends to put a damper on routine training.  Instead of being able to use my week of spring break to get myself on a running schedule, I have spent the majority of my time in a Sudafed induced stupor in my desperate attempt to get healthy.  I was able to run a mile on Tuesday and then yesterday I ran for an hour, though I felt very winded with legs of pure lead.  Truthfully, it is very frustrating to deal with, but I keep trying to remember that there must be a reason for this head cold.  I may never know what that reason is, but possibly it is God's way of reminding me early that I must care for my body as I get closer to race day and also teaching me to persevere in times of poor health.  I have another long run with both of my training partners on Saturday and I am more than a little uneasy about whether or not I will end up holding them back.  The only solution is to lean on God, even when my gut reaction is to lose faith in my own abilities and get paranoid that I am letting somebody down in the process.  All the more reason to pray as this is proof that I myself am still dealing with some inner demons and trust issues that God must want me to rest and meditate on.  So I will continue to remember the words within Romans and understand that a minor head cold will in the end be beneficial to my life, though only God knows the reason why and I must relinquish control and be okay with that fact.